Speechify Set for Turf Debut in Gin Rummy Champ

Speechify is set to take on nine rivals in Saturday’s $90,000 Gin Rummy Champ Stakes at Gulfstream Park West under less than ideal circumstances. The abundantly talented son of Harlan’s Holiday will be asked to run on turf for the first time in the five-furlong sprint while making his first start in nine months.

Team Valor International’s 4-year-old colt’s turf debut, originally scheduled to come in the Silks Run Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 26, was postponed due to a condylar fracture that he sustained during morning training hours and that required a screw to be inserted into his right front leg to aid in the healing process.

“He’s training well, doing well,” trainer Ralph Nicks said. “He’s a helluva horse that we can do pretty much anything with. I breezed him on grass before the injury. We were going to run him on grass before he got injured.”

Speechify debuted in August 2013 with an eye-catching 10 ½-length victory under a hand ride and came right back to capture an entry-level allowance by 2 ¾ lengths a month later – both races coming at the six-furlong distance. Following a lackluster effort while stretching out to a mile, the Kentucky-bred colt came back to finish second behind multiple-stakes winner Happy My Way at six furlongs and capture a 5 ½-furlong non-winners-of-three optional claiming allowance by a length.

Nicks is confident that Speechify, who launched his career while winning in a romp, can make a strong showing in his stakes and turf debut after being on the sidelines for nine months.

“I don’t think it’s a concern, but it’s obviously different company than maidens and he’s going to a different surface,” said Nicks, whose trainee is rated at 6-1 and is scheduled to be ridden by Hall of Famer Edgar Prado.

Speechify has overcome more imposing obstacles.

Afflicted with a constriction of the esophagus, a condition that requires a strict dietary regime that does not include hay, Speechify has already achieved more than Team Valor’s Barry Irwin had expected of him.

“It’s kind of hard to believe, to tell you the truth. We’ve seen him at his worst. The fact that he even made a race, I think is a plus,” said Irwin in the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle following Speechify’s second victory. “The fact that he’s doing this is off the charts.”

Irwin also praised the horsemanship of Nicks that has allowed Speechify to excel despite a condition that has to be constantly monitored.

“You have to be careful with him for the rest of his life,” Nicks said.

Speechify also must deal with the far-outside post position in the Gin Rummy Champ, while Determinato, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, has drawn the No. 1 post. Determinato is a seasoned performer on turf and at the five-furlong distance, having won six of 16 starts at five furlongs on turf and finishing in the money 11 times.

Claimed by Aubrey Maragh for White Wabbit Wacing for $25,000 at Gulfstream on Aug. 21, the 6-year-old gelding was nosed out in his first start for his new connections in a starter allowance on Sept. 1 before capturing an optional claiming allowance on Sept. 18 by nearly three lengths. The son of Closing Argument, who is slated to be ridden by Orlando Bocachica, has finished 1-2-3 in all five starts on Gulfstream Park West turf. Determinato is scheduled to be accompanied by two White Wabbit Wacing stablemates trained by Jorge Navarro in the Gin Rummy Champ. Full Moon’s Back was claimed for $25,000 out of an optional claiming allowance two starts back, while Didn’t Take It captured an optional claiming race at five furlongs on turf at Monmouth in his last start on Aug. 24.

Moonwalker and Dedicated to Bob, who finished second and third, respectively, behind Determinato on Sept. 18, are also entered to run in the Gin Rummy Champ.

Trainer Kevin Rice has entered two new faces to South Florida in the Gin Rummy Champ – Choctaw Chuck, who finished off the board in the Woodford (G3) at Keeneland last time out, and Triple Cross, who is cutting back after showing speed before tiring in a Keeneland allowance on Oct. 9. Edwin Broome-trained Partyallnightlong, who won a stakes for New Jersey-bred horses in five starts at Monmouth, returns to South Florida, where he won an allowance at Gulfstream last winter.

Mellow Fellow, who has shown speed before tiring in recent turf routes, and Take Time to Pray, a main-track-only entrant, round out the field.

Source: Gulfstream Park West