Sunshine Millions Preview Gets 158 Noms

When nominations closed for the second-annual Sunshine Millions Preview Day, 158 horses were nominated to the eight stake races for Florida bred runners. Formerly known as the Florida Million, the state-bred showcase will offer $800,000 in purse money and take place November 8 at Gulfstream Park West, while serving as a prep for the $1.05 million Sunshine Millions on January 17 at Gulfstream Park.

The slate of races includes the Millions Turf Preview and the Millions Filly & Mare Turf Preview, each at 1 1/16 miles on the grass, the Millions Distaff Preview for fillies and mares at a mile, the 1 1/16-mile Millions Classic Preview, and four 2-year-old stakes – the Juvenile Turf and the Juvenile Filly Turf, to be contested at a mile, and the Juvenile Sprint and the Juvenile Filly Sprint, each at 6 ½ furlongs.

Trainer Bill Kaplan led all trainers with a total of 18 nominations, with nine horses cross-entered. Headlining the group is recent Indiana Derby (G2) winner East Hall, who earlier this summer also captured the Ohio Derby at Thistledown. Kaplan plans to run East Hall in the Millions Classic Preview, which drew 17 nominations.

"He’s doing great,” Kaplan said of his top sophomore. “I thought (the Indiana Derby) was the best performance of his career, and he’s a tremendous horse with a tremendous ability to do what the rider tells him and finish strong. We were going to go up to the Discovery Handicap (G3) in New York, but we decided to stay here and support Gulfstream. That’s where he was developed and won his first races. The purse was a factor, too. When they made it $100,000, with the cost of traveling and all that other stuff, it made it worth it to stay here.”

Kaplan also plans to run 3-year-old Quinnkat, who won an allowance at Gulfstream in July and most recently finished second to stakes winner Flutterby in an allowance at Gulfstream Park West, in the Millions Distaff Preview, as well as Wildcat Magic in Juvenile Filly Turf and Sunday Silence Stakes winner My Point Exactly in the Juvenile Turf, which drew 26 nominations.

“It’s big time, because a lot of these races give you a chance to run horses this year as 2-year-olds and prepare them for (the Sunshine Millions) in January,” Kaplan said. “It fits a number of my horses, and I make them fit a lot of my horses. I plan for it, and I’m very happy with it.”

Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens also nominated to Sunshine Millions Preview Day. His Sum Roar, an impressive debut winner in September, is under consideration for the Juvenile Filly Sprint, which drew 26 nominations, including Holywell, winner of the final two legs of this summer’s Florida Sire Stakes (FSS) filly division.

“The next one will be tougher, so that will tell us more about her,” Jerkens said of Sum Roar, a daughter of In Summation. “We’re planning on running her.”

Trainer Stanley Gold and Jacks or Better Farm are strong supporters of Florida-bred racing, as owner Fred Brei has long been involved with the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association and is the organization’s current treasurer. Gold, who won four of the six Florida Sire Stakes races this summer with Jacks or Better horses and is now the all-time leading trainer in FSS history, nominated many of the same runners back for Millions Preview Day.

His contingent is led by Sing Praises, who claimed two of three 2014 FSS races for colts and geldings. Sing Praises, along with stablemates Hear That Tune and Twotwentyfive A, who denied Sing Praises his FSS sweep, is on track for the Juvenile Sprint, which led all Millions Preview Day races with 27 nominations.

“He’s done everything very easily,” Gold said of Sing Praises. “What he showed us (in the $350,000 FSS In Reality S., which he won by a nose) was that not only does he have some serious speed, but he can also come from off the pace and time his run. Twotwentyfive A has always shown that he can go long, but he has speed if you want to use him, so I’m optimistic about him also. Hear That Tune, we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s a kind horse, but he’s still quite immature in his head. All three are turning back (for the Juvenile Sprint), and all three are going to be dangerous, because they’re not all going to be together, so how it plays out will show us what happens.”

Gold also plans to enter fillies Awesome Ice and Leap Year Luck, winner of the $100,000 FSS Desert Vixen, in the Juvenile Filly Sprint. He hopes the success of Jacks or Better’s homebreds will help give rise to the careers of the Florida stallions that sired them, especially Awesome of Course, sire of Twotwentyfive A and Awesome Ice, and Hear No Evil, who sired Sing Praises, Hear That Tune, and Leap Year Luck.

“It’s a Florida-bred operation,” Gold said. “We support the Florida program. It’s good publicity for the program, it’s good purses, and hopefully it creates some interest in Awesome of Course and Hear No Evil. Really, it’s still the ground floor of those horses, because we’re just starting with them. That’s what the Florida program is all about.”

Source: Gulfstream Park West