HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two-year-old racing returns to South Florida with the season’s first two baby races on tap Thursday and Friday. Both events are carded at 4 1/2 furlongs over the main track.
All races at that distance are restricted to 10 starters. Thursday’s event for fillies lured 11 entries. Friday’s dash consists of a mix of fillies and males and drew 13 youngsters, three of whom are on the also-eligible list.
Like Wesley Ward at Keeneland during the spring, it will be the Arindel Farm of Alan Cohen whose massive stable of 2-year-olds figures to dominate the juvenile races around these parts early in the season.
Arindel has entered a pair of runners for both events. Mythical and Drama figure to vie for favoritism against the gals on Thursday. Jalapeno and Bowie are in Friday, although the latter is one of the trio languishing on the also-eligible list.
“We’ve got 34 2-year-olds this season almost equally split among Florida-, Kentucky-, and New York-breds,” Arindel president Brian Cohen explained. “And we’ll have them spread out with a number of trainers, including Carlos David, Jose D’Angelo, Jorge Delgado, Saffie Joseph, Ken McPeek in Kentucky, and Amelia Green in New York.
“We’re ready to run early and often during the spring, it’s a formula that’s worked well for us in the past, and it’s a big learning experience trying to figure out how, when, and where to go when it comes to shipping and spreading them around.”
Arindel sent out its first 2-year-old starter of the year, Monster, last week at Keeneland. He finished a late-running fourth after a very slow and eventful start.
“He stepped back at the break and got in all sorts of trouble, then made a big move once getting under way,” Cohen recalled. “We were very high on him, and I think he would have been right there had he broken better. But that’s the nature of these types of races, especially at this time of year.”
Cohen said Mythical and Drama are two different types, the former the quicker of the pair with the latter perhaps being better as the races stretch out in distance. They worked together on the farm in Ocala before shipping to their respective trainers locally to continue preparations for their debuts. Mythical is based with Delgado at Gulfstream Park. Drama is with David at Palm Meadows.
“Mythical is a rocket out of the gate, while Drama should be better down the line, although she can possibly win this race if someone pushes the other filly during the early stages,” Cohen predicted.
Jalapeno, who has been training at Palm Meadows with D’Angelo, will likely be favored Friday. The son of Adios Charlie is out of the multiple stakes-placed Awesome Mass and posted a 47.60-second half-mile work out of the gate at Palm Meadows on April 4.
“Awesome Mass was very fast, she broke her maiden by almost 12 lengths and was favored in the first two legs of the Stallion Series that summer, although she didn’t win either of them,” Cohen said. “Jalapeno is really quick, like his mom, although as is the case in all these races, the key is getting out of the gate.”
Kingsley wins on first mount
Apprentice Taylor Kingsley made her first ride in a professional race a winning one here Saturday when guiding 15-1 Princetown to victory in the afternoon’s main event for trainer Bill Mott.
Kingsley, 19, is the daughter of highly respected steeplechase trainer Archibald Kingsley. She came into the race with extensive riding experience, having already won a pair of amateur races at Delaware Park as well as similar races in eight countries around the world. She has been working for Mott at Payson Park.
“It’s been a huge opportunity, I actually can’t believe it,” she said after the race.
Rainbow 6 pays $6,047
Sunday’s mandatory-payout Rainbow 6 resulted in a payoff of $6,047.50 for a 20-cent ticket in a sequence that included just a single winning favorite, the 9-5 Reputation, in the second leg.
:: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!
A total of $3,455,240 in new money was added to a carryover of $558,781 to create a final jackpot just more than $4 million.
The Rainbow 6 had not been solved for 11 straight programs since being hit for a $121,198 payout on March 21. A scheduled force-out of the jackpot here two weeks ago was scrapped when the second half of the March 30 card was canceled due to inclement weather.
Zayas, Morelos riding hot
Edgard Zayas and Jose Morelos were the riding stars over the weekend, with Zayas notching four victories on Saturday’s card and Morelos posting a hat trick the following afternoon. Zayas has regained his familiar spot atop the standings during the Royal Palm session, adding to his lead with another riding double on Sunday.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.