HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Getting a horse ready to run 1 1/2 miles off an extended layoff would seem a challenging task. But Christophe Clement has made it look easy, at least when it comes to the Grade 3 Pan American Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
In 2022, Clement sent out Gufo to win the Pan Am off a five-month layoff. Last year, he won it with Kertez off a six-month freshening.
Saturday, Clement will seek to win the Pan Am with Far Bridge, a two-time Grade 1 winner in 2024 who hasn’t been out since running ninth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf in November. Clement said the Pan Am was the best alternative, with his other options being a nine-furlong allowance at Keeneland or the Fort Marcy on May 3 at Aqueduct.
Far Bridge won his 3- and 4-year-old debuts over Gulfstream Park’s turf course. The degree of difficulty ratchets up some when he seeks to win his 5-year-old debut in Saturday’s $215,000 Pan Am.
“I prefer to go longer where you can get him together and there’s a slower pace,” said Clement, who also won the Pan Am in 1997 with Flag Down, who was making his second start off a layoff.
Over the last four years, Clement is 24 for 143 in turf routes with a $0.95 return on investment, according to DRF Formulator. Far Bridge won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga last year when he was able to make a clear lead.
Clement also sends out Tawny Port, who made $354,350 in 2024 despite not winning a race. He lost four races by a neck or a head, including this race last year when he ran third, beaten a neck by Kertez.
Capture the Flag was a front-running winner of the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida here four weeks ago when he got to the lead and kept on going under John Velazquez. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides him Saturday, as Velazquez is in Arkansas.
“That’s what we were hoping for,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Capture the Flag’s Mac Diarmida triumph. “Just let him find his rhythm and he keeps going.”
Cash Equity has finished in the money in eight of his last 12 starts without winning. Most recently, he was beaten three-quarters of a length by Capture the Flag in the Mac Diarmida.
“We won’t complain if we hit the board again, but he’s good enough to win one of these races,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Most of the time, he creates his own problems.”
Joseph also is running Lorenz, who won at 1 1/2 miles in Brazil but has yet to try the distance here.
Corruption has won this last three, including an optional-claiming race on the front end last out. Il Siciliano finished a neck behind Corruption last out. Padiddle and Better Bet complete the field.
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