HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.– Trainer Brad Cox appears to have all the bases covered, sending out the speedy Velvet Vortex and late-running Trouble in Love as the two likely favorites in Sunday’s $58,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race drew a field of seven fillies and mares to go six furlongs but will scratch down to no more than six with Necessity having run in the Rampart Stakes on Friday instead.
Velvet Vortex has been idle since registering a 2 1/2-length victory going wire to wire as the favorite against first-level allowance opposition late last spring at Saratoga. Her performance was flattered after the second-, third-, fourth-, and seventh-place finishers from the race all came back to win their next starts.
Velvet Vortex, a daughter of Complexity owned by e Five Racing, went to the sidelines after that victory but has trained forwardly for her return at Payson Park, capping off a recent series of works with a bullet five furlongs in 1:02 going solo last week.
“I just wasn’t happy with the way she was moving after that last race so we sent her out to Ocala to give her time and regroup,” Cox said when asked about the layoff. “She’s trained very well since. She’s a really nice filly, and hopefully we can get her back on form and this will be the start of a nice campaign as well as a stepping-stone to possibly stretching her out a little bit as we move forward.”
Trouble in Love also comes off a winning effort, having rallied from near the rear of the field to a game and popular half-length win in an entry-level allowance going 7 1/2 furlongs six weeks earlier at Churchill Downs. He registered far and away his career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
“Irad [Ortiz Jr.] said after her race two back he thought we needed to stretch her out a bit and the extra distance kind of propelled her forward next time,” said Cox. “We also have high hopes that she might be another one who’ll be able to graduate into stakes company down the road.”
She’s My Lady Luck has never been better and will bring a modest two-race winning streak into the race, although even her trainer, Dave Braddy, admits the waters will get considerably deeper in this spot.
She’s My Lady Luck began her career locally, then went to Colonial Downs, where she raced creditably during the summer. She stepped up to another level once returning home during the fall, winning a pair of allowance races, one against Florida-breds, the second in open company, while pairing career-best Beyers of 80.
“I thought she ran well in both starts at Colonial. The competition up there is tougher than people think, and she’s just continued to get better since coming back here. But the complexion of these races have changed since the new meet began. They are much tougher than during the fall. We’ll just have to see if she can cut the mustard against these fillies.”
Like both Cox runners and She’s My Lady Luck, Secret Revenge and Beyond Belief also come into the race off victories. The speedy Rumours Have It completes the compact lineup.
Tappan Street aims for Pegasus
Cox reported Friday that Tappan Street has bounced out of his impressive allowance victory here last week in good order and is on target to make his next start in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 24.
“I’m very happy with the way he came out of the last race and running in the Pegasus is the plan now, for sure,” Cox said.
Cox will run Commandment in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man here next Saturday. Commandment started just twice at 2, finishing fourth when debuting at six furlongs before stretching out to seven panels to win his maiden by 5 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1.
“He’s another one we started short and who improved a good bit when we stretched him out in his second run,” Cox explained. “He galloped out very well when he broke his maiden and based on the timing, I thought [the Mucho Macho Man], a one-turn mile, made sense. We’ll take it one step at a time but hopefully at some point we’ll be able to stretch him out farther.”
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