Saffie Joseph Jr. may be 1,400 miles away overseeing his “A” string at Saratoga, but his presence will continue to remain a threatening one nonetheless this summer at Gulfstream Park. Saturday, the meet’s leading trainer sends out horses in eight of the 11 races on the card, including a pair of key contenders in the afternoon’s two main events, the $75,000 Game Face for 3-year-old fillies and the $75,000 Powder Break, which lured an evenly matched field of 11 older fillies and mares on turf.
Joseph entered both Andrea and Luvumorgan in the 6 1/2-furlong Game Face. Andrea is the stronger of the pair on paper, with Luvumorgan a lightly raced but promising filly with plenty of room for improvement entering her stakes debut.
Andrea opened her career last summer with a pair of one-sided wins, including a 7 3/4-length triumph in the one-mile Hallandale Beach. Unfortunately, her form went downhill quickly after that, culminating with a dismal effort when beaten 51 lengths in the Cash Run on New Year’s Day.
Joseph gave Andrea some time off to regroup and was rewarded for his patience when the daughter of Thousand Words came back to defeat first-level allowance competition by 9 1/4 lengths going seven furlongs last month at Tampa Bay Downs.
“She won her first two races very easily, then tailed off badly,” Joseph said. “Hopefully, she got her confidence back at Tampa, although she is stepping back up in company for this start. But if she can run as well as she did last time, she should be very competitive.”
Luvumorgan finished an even fifth launching her career going six furlongs Feb. 9 before stretching out to 1 1/16 miles to win her maiden in impressive fashion, by three lengths, at the same level four weeks later. Luvumorgan has been idle nearly three months since graduation day but has trained forwardly for her return, including five furlongs in a sharp 1:00.20 on May 18.
“I think she wants to go farther. She wasn’t ready to make the mile race the other day but hopefully she’ll be able to get a little black type in this spot,” Joseph noted.
Unchained Elaine figures to go postward the solid favorite in the Game Face off her two-length victory in the Any Limit when turning back to six furlongs March 16, posting a career-best 77 Beyer Speed Figure in the process. The win was the third in 10 starts for the daughter of American Pharoah, who is trained by Patrick Biancone.
Like Andrea, Win N Your In returns from Tampa off a confidence-building win of her own, by seven lengths in gate-to-wire fashion, in the restricted Sophomore Fillies Stakes on March 30. It was the third stakes triumph for Win N Your In, who captured the Sharp Susan and Susan’s Girl at 2.
Allowance winners Nerazurri and Costa Amalfitana complete the field, along with last-out Tampa Bay maiden winner Unshakable.
Powder Break Stakes
Joseph will send out Lady Cha Cha and Candy Gray in the one-mile Powder Break. Lady Cha Cha exits a second-place finish, nailed late and beaten less than a length by Mohawk Trail, in the Distaff Turf for Florida-breds at Tampa. Candy Gray could prove the controlling speed in the race while looking to rebound after finishing off the board as the tepid favorite in a pair of allowance races to open her 2005 campaign.
Trainer Antonio Sano will counter the Joseph duo with a couple of major players of his own, Sensitivity and De Regreso, in the Powder Break. The pair finished third and fourth, respectively, just necks apart, behind multiple stakes winner Ozara in the Monroe Stakes earlier this spring. De Regreso appears to be rounding back to the form that saw her capture the Martha Washington Stakes over the Gulfstream Tapeta during the spring of her 3-year-old campaign.
Dancing N Dixie should benefit from her last effort, a troubled seventh-place finish in the Monroe, beaten 6 3/4 lengths after getting knocked around at the start and forced wide into the stretch. The outing was her first since she finished well back in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs in her 3-year-old finale five months earlier. Dancing N Dixie won the Tepin Stakes at a mile last summer as a prelude to her third-place finish in the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks Invitational for which she earned a career-best 88 Beyer, tops among any member of the Powder Break lineup.
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