HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Red River Rebel and Tap Gold, a couple of 7-year-old warhorses who finished noses apart when second and third, respectively, behind Chess Master in their most recent starts, will renew acquaintances and likely vie for favoritism under similar allowance and optional-claiming conditions Friday at Gulfstream Park.
The $57,000 headliner lured a field of 10, including a pair on the also-eligible list, and is carded at five furlongs on turf.
Red River Rebel and Tap Gold have won 16 races between them with both equally, if not even more accomplished, over synthetic surfaces should inclement weather force the race to the Tapeta track.
Red River Rebel has posted nine career victories, including a game three-quarter-length decision under these same conditions two starts back on March 23. Claimed by trainer Bob Dibona for $35,000 in the interests of owner Keith Johnston out of his 2025 debut on Jan. 27, Red River Rebel fell just a length shy of making it two in a row when rallying three wide to get the nose bob for second money from Tap Gold while falling short of catching the winner, who benefited from a ground-saving trip.
“He’s got a couple of little things, so I can’t train him too hard, but being a five-eighths horse, he doesn’t need to be drilled on,” Dibona said. “He had to come wide and I thought he should have won that race last time. There is some speed in this field. He likes to sit, so I think he should be in a good spot and run well again.”
Tap Gold has been a model of consistency for his connections – owner Dennis Smith and trainer Rohan Crichton – over the past year, having won three times and never finished off the board in seven starts. He also has not been worse than third in five tries over the local turf course.
Sosua Summer returns home and gets considerable class relief after being overmatched in his last outing against a strong field of allowance runners on April 18 at Keeneland. The race was won by Grade 3-placed No Nay Hudson and further flattered when runner-up Clear the Air returned to earn a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure defeating high-priced optional-claiming and allowance opposition over the Churchill Downs turf course just 12 days later.
Power Attack and the lightly raced El Apagon figure to assure an honest pace. El Apagon is a question mark trying the turf for the first time while making just his second start since shipping to the United States from his native Chile earlier this year.
Street Rod, no match for Red River Rebel when the pair met two months earlier; One Whirlwind Ride, exiting a near miss against the same kind just 12 days ago; and And Uwish, idle since March 2024; fill out the body of the race. Chaplin and El Tinmarin complete the lineup and are looking to draw in off the also-eligible list.
Weaver has two for Ascot
Trainer George Weaver reported that Sandal’s Song came out of his victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes in good order and if all continues to go well will ship to Royal Ascot to run in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on June 18.
Sandal’s Song will be accompanied on the trip across the pond by his 2-year-old stablemate Tough Critic, an impressive debut winner in his own right last month at Keeneland, who Weaver also plans to run during the Ascot meet.
Sandal’s Song earned an automatic berth into one of the six juvenile stakes during the Ascot meet, plus a $25,000 travel stipend, for his 1 1/2-length victory over the odds-on Squire in the Royal Palm.
“I’ll probably send both horses to Saratoga and ship them to Europe from there,” Weaver said. “I have three races to pick from for Tough Critic. I’d like to keep them apart. Right now, I’m thinking of running [Tough Critic] in the Coventry” on June 17.
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