Joey Muscles and Latch the Hatch, who have proven well-matched in two previous meetings, will square off for a third time this season and likely vie for favoritism in Thursday’s $43,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. They are two of seven Florida-bred 3-year-olds who were entered to go seven furlongs over the main track in the seventh of eight races on the card.
Joey Muscles finished a half-length in front of Latch the Hatch, with the pair finishing second and third, respectively, behind runaway winner Rookie Card under similar conditions on Feb. 23. Four weeks earlier, it was Latch the Hatch who held a slight neck advantage when the duo futilely chased home the 1-5 Neoequos, who used the race as a stepping-stone to subsequent third-place finishes in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby.
Joey Muscles, a homebred son of Khozan owned by John Grossis and trained by Jena Antonucci, will return to statebred competition on Thursday after stepping in with open company to finish third in the six-furlong Hutcheson Stakes in his most recent start. He’s posted a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 80 in each of his last two starts.
“We took some big swings early to find out who he was, gave him a little breather, and he’s stringing some good stuff together down there now while continuing to mature and get faster,” said Antonucci. “The [Hutcheson] stakes came together the right way. We knew if he continued to move forward, he had an opportunity to be involved. That’s what happened and I’m pleased how he came out of it.”
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Latch the Hatch has also started once since his two earlier meetings with Joey Muscles, stretching out around two turns and trying grass with little success when finishing a tiring seventh in the Sophomore Turf at Tampa Bay Downs on March 30. Trainer Joe Orseno will put blinkers on Latch the Hatch for the first time on Thursday, equipment he wore when turning in a near-bullet half-mile breeze in 47.40 seconds back on the main track here on April 13.
Although Edgard Zayas has been aboard Latch the Hatch in each of his last four starts, the meet’s leading jockey will give up that seat to Rajiv Maragh. Instead, Zayas will stick with his main man, Saffie Joseph Jr., and ride Roar of the Beast, who is coming off the best race of his career, a 10-length maiden victory going one mile while returning from a three-month freshening on Feb. 23.
Expect the Best figures to have a large say in both the early pace and final outcome as he exits a game one-length victory when launching his career on March 30. Expect the Best was part of a four-horse duel for the early lead and bore out to the middle of the track entering the stretch, yet he was still good enough to edge away to a clear-cut victory while outrunning his 14-1 odds at first asking for trainer Jose D’Angelo.
Helicon, Expect the Best’s stablemate, enters the race off a maiden win and will add blinkers for his 3-year-old debut. He completes a field that includes Mati Gol and Gianluca Be Lucky.
Antiquarian impressive in return
Trainer Todd Pletcher, whose barn is already loaded in the older handicap division with stars like Fierceness, Mindframe, and Locked, may be ready to add Antiquarian to that list following the latter’s 2 1/2-length allowance win here Saturday.
Starting for the first time since a fifth-place finish in the 2024 Belmont Stakes, Antiquarian prompted the pace from the outset despite turning back to seven furlongs for the first time in his career. He ultimately asserted his class and edged away impressively in the final furlong under Zayas, earning a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It’s really good to have him back,” Pletcher told the Gulfstream Park press office after the race. “He had a nice layoff and this was our plan, to gear him up for the spring, summer, and fall.”
Pletcher is still uncertain when or where Antiquarian will return, but he said his next start would definitely come in a stakes.
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