HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lure Him In may be just six weeks shy of his ninth birthday, but in his current form he’s a long ways from the retirement home. The veteran will shoot for his 12th lifetime victory and fourth of the season as one of the favorites in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap, which will be decided at 1 1/16 miles over the main track Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
Lure Him In finished an even but wide-running fourth going a mile against similar opposition here last month but could benefit by stretching back out around two turns and having drawn the inside post, advantageous in races decided here at this distance. He will also be reunited with his favorite rider, Edwin Gonzalez.
“He’s almost 9 now, but he actually trains better than ever, better than anything in my barn,” said Sam Wilensky, who conditions Lure Him In for the partnership of C2 Racing Stable and Double B Racing. “He’s feeling phenomenal. I can’t ask for any more than the way he’s coming into this race.”
Lure Him In led at every call en route to a one-length overnight handicap victory here in early June and Wilensky is expecting to see the old warrior forwardly placed from the outset again on Sunday.
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“Last time he was wide on the far turn and drifted some from a left-hand stick, but that was with a rider aboard who did not know the horse as well as Edwin does,” said Wilensky. “And I don’t think he’s best at a one-turn mile either.
“I like being in the one-hole Sunday with the short run to the first turn. It’s hard to handicap what the bug boys on the [number] two and three horses will do, although hopefully we’ll be either on the lead or sitting pretty close.”
Lure Him in will carry 121 pounds, one fewer than high weights Steal Sunshine and Lightning Tones. The remainder of the field includes Awesome Train (117), Virginia City (116), Swashbuckle (116) and Single Dot Yaht (116).
Steal Sunshine and Lightning Tones finished second and third, respectively, behind multiple Grade 1 winner Mindframe in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile here on March 1. Lightning Tones came out on top of Steal Sunshine when the pair met for a second time last month, with Lightning Tones finishing second in a one-mile overnight handicap behind Con Compania and Steal Sunshine checking home a disappointing fifth as the 7-5 favorite.
Awesome Train will also merit respect coming off a popular half-length victory when dropping in against easier optional-claiming and allowance opposition on Oct. 19. Awesome Train had finished second in two of his three previous tries, all in overnight handicap races, including just a length behind Lure Him In when the two last met on June 8.
Sunday’s program also includes a pair of intriguing allowance races. Race 7, at a mile on the main track for older horses, features the return of the Todd Pletcher-trained Accelerize, who has been idle since launching his career with a 7 3/4-length maiden special weight victory at Tampa Bay Downs on March 8 for which he earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
A field of eight promising 2-year-olds will go 5 1/2 furlongs over the Tapeta course under high-priced optional-claiming and allowance conditions in race 8. Mystical Belle, who was expected to scratch from Sunday’s Juvenile Fillies Sprint for this softer spot, will likely be favored against a field that includes Spinelli, Golden Beach, and Fire On the Wire, the fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-place finishers, respectively, in the Colleen Stakes on the grass this summer at Monmouth Park.
45-year-old apprentice wins
Carlos Martinez may have become the oldest bug boy to ever win a race in this country while also making good on a boyhood dream by guiding Saybrook to victory for trainer Carlos Perez in last Sunday’s fourth race. The win was the first for the 45-year-old Martinez and came in just his third official mount.
Martinez, a native of Venezuela, came to the U.S. in 2012 and served as an exercise rider for trainers Mike Maker and Chad Brown for five and three years, respectively, before embarking on his dream of becoming a jockey.
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