HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Rated by Merit will try to add one final exclamation point to his already sensational 2-year-old campaign while also attempting to become the 11th horse to sweep the open division of the Florida Sire Series when going postward an overwhelming favorite in Saturday’s $300,000 In Reality Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
The 1 1/16-mile In Reality shares top billing on the card with its filly counterpart, the $300,000 My Dear Girl, which features another likely odds-on choice, trainer Brad Cox’s stakes-winning New York invader Stunner. Post time for the 10-race program is 12:20 p.m.
Rated by Merit garnered national attention right off the bat when earning a 92 Beyer Speed Figure winning his debut by 9 3/4 lengths going six furlongs here July 13. He has improved on that mark in both subsequent starts, winning the opening two legs of the Florida Sire Series – the six-furlong Dr. Fager and seven-furlong Affirmed – by 6 1/4 and 3 3/4 lengths, respectively. The 99 Beyer he was awarded for his outstanding performance in the Affirmed is the highest posted by any juvenile in North America in 2024.
Rated by Merit is a homebred son of Battalion Runner owned by St. Elias Stable. His connections, including trainer Michael Yates, made the difficult decision following the Affirmed to forgo the temptation to send their star to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, opting to stay the course against Florida-breds to conclude the promising youngster’s juvenile season.
“It was a tough decision to pass the Breeders’ Cup, but at the end of the day the timing just wasn’t right to take that path,” Yates explained. “In my mind, it would have been cramming the calendar, asking a young horse to do too much at that point, the thought process being to keep him home and point for the big 3-year-old races coming up here this winter.”
Rated by Merit will be stretching out beyond seven furlongs for the first time in the In Reality, although Yates doesn’t feel the added ground should be an issue.
“I feel like he’s really moving forward, he seems to be relaxing really well. I thought he was probably more relaxed in his last breeze than any of his previous ones, and his gallops are pretty serious,” Yates noted. “I really feel, watching him train, that he’ll get the extra ground but at the end of the day, you can analyze it all you want, you’ve got to run them two turns and they’ve got to go out and do it to know for sure.”
Yates has won five Florida Sire Series races during his career but will be looking for his first win in the In Reality.
“Winning this one would be pretty special for me, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to do it with this horse,” Yates said.
Rated by Merit, who’ll again be ridden by Jesus Rios, drew the rail, statistically an advantage with the short run into the first turn in 1 1/16-mile races at Gulfstream Park. He also will not have to face the one horse who figured to provide his sternest challenge on Saturday. Neoequos, runner-up in the opening two legs of the series, will be scratched after sustaining a cut that became infected earlier this week, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said.
Classic of Course, a distant third in the Affirmed, now heads Rated by Merit’s seemingly overmatched competition that also includes recent allowance winner Lou.
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Stunner is the new gal in town and will face Florida-breds for the first time in the My Dear Girl after defeating open stakes company in impressive gate-to-wire fashion in the one-mile Tempted at Aqueduct four weeks earlier. Stunner, a daughter of Girvin, received an 89 Beyer for her big effort in the Tempted, far and away the top figure among the seven fillies entered for the My Dear Girl.
“She’s trained well from the start for us, didn’t quite show as much speed the first time – when she got beat – as I thought she was going to, but obviously put it all together breaking her maiden in her second run at Aqueduct,” said Cox, who sent Stunner to his barn at Payson Park immediately after the Tempted to prepare for her Gulfstream debut. “She showed she could handle more ground in her last start. This is back a little quicker than I like, but her two maintenance works at Payson were very good. And obviously running in a restricted race like this one makes a lot of sense for her first start around two turns.”
Edgard Zayas has picked up the mount on Stunner.
R Morning Brew and Win N Your In won the first two legs of the filly division of the Florida Sire Series and will meet again Saturday, although both will likely have to step up their games quite a bit to match strides with the favorite.
R Morning Brew drew off to an easy victory in the six-furlong Desert Vixen before finishing a tiring and disappointing third behind Win N Your In after rating off the early leader in the Susan’s Girl. And Joseph, who trains the speedy filly for owner Richard Averill, is not hiding his strategy for R Morning Brew on Saturday.
“She’s not the best breaker, but she got a perfect trip last time [just off the pace] and failed to fire,” Joseph said. “That’s why if we’re going to lose we want to do it this time on the lead. And we’re going to get there at all costs.”
Win N Your In stalked the leaders and then faded badly to finish a distant third behind R Morning Brew as the odds-on choice in the Desert Vixen before rebounding in the rematch, rallying to a decisive 4 1/2-length victory going seven furlongs in the Susan’s Girl.
Carlos David, who has sent out Win N Your In to capture three of her last four starts in one-sided fashion, was realistic in assessing his filly’s chance in light of the imposing presence of Stunner.
“I think she’s going to stretch out pretty well,” David said of Win N Your In, “although obviously we have Brad Cox’s filly coming in with huge numbers. But sometimes horses shipping in don’t handle the traveling well or maybe don’t like the track as much.”
Kip the Distance, second best in the Susan’s Girl at odds of 49-1; recent maiden winner Fede; and the winless pair of My Denysse and Bee a Queen complete the compact lineup.
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