HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Grade 2 winner Steal Sunshine’s itinerary through the upcoming Championship meeting at Gulfstream Park will likely be determined by his performance in the main event here Saturday, a $70,000 overnight handicap carded at 1 1/16 miles on turf. The headliner lured a field of nine that also includes Steal Sunshine’s uncoupled stablemate Relampago Verde.
Steal Sunshine has had considerable success over the main track during the previous two Championship sessions, winning and finishing second in the last two renewals of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile while also being Grade 3-placed on three other occasions during that span. But trainer Bobby Dibona is convinced Steal Sunshine might be an even better horse on grass, an experiment that began in the summer and which will continue for at least one more race, weather permitting, on Saturday.
“I ran him on the grass after he got back from Dubai to kind of set the stage for the rest of the season, and he ran remarkably well considering I didn’t even have him 100 percent fit and the horse who I thought was lucky to beat him [Beach Gold] came back to win a stakes at Ellis and finish third in the Mint Million at Kentucky Downs,” Dibona said.
Steal Sunshine also competed in the Mint Million, finishing a distant 13th and last in easily his worst performance in more than three years. But it’s one Dibona is inclined to toss out due to the circumstances leading up to that race.
“I had him in a $500,000 race for nonwinners of the year at Kentucky Downs and was 3-1 on the board when they scratched me in the paddock because they alleged he had acted up and hit his head, which he unequivocally had not,” Dibona explained. “In fact, HISA ultimately admitted the mistake and reversed that decision, allowing us to accept his invitation into the Mint Million. But he hadn’t had a prep going in, and I just don’t think he liked the course. It’s the only time he’s ever run poorly for me.”
Dibona said Steal Sunshine couldn’t be doing better since returning to South Florida, and he’s confident his horse will be bring his A game on Saturday.
“This race will determine whether we are going to keep him on turf moving forward or switch him back to the dirt again for the winter,” Dibona said.
Relampago Verde has started four times, three on dirt and once over the Tapeta course, since being purchased privately and turned over to Dibona during the spring. On Saturday, he will be back on grass for the first time since finishing seventh last winter in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes.
“We’ve been looking to get him back to the turf, and I’m expecting big improvement the way he’s been training,” Dibona said. “I worked him in company with Sunshine in 59 and one recently, and he stuck with him the whole way. My only concern with either horse would be the weather, because if the race comes off the grass, I’ll probably scratch them both.”
Lorenz and Just a Photo – who finished first and second, just a half-length apart, in the Mr. Steele Stakes here during the spring – figure to garner plenty of support. So too should Private Thoughts, a winner of three of his last four starts and who’s equally as good on the Tapeta as grass, and Prevent, who won a similarly conditioned overnight handicap over the synthetic track four weeks ago.
White Abarrio works well
White Abarrio continues to impress since returning to prepare for his upcoming start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Working shortly after the second renovation break, White Abarrio breezed four furlongs in 46.56 seconds, responding to just a hint of encouragement near midstretch to complete his final quarter in 23.25 before galloping out five-eighths into the turn in 59.21.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said White Abarrio will complete all his major preparations for the Dirt Mile locally before shipping to Del Mar on Oct. 23.
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