Two horses riding three-race winning streaks meet in Thursday’s second-level allowance/optional $62,500 feature scheduled for six furlongs on dirt at Gulfstream Park. Neither will be favored.
Suga Steve, a recent purchase out of a digital sale and now in the barn of Kent Sweezey, makes his South Florida debut following three straight victories at Laurel Park. Meanwhile, Air Combat, trained by Martin Drexler, seeks his third straight win over the Gulfstream dirt surface after racing predominantly over turf and synthetic in 2024.
Suga Steve was claimed for $20,000 by Lacey Gaudet last December. Suga Steve won that claimer and then stepped up to win a $45,000 claiming event and a first-level allowance before going through the digital sale in February. Rachel Gerson’s Starry Night Racing and Jeffrey Lambert paid $80,000 to buy the 4-year-old son of Goldencents. Sweezey said he would have liked to have run Suga Steve in a starter allowance but couldn’t find one. He said the horse has trained well enough to give this condition a shot.
“He worked good at Palm Meadows, Dylan [Davis] worked him and we’ll see how it goes,” said Sweezey, who has Davis to ride. “Is he good enough to win the [two-other-than]? We’ll find out. We’re taking a shot. He needs to step up.”
Air Combat also needs to step up. Drexler claimed the 6-year-old son of Blame for $25,000 in December at Woodbine. Air Combat won for $35,000 at Gulfstream on Jan. 10 and then took a starter allowance by 2 1/4 lengths on Jan. 31, earning a 91 Beyer Speed Figure.
He will have nearly two months between starts for this race and does get the services of John Velazquez.
Velazquez rides Air Combat because Tyler Gaffalione, who rode the horse to his two wins at Gulfstream, is committed to ride probable race favorite Into Pleasure for Brian Lynch. Into Pleasure won his maiden at Gulfstream on Dec. 21 and then a first-level allowance on Jan. 29.
In his first try at this condition, Into Pleasure finished third behind Caramel Chip and Speak Easy.
The 8-year-old Mish makes his fifth straight start in this condition going back to September. On Dec. 15, he won by 3 1/2 lengths and then came back on Feb. 7 with a second-place finish behind Great Navigator.
Mish, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., has recorded eight of his 10 lifetime victories at Gulfstream.
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