HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Thousandsticks won his third straight race at the Gulfstream Park winter meet, becoming a stakes winner in the process, by wearing down the pacesetting Redland Rebels to win Saturday’s $175,000 Kitten’s Joy Stakes by a neck.
Redland Rebels, making his first start since August, finished second by three-quarters of a length over Alpyland, the 6-5 favorite who had a three-race winning streak snapped.
Thousandsticks, a son of Twirling Candy owned by Silverland Hill and trained by Brian Lynch, had won his previous two starts by being right on the pace. On Saturday, jockey Mario Gutierrez was content to sit off Redland Rebels, who was sent forward from the outside post by jockey Junior Alvarado.
Going into the first turn, Gutierrez did a good job of maintaining his position in the two-path while inside of Turf Star, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione. The two horses brushed rear ends going into that turn.
“We might be friends in the jocks room, but we’re all riding to win,” Gutierrez said. “I think that was a good move, I had to defend my position.”
Thousandsticks stalked Redland Rebels until the quarter pole, where he drew even with Redland Rebels. The two ran together into deep stretch before Thousandsticks edged clear.
Thouandsticks covered the 1 1/16 miles over firm ground in 1:40.23 and returned $8.60 to win.
“He’s a really good grass horse, I get to know him really well, I work him in the mornings,” Gutierrez said. “You look at his races, he’s still trying to figure it out, but he’s got a real nice kick toward the end.”
Lynch echoed the sentiment that Thousandsticks is still a bit immature, mentioning that “he’s still a little waspy to saddle, he still raced a little green there, but he certainly dug in when he had to,” he said.
Though Thousandsticks has won three races in eight weeks, Lynch plans to continue on with him and point to the Colonel Liam here on Feb. 28.
“He’s a horse that seems to be thriving off racing right now,” Lynch said. “He’s a robust, strong little colt. I think definitely he’ll run back here. We’ll set him for a race at Keeneland and hopefully the race on Derby Day.”
Redland Rebels performed like a horse with a future. Since he won a maiden race here in August, he was sidelined with shins and was gelded because trainer Patrick Biancone thought he was getting too big.
“He got tired the last 50 yards, hadn’t run for a long time, he’s a very good horse, we like him a lot,” Biancone said.
With the top two finishers, there is certainly plenty to like.
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