The $215,000, Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park drew a discipline of 9 turf runners, six of them stakes winners on grass. Main the group when it comes to profession earnings is Grand Sonata with a shade over $2 million, who gained the Grade 2 FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes this previous summer time and who drops in school after an 11th-place end within the Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf final month.
Main Dude will go over the a million mark in earnings if he wins, having banked $956,257 thus far whereas successful six of 17 races. He gained his most up-to-date race in October. Emmanuel has gained 5 of 15 profession turf races together with the Grade 3 Canadian Turf Stakes in March over Gulfstream’s course however is winless in six races since then. Win for the Cash gained the Grade 1 Rogers Woodbine Mile Stakes one race earlier than final to carry his earnings to $814,997 and suits properly after a tenth-place end final month within the Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Offered by PDJF. Money Fairness closed quick for second within the Grade 3 Mint Tens of millions Stakes in September however hasn’t threatened in two races since then. Saratoga Flash gained his most up-to-date race two months in the past and was aggressive within the Appleton Stakes on the Gulfstream Park turf course in March when crushed by a head on the wire. Lorenz gained the Remington Inexperienced Stakes when final seen on the finish of September and is racing in a graded stakes race for the primary time. Fort Washington gained the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes on the Ft. Lauderdale’s 1 1/8-mile distance on turf in June and though he’s winless in 4 races since, all of them stakes races, he has been pretty aggressive. Siege of Boston, who hasn’t gained a race since June 2023, completed fourth within the Monmouth Stakes after which second and third in a pair of stakes races in Kentucky, however he adopted that by ending a poor fifth within the Grade 3 Knickerbocker Stakes when final seen in October.
Prime contenders:
Win for the Cash crossed the end line in first each instances he raced on the turf course at Gulfstream Park however he was disqualified and positioned second within the first of these two efforts, again in April 2023. He earned a graded stakes-quality 112 Equibase Pace Determine in that effort, which he got here near repeating when successful the Woodbine Mile in September. Though the Woodbine Mile and the Breeders’ Cup Mile which he ran in final month each carried a Grade 1 rating, the latter was a lot harder, and so it was no shock Win for the Cash ended up final of 10 in that race. Win for the Cash’s solely different race on the Gulfstream Park turf course was the Mr. Steele Stakes this previous Might, by which he dominated by practically seven lengths with a 108 Equibase determine. Contemplating the energy of his effort in his race earlier than final in addition to his win on this course again in Might, Win for the Cash figures to rebound to prime type which ought to be ok to win on this state of affairs.
Grand Sonata has solely gained as soon as in six races this yr whereas ending second in two different races. He too was overmatched in a Grade 1 race final month, the Breeders’ Cup Turf, ending 11th of 13. Nonetheless, proper earlier than that Grand Sonata gained the Kentucky Turf Cup with a really sturdy 114 determine at odds of 15.39-1. That effort was no fluke, as Grand Sonata had earned the identical 114 determine two races previous to that when second, crushed a nostril, within the United Nations Stakes. Much like Win for the Cash, Grand Sonata has confirmed to have an affinity for the Gulfstream Park turf course, with two wins in three begins. Maybe extra importantly, in final yr’s Fort Lauderdale Stakes, Grand Sonata rallied furiously within the late levels to finish up in a four-horse blanket end, lacking the win by three-quarters of a size and incomes a 106 determine that he has bettered in three of six races since. It is extremely fascinating to notice that regardless that Grand Sonata has a file of 5-6-2 in 24 profession begins, jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rides Saturday, has been aboard for all 5 wins from 12 mounts general in these 24 races. Like Win for the Cash, Grand Sonata is eligible to return to the shape he displayed when successful the Kentucky Turf Cup, and as such is one other contender with a excessive chance to win the Ft. Lauderdale.
Main Dude has gained 5 of 13 profession races on turf, together with the Penn Mile Stakes within the spring of 2023 as a 3-year-old. He went winless in his three subsequent races final yr however returned stronger as a 4-year-old after taking 9 months off. In his second begin of 2024, Main Dude gained a categorised allowance race at Saratoga and on the distance of the Fort Lauderdale with a 106 Equibase Determine, after which two races later earned a career-best 113 determine with a robust victory in a stakes-quality allowance race at Keeneland. He not too long ago put in a superb half-mile exercise at Palm Seaside Downs which was the most effective of 24 on the day on the distance, and he’ll reunite with Irad Ortiz Jr. Saturday. The reigning Eclipse Award winner has been aboard for 3 of this horse’s six profession wins, and Main Dude rounds out a robust trio that seems to have a big edge over the remainder of the sphere.
The remainder of the sphere (with finest Equibase Pace Determine): Money Fairness (113), Emmanuel (115), Fort Washington (115), Lorenz (104), Saratoga Flash (113) and Siege of Boston (114).
Win Contenders, in choice order:
