Friday, August 3, 2018 First-Crop Stallions Hit The Green: Wow. It’s already August

RACE 1: 2 – 3 – 5 – 7 3 rd . The year (one in which racing crowned the 13th Triple Crown Champion in Justify) is beyond the halfway point and those beloved Saratoga and Del Mar meetings are at least a RACE 2: 5 – 4 – 6 – 1 quarter complete. Man, does time fly. So, with a new month upon us (and on the eve of the opening round of Gulfstream Park’s history-rich Florida Sire Stakes here tomorrow, Saturday) RACE 3: 2 – 1 – 8 – 7 it is time to get down to business. I’m definitely digging the number of 2yo maiden races GP has been running these last few weeks – regardless of the level – and you can count me in RACE 4: 3 – 5 – 7 – 6 as a fan of Friday’s first race for 2yos on the turf. Friendly reminder (I’m all about those on this page) that first-race post time is a touch after 2 p.m. Eastern for this Twilight Friday RACE 5: 9 – 7 – 1 – 5 program. Here’s a little info on some of the juvenile runners in the opener, a 35k maiden claimer on turf. and Tyler Gaffalione have a first-time starter named RACE 6: 6 – 2 – 1 – 3 Indisputablylinked, the likely favorite. This colt by Data Link (easily prefer his runners on turf) is just the second foal from an unraced More Than Ready dam. This one’s half sibling is a RACE 7: 1 – 6 – 2 – 4 maiden. In a rare move, Pletcher has shipped Indisputablylinked south to GP from Saratoga. Moving on with the first-crop stallions, I wonder what we’ll see from the RACE 8: 5 – 3 – 4 – 8 youngsters by Revolutionary and . Revolutionary, a terrific 3yo who was never quite as good as a 4yo to my eyes, has Guerreron. This Armando De La Cerda- RACE 9: 8 – 7 – 5 – 2 trained colt is the first foal from a Flatter dam that went 0/3 on the track. Revolutionary’s babies have combined for seven GULFSTREAMPARK.COM starts thus far and he owns a single victory (from five individual runners). Guerreron will be his first foray on the turf.

GP Turf 2yos Continued…Mucho Macho Man retired in winter of 2014 with nine wins and more than $5.6 million in earnings. He was a good 2yo, better 3yo and hit his apex at 4 and 5. Mucho Macho Man will be represented by Macho Mania. And just like Macho Mania, Mucho Macho Man was owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and trained by Kathy Ritvo. Personally, I hope Mucho Macho Man has a terrific career as a sire – his durability, class and longevity won me over the second half of his career. In the breeding shed, Mucho Macho Man has notched one winner from nine combined starts. He is 0/2 thus far on the turf. Macho Mania, by the way, is the first foal from an unraced ’s Song mare. Jeffrey Sanchez has the mount on this Gulfstream Park-based gelding. And if that is not enough mucho madness for you, Jersey Rose debuts for the same connections with, yep, you guessed it, the Mucho Macho Man influence in race 4 – the opening leg of Friday’s Rainbow 6 (the carryover was about $600,000 heading into Thursday’s program.)