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Riley Mott Making New Memories at Gulfstream Park
3/14/2024
Ship to Shore Chasing Second Stakes Win in Hutcheson
No Nay Mets, Crimson Advocate Top May 23-24 Nominations
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – When Riley Mott shipped his stable to South Florida for the 2023-2024 Championship Meet, he brought with him many childhood memories enjoyed at Gulfstream Park.
The 31-year-old son of Bill Mott, the Hall of Fame trainer who has achieved many career highlights at Gulfstream, is counting on making many more memories in the future. He is off to a fast start.
Stabled at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, Mott has saddled 11 winners from 47 starters for a 23-percent strike rate during his first meet at Gulfstream Park in his second full season on his own.
“I couldn’t be happier. The results have been great. I think we’ve done really well for our clients down here. The horses look good. I’m very happy how the horses have done at Palm Meadows. I think it’s a great surface and a great facility. I feel lucky to be there. It’s been very conducive for the horses we have.”
Mott, who saddled Sand and Sea for a victory in the $100,000 Orange Blossom overnight handicap Dec. 31, will make a bid for his first stakes victory at Gulfstream Saturday when he saddles Beeline for the $100,000 Hutcheson, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds.
Beeline, an impressive debut winner at Gulfstream Feb. 10, is rated second on the morning line at 5-2 for the Hutcheson, which will mark the dirt debut of Valiant Force, the 7-5 morning-line favorite who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita Nov. 3.
The Mott-trained son of Bee Jersey dispatched a field of maiden special weight foes by 3 ¾ lengths while running six furlongs in a slick 1:09.74 under returning Edgard Zayas.
“We knew he was doing well. He’s been working well and he’s a good-looking physical. We were hoping he’d run well, but you don’t necessarily expect them to run that big first time. We don’t train that way,” Mott said. “He made the lead, fended off a challenge and kept on going – a professional race on his part,” Mott said.
Ship to Shore Chasing Second Stakes Win in Hutcheson
Holly Crest Farm homebred Ship to Shore, dominant winner of the Jan. 6 Limehouse in his previous start, returns to Gulfstream Park looking for a second straight stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Hutcheson.
The Hutcheson, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, will be the first start for Ship to Shore since the six-furlong Limehouse, in which he got out to a quick lead and opened up at every call to win by eight lengths.
“He’s been training good. I was looking for an allowance race for him but couldn’t find one, so this is the only option,” trainer Eddie Owens Jr. said. “If he runs to his training, he’ll be all right.
“It’s a pretty tough race, though. There’s a lot of speed in the race, I was surprised at that,” he added. “But he doesn’t have to be on the lead. He’s not stuck on the rail, so he’ll be just fine. We’ll see if he’s good enough.”
Among those horses withdrawn from the Limehouse were the top two program favorites, Group 2 winner Valiant Force and fellow Irish-bred stablemate Cuban Thunder. Valiant Force, scratched after rearing up in the gate, is entered again to make his dirt debut in the Hutcheson, for which he is the 7-5 morning-line favorite.
“There were some big scratches that day. I was impressed with [Ship to Shore], but he didn’t have to run against much. He still had to go out and perform, and he did,” Owens said. “I’m hoping he gives me the same effort he did last time. If he does, he’ll be right there.”
New Jersey-bred Ship to Shore drew Post 4 in a field of seven for the Hutcheson with Hector Diaz Jr. back aboard. They are rated at 5-1 on the morning line.
Another 3-year-old Holly Hill homebred, Sea Streak, is being pointed to a return March 28 after finishing seventh behind Hades in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull (G3) Feb. 3 – his fifth start, third of the Championship Meet and first around two turns.
“He’s doing good,” Owens said. “I’m going to run him in an allowance race on the 28th. I just wanted to give him a little break. We ran him three times real quick, and if the race goes, he’ll run there.”
Sea Streak ran second in the Smoke Glacken last fall at Monmouth Park in his career debut behind Book’em Danno, who went on to win the 2023 Futurity and Jan. 13 Pasco and run second in the Saudi Derby (G3) Feb. 24. After breaking his maiden at Aqueduct, Sea Streak came to South Florida and was second in an optional claiming allowance Dec. 9 and third in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Jan. 1.
In the Holy Bull Sea Streak rated in fifth behind an opening quarter-mile in 25.03 seconds, was fourth after a half in 50.53 and trailed by less than two lengths following six furlongs in 1:14.25, ultimately beaten eight lengths by front-running Hades. The runner-up, Domestic Product, came back to win the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) March 9 while in third was previously undefeated 2-year-old male champion Fierceness, who is being pointed to the March 30 Curlin Florida Derby (G1).
“They went so slow. That was a very slow race,” Owens said. “I can’t make any excuse for him that day. He didn’t get beat far, but he shouldn’t have been sitting back there waiting on a 25, 50 [pace], taking all the run out of him. He wasn’t the only one. Every jockey should have been shocked that day.”
No Nay Mets, Crimson Advocate Top May 23-24 Nominations
No Nay Mets and filly Crimson Advocate, who each used juvenile stakes wins last spring at Gulfstream Park as a springboard to the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England, are prominent among nominees to a pair of five-furlong sprint stakes March 23 and 24 for 3-year-olds on the Gulfstream turf.
Bregman Family Racing’s Irish-bred No Nay Mets tops 15 nominees to the $100,000 Texas Glitter Saturday, March 23. He won Royal Palm Juvenile, a five-furlong turf dash last spring at Gulfstream, in his career debut last spring to earn a berth in the Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot, where he wound up ninth. He returned to win the Tyro at Monmouth Park and Rosies at Colonial Downs before finishing fourth, beaten 1 ½ lengths as the favorite, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1) last November, his most recent start.
Ironhorse Racing Stable and Harlow Stables’ Mattingly won the five-furlong Hollywood Beach last September over the all-weather Tapeta surface at Gulfstream before transitioning to the dirt, where he ran second in the FSS Affirmed and fourth in the FSS IN Reality to cap his juvenile season, the latter Dec. 2. He has yet to make his 3-year-old debut.
Yutaka Enterprises Corp.’s Okiro was second, beaten 1 ¾ lengths by Mattingly, in the Hollywood Beach and has made his last two starts on the Gulfstream turf. He was promoted to first after finishing second by a head in a five-furlong allowance Dec. 21, and was a troubled eighth last out in the one-mile Colonel Liam March 2.
Phoenix Racing’s Frac Dancer is unbeaten in two starts, both last year on the Woodbine Tapeta, including a neck triumph in the six-furlong Clarendon in December. Shards, third in the Indian Summer at Keeneland and fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, and last-out winners A G Diamond, Bonus Move and Reef Runner are also nominated.
The $100,000 Melody of Colors Sunday, March 24 drew 21 nominations led by Wathnan Racing’s Crimson Advocate. The chestnut daughter of 2016 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist won Gulfstream’s Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies to gain a spot at Royal Ascot, where she was a 9-1 upset winner of the Queen Mary (G2). She has raced once since, finishing sixth against males in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Tracy Farmer’s Dancing Duchess had run second in stakes on the turf and all-weather surfaces at Woodbine last summer before breaking through with a half-length triumph in the five-furlong Algonquin in October, his most recent start. Her Mark Casse-trained stablemate, Karaya, has put together three consecutive wins, all this winter on the Gulfstream turf.
Also on a three-race win streak is Dede McGehee’s Nice as Pie, the latest coming in the 6 ½-furlong Valdale on the synthetic Feb. 10 at Turfway Park. Castleton Lyons homebred El Terreno is unbeaten in two starts, both in front-running fashion, the most recent an off-the-turf optional claiming allowance Dec. 15 at Gulfstream.
Other nominees include Let Them Watch, a two-time stakes winner on dirt last year for trainer Mike Maker that ran fourth in the six-furlong Glitter Woman Jan. 7 at Gulfstream; Roscoe Village, a winner of two straight; 2023 P. G. Johnson runner-up Takemetothebeach; and Tiger Belle, a Group 3 winner last summer in France that was 12th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, her North American debut.