The Saturday feature at Gulfstream Park, the Grade 3 Gulfstream Turf Sprint, does not leave anything to the imagination. We pored over replays and performance figures and if I said I can beat the favorite, in my heart I’d be lying.
Gear Jockey (3-5) is painfully obvious. After winning the $1M Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint at 6 furlongs, he shipped to Del Mar for the G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at 5 furlongs and gave an excellent account of himself.
Review the Breeders’ Cup race replay to check the effort at Del Mar, NOV 6, Race 5.
Trust that there is a notable difference between 5 furlongs and 5-1/2 furlongs, and six furlongs is an outlier. At that distance, your grass acumen and stamina come into play. At five-eighths, all you really need to be is fast.
On the Thoro-Graph scale, Gear Jockey is consistently faster than his rivals. But the story is his BC trip. Racing between rivals much of the way, he rallied up for wide and made a bid before tiring behind the toughest rivals he ever faced, beaten a tad over five lengths in a race timed in :55.22. Smokin’.
He lugs highweight of 124 here, actually two less than he carried at Del Mar, his outside post likely will ensure a clean trip, and speedy Luis Saez knows what to do aboard a fast Thoroughbred. This race starts a mid-card Pick 4, so there’s that.
We’re taking his straight, no price restrictions and key him in quinellas with Yes I Am Free (6-1) and price shot Richy (12-1). Super exotics players should consider fast working Warrior’s Pride (8-1) to the mix.
