HALLANDALE BEACH - Two starts after being claimed for the bargain price of $8,000 Wallace Moore Jr.’s Ashima became stakes winner on her first try with a front-running 1 ¼-length triumph in the $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

    The 23rd running of the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf was the first of two stakes for Florida-breds age 4 and up, followed by the $75,000 Sunshine Classic going 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

    Ashima ($17), a 4-year-old daughter of The Big Beast, was racing for just the fourth time on turf in her 13th start, and first in nine months. Her prior two starts were wins over Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course, both going longer, including a 4 ½-length triumph Nov. 17 when she was taken by trainer Sal Santoro.

    “I liked her and I just felt something towards her. I said, ‘You know what, we need to claim this horse,’” Santoro said. “All this horse wanted was, ‘I love you, too.’ That’s all we did.”

    As they did in a front-running optional claiming allowance together Dec. 12, jockey Emisael Jaramillo got Ashima comfortable on the front end from outside all but two of her six rivals and settled through a quarter-mile in 23.36 seconds and a half in 47.16 tracked to her outside by 6-5 favorite Great Venezuela, riding a four-race win streak.

    Six furlongs went in 1:10.45 with Ashima still in command, and put away Great Venezuela once set down for a drive after straightening for home and finished up in 1:33.73 over a firm turf course. Great Venezuela held second, with Princess Bettina third.

    Love Mami Love, Maryquitecontrary, Beach Ready and My Sunny Valentine completed the order of finish. Parallel was scratched.

    Dating back to last October, Ashima has now won four straight races for three different trainers, and improved her career record to 6-1-2 with $150,590 in purse earnings. Currently, she makes up the entirety of Santoro’s Gulfstream-based stable.

    “Right now he’s my only horse,” said Santoro, who won the 2012 Delta Downs Princess (G3) and 2013 Honeybee (G3) and Fantasy (G3) with Rose to Gold. “I’ve got like five or six others that are probably coming in.”

    JC Racing Stables’ Lightning Tones ($15.40), facing Florida-breds for the first time in his 26th career start, reeled in pacesetting One Sharp Cookie in deep stretch and edged clear to register a last-to-first victory in the Sunshine Classic.

    Winner of the seven-furlong Carry Back in 2023 at Gulfstream for previous trainer Danny Hurtak, late-running Lightning Tones earned his first victory in three tries since being claimed for $16,000 last July.

    One Sharp Cookie, racing for the first time since mid-October, was eager for the lead and held it through splits of :23.61, :47.48 and 1:12.21. Jockey Jorge Ruiz began to move up on the far outside leaving the backstretch, rolled up near the leaders rounding the far turn and closed steadily through the stretch to win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:44.34 for 1 1/16 miles over a fast main track.

    One Sharp Cookie held second, followed by 2-1 favorite Secret Chat, Shaq Diesel, Awesome Train, Souper Watson and Khozeiress. Defending champion Lure Him In was scratched, along with Power Humor, Belts ‘n Brooks, Holiday Pay and Big Martini.



                   



          



        



       



         



         



            



          



                    



        


         



         



         


            

    HALLANDALE BEACH - Fifteen years after leaving his native Venezuela as the country’s winningest trainer, Antonio Sano reached a milestone Sunday at Gulfstream Park when he saddled his 1,000th winner in North America.

    A day after Sano celebrated his 62nd birthday, Big Boy Jak ($11.60), a 3-year-old gelding, provided the popular trainer with the milestone when he led throughout to win the seventh race.           
    “I am so happy. I am proud to be here in the United States. It’s my home now,” said Sano, surrounded by friends and family in Gulfstream’s winner’s circle. “I won over 3,000 races in Venezuela and now 1,000 races here. I am very thankful for every opportunity in 14 years to win 1,000. I have to thank all my owners, my team, my family, my son, everybody that have shown support for me. I hope to win another 1,000.”

    A third-generation horsemen - a champion conditioner in Venezuela with a stable upward of 150 horses - Sano was kidnapped twice in his native country – once for 36 days – before coming to the U.S. After winning his first race in April of 2010, Sano has found success at all levels of the sport. He is the winningest Venezuelan trainer in the U.S., surpassing Manny Azpurua in September of 2023. 

    Sano’s first major success was Gunnevera, a $16,000 yearling who would win the 2017 Fountain of Youth (G2) and finish second in the Travers (G1) as a 3-year-old and run third in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) as a 4-year-old and retire with $5.5 million in earnings.

    Simplification would reward Sano with his second victory in the Fountain of Youth in 2022 and run fourth in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Il Miracolo won the 2023 Gr. III Smarty Jones and Gr. III Ghostzapper and was third in the 2023 Gr. I Pennsylvania Derby. 

    HALLANDALE BEACH - There will be a mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream Park on Sunday. If there is no unique winner of the wager through tomorrow, the estimated pool of Sunday’s mandatory payout is $3 million.

    Sunday’s sequence will begin with Race 5, a $94,000 maiden special weight event for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the turf. Post time is approximately 2:14 ET for the Rainbow 6. The dozen entered include Just Silvia (trainer Todd Pletcher), Sol d’Oro (Christophe Clement), Tellus Mater (Graham Motion), In the Wild (Shug McGaughey), Crystalaire (George Weaver), Sweet Surrender (Bill Mott), Close Up (Cherie DeVaux), and Cocktail Kisses and Goal, both from the barn of Mark Casse.

    The sequence concludes with Race 10, another $94,000 turf event for maiden fillies and mares at a mile. Just So Pretty was beaten a head and two lengths in maiden special weight events on the turf at Saratoga and Aqueduct. El Zain is a $700,000 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro making her debut.

    Sunday’s first race post is 12:20. The Rainbow 6 will have an estimated pool of $400,000 for today’s nine-race program.

    Who’s Hot: Jockey Miguel Vasquez won twice Thursday with Mywifeknowsitall ($6.60) in Race 2 and Win With Faith ($23.20) in Race 5 … Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher notched back-to-back wins with El Megeeth ($8.60) in Race 7 and Autumn Evening ($8) in Race 8.