HALLANDALE BEACH - Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Forces will bring an unblemished record into Saturday’s $125,000 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park with little fanfare.

    “He’s one of those kind of horses that blends into the crowd,” trainer Michael Trombetta said. “He just does his job and when he races, he gives it his best.”

    Souper Forces will seek his fourth victory in as many career starts in the 50th running of the Tropical Park Derby, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds that will co-headline Saturday’s 11-race program with the $125,000 Tropical Park Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

    The homebred son of Laoban has won his three races at three different racetracks. After breaking his maiden in his debut over Presque Isle Downs’ synthetic surface at six furlongs with a late rally on Aug. 5, he stretched out to a mile on turf to capture an entry-level allowance with an off-the-pace performance at Colonial Downs a month later. In his stakes debut in the Nov. 1 Showing Up at Gulfstream Park, he surged from well off the pace at the top of the stretch to register an 18-1 upset victory in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes.

    “The only thing I can say about this guy is: everything I’ve asked him to do, he’s done very, very well,” Trombetta said. “He’s been a very pleasant surprise.”

    Souper Forces, who drew the far-outside post position in a field of 12 and an also-eligible, is rated at 8-1. Trombetta, who saddled Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Blessing for a 12-1 upset victory in the 2023 Tropical Park Derby, has awarded the return mount aboard Souper Forces to Cipriano Gil.

    Arindel’s Tank will make a highly anticipated return to Gulfstream, where he won back-to-back races before shipping to Saratoga for his last three starts. The son of Adios Charlie followed up a victory in the Sophomore Turf Stakes at Tampa Bay with forwardly placed turf victories in the English Channel and Not Surprising during Gulfstream’s Royal Palm Meet.

    The homebred colt was shipped to Saratoga, where he set the pace in the Aug. 4 Belmont Derby before finishing fourth, beaten by just 1 ½ lengths. He followed up with off-the-board finishes in the Hall of Fame and Saranac without displaying his usual early speed.

    “He was going really good, but in the last race, he broke really bad for Jaramillo. He can rate, but he needs to be close. He needs to break,” trainer Carlos David said. “Those were really tough races against open company. I figured I’d give him a break and bring him back for this meet.”

    Emisael Jaramillo, who was also aboard for Tank’s English Channel and Not Surprising wins, has the return mount on the Florida-bred colt, who is 8-1 on the morning line and who will break from the gate one stall inside Souper Forces.

    Late-developing Chapman’s Peak is favored on the morning line at 5-2 after finishing second in the Nov. 22 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs, where he dueled from the start of the 1 1 1/6-mile stakes for 3-year-olds only to come up just a head short of winning.

    The Brad Cox-trained Godolphin homebred had won his two prior starts, graduating at Kentucky Downs in his fourth career start before winning a Keeneland allowance with a front-running performance. Tyler Gaffalione is scheduled to ride Chapman’s Peak for the first time Saturday.

    Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz Dashing is rated second on the morning line at 7-2. The son of 2020 Florida Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law is coming off a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Hill Prince (G3) at Aqueduct. Trainer Barclay Tagg has given the return mount aboard Tiz Dashing to Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

    Dominic Dilalla’s Church and State, a multiple-stakes winner at Woodbine, will take on Tiz Dashing again after finishing third in the Hill Prince, beaten by 1 ¾ lengths. Micah Husbands is slated to ride the Steve Owens-trained son of Caravaggio for the first time.

    Calumet Farm’s Candytown, rated at 8-1 on the morning line along with Church and State, Souper Forces and Tank, enters the Tropical Park Derby off a troubled fourth-place finish in the Showing Up, in which he encountered traffic before rallying to finish fourth, beaten just over a length. Edgard Zayas, who was aboard the son of Speightstown for a turf allowance victory at Saratoga as well as fourth-place finishes in the Gio Ponti at Aqueduct and the Showing Up, has the return mount on the Calumet homebred who is trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

    Kevin Doyle’s Layabout (10-1), who came up a half-length short of holding off Souper Forces after building a two-length lead in the Showing Up; Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm’s Simulate (12-1), who has made his last three starts in graded company at Colonial Downs, Kentucky Downs and Keeneland; and James Conner’s Day and Age (20-1), who was a troubled seventh in the Showing Up after capturing a Churchill Downs allowance: are also entered in a highly competitive Tropical Park Derby.

    “I don’t know where he fits in there,” said Day and Age’s Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. “It’s a great race. He ran great in Kentucky. He didn’t have a great trip in his last start. He needs to have a great trip. It’s a strong field, so the trip can make the race.”

    Dastur Racing’s Thundering, (20-1), Lawson Racing Stables’ Roar of the Beast (20-1), and Eduardo Soto’s Discreet Dancer (30-1), round out the field. Joseph Allen’s McRavin (20-1) is also-eligible.

    OLDSMAR - Chris Fountoukis was about 90 minutes from Tampa Bay Downs Saturday morning when his new truck broke down, forcing him to call a tow truck and summon an Uber driver to take him back home to Miami. It wasn’t long before his day turned into seashells, balloons and rainbows.

    Fountoukis, a retired contractor, watched on his cell phone as his 2-year-old colt Solitude Dude demolished five opponents in the 40th running of the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, contested as the second race. Under jockey Edgard Zayas, Solitude Dude defeated runner-up Max Capacity by 8 lengths in a time of 1:09.07 for 6 furlongs, breaking the stakes record of 1:09.13 set last year by Donut God.

    The Tampa Bay Downs track record is 1:08.67, set by It’s Me Mom in 2012. Solitude Dude paid $2.20 to win.

    The Inaugural was one of two stakes races on a 10-race card consisting of nine races for 2-year-olds. In the co-feature, the 48th edition of the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Sneaky Good rallied from off the pace under jockey Antonio Gallardo, collaring Evolution at the sixteenth pole and withstanding a late charge from Blazing Brat to win by 2 ¾ lengths. Evolution held on for third, a head in front of My Miss Mo. Sneaky Good paid $4.80 to win as the betting favorite.

    As impressive as Sneaky Good looked, the day’s headlines were reserved for Solitude Dude.
“He’s awesome. I’m all excited,” said Fountoukis, who purchased Solitude Dude through trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., for $300,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June Sale. “Saffie loves this horse. He thinks he has a good future.”

    Joseph isn’t the only one holding that opinion after the son of Yaupon-After the Party, by Into Mischief, improved to 2-for-2 in his career. Both Joseph, who watched the race from back home in south Florida, and Zayas began the day with guarded optimism that was realized about as well as could be hoped for.

    “He had a very encouraging workout (Nov. 28, 4 furlongs in :46.75 seconds at Palm Meadows Training Center), but he was facing winners for the first time today,” said Joseph, who also trains the third-place finisher, Langvad. “He moved a little early into a fast pace, but he still quickened away when (Zayas) asked him. I think he has a lot of ability and hopefully he will continue to build on it.”

    Joseph said he will consider the Jan. 10 Pasco Stakes at 7 furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs for Solitude Dude’s next start (and first as a 3-year-old), so there is sufficient time for the connections to savor this race (and get Fountoukis up and running again).

    Solitude Dude’s flirtation with the track record “tells a lot about what kind of horse he is,” Joseph said. “He has a lot of gears. That he can go into a fast pace and quicken like he did, we’re grateful to have him. He relaxes very well. His mind is probably his best attribute.”

    Indeed, Solitude Dude appeared to be unfazed as Super Kick broke to a 2-length lead, running the opening quarter-mile in "21.68 seconds. The half went in :44.31, but it didn’t seem to tax Solitude Dude.

    “He’s an amazing horse, a very nice horse,” said Zayas, who was aboard him for the first time. “I’m very excited to see how he runs in the future. It looks like he has a lot of ability. He broke good and I could tell he was a classy horse. He sat second and was on cruise control the whole time until I asked him about the 3/8 pole.

    “Once he got momentum, he opened up a couple of lengths and I let him go all the way to the wire. (The time) was without even using the whip on him. He probably would have broken the track record, but we’re not looking at that. We’re just saving it for the bigger races.”

    A brief rainstorm began about five minutes before post time for the Sandpiper, but had let up by the time the race went off. Sneaky Good, who is owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Brad Cox, asserted her superiority late to improve to 2-for-2.

    Less than an hour earlier, Cox won the Gr. II Cigar Mile at Aqueduct with 5-year-old horse Bishops Bay.

    Sneaky Good’s time of 1:10.70 was 1.35 seconds off Dorth Vader’s 2022 stakes record. “I had a lot of confidence in her, and the race set up perfect,” Gallardo said of the daughter of Into Mischief-Gale, by Tonalist. “There was a lot of speed, and I think the outside (No. 9) post position helped because she had enough speed to be close but she didn’t have to go to the lead.

    “I pushed the button a little early because the track has been playing fast, but not as much for this race because of the rain. I asked her with my mouth,” he said, making a smooching noise, “and she gave me a little kick, so I knew I had a lot of horse left.”

Around the oval - Leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin rode three winners for the second consecutive day. He captured the first race on Teddy Bear, a 2-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Robert Cotran and trained by Joseph Orseno. Marin and Orseno doubled up in the fifth race with Hades, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran. Marin then won the seventh with Lightscape, a 2-year-old filly owned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor.

    HALLANDALE BEACH - Two-time defending leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr., fellow Eclipse Award winner Tyler Gaffalione and British champion David Egan will make their first appearances of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet when the country’s premier winter stand resumes with a nine-race program today.

 First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

     Ortiz, fresh off topping the Churchill Downs fall meet standings, is named in four races today and seven on Friday to begin the quest for his record-extending seventh Championship Meet title, having broken the mark set by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, who won five in a row from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016. Ortiz also surpassed Castellano’s single-season standard with 140 wins in 2020-2021.

    A 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico and five-time Eclipse Award winner (2018-20, 2022-23), Ortiz ranked first with 109 wins and $6.6 million in purse earnings last winter at Gulfstream with 12 stakes wins led by White Abarrio in the Ghostzapper (G3) and $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Mindframe in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2).

    Gaffalione, born and raised in Davie, Fla., is named in three races today and Friday and six on Saturday including Summer Cause for trainer Miguel Clement in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Handicap scheduled for two miles on the grass.

    Last winter the 31-year-old Gaffalione, the champion apprentice of 2015, was second at the Championship Meet with 74 wins and third with nearly $4.2 million in purse earnings whose stakes wins were highlighted by Spirit of St Louis in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1).

    Based in England, where he was the champion apprentice of 2017, Egan was born in Kildare, Ireland and returns for the third straight winter. He is named in five races today, four races Friday and five on Saturday including stakes-placed I Know I Know in the Jerkens for 3-year-olds and up.

    Egan, 26, won 18 races and $707,450 in purses from 149 mounts at the 2024-2025 Championship Meet before returning for the British season. The winner of several major international Group 1 races including the Saudi Cup, Dubai Sheema Classic, Irish St. Leger and the St. Leger in England, he is a contract rider for Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing through 2028.

    Soon to arrive at Gulfstream are Hall of Famer John Velazquez, North America’s all-time leader with more than $513 million in purses earnings, and Corey Lanerie, a lifetime winner of 5,150 races.

    Jockey Rajiv Maragh sits one win shy of 2,000 for his career. He is named in two races today, five on Friday and six on Saturday.