Thursday, August 20, 2026
Bayou Brigid goes for 3 in a row . . .
HALLANDALE BEACH - Bayou Brigid, a popular winner of her last two turf starts, will attempt to make it three in a row and give trainer and co-owner Heather Smullen her first career stakes victory in the process in Saturday’s $100,000 Miss Gracie at Gulfstream Park.
The Miss Gracie for 3-year-old fillies, scheduled at a two-turn mile on the grass, takes top billing as the Royal Palm Meet resumes with a 10-race program starting at 12:20 p.m.
Smullen, who worked as an assistant and exercise rider for 20 years at Arindel and under such trainers as Ralph Nicks, Barclay Tagg, Dale Romans and Phil Serpe until going out on her own in 2024, purchased Bayou Brigid for $20,000 last spring before bringing in Dan Murphy of Sea Warrior Stables as a partner.
“We bought her as a 2-year-old. I really liked her,” Smullen said. “She’s very immature and it’s taken a while for her to come around. She’s filled out, she’s training well and I’m pleased with what she’s turned into so far.”
Bayou Brigid, a bay daughter of $2.3-million earner Neolithic bred in Florida by Helen and Joseph Barbazon, exits a determined neck victory at the course and distance July 13 over her elders including next-out winner Calathea. Two starts earlier, she rallied for a 1 ¾-length state-bred allowance triumph going 1 1/16 miles on the grass, also beating older horses.
“She’s doing well,” Smullen said. “There comes a point in time where you have to run in a two-other-than against older horses, which probably is not going to go right now anyway, or a 3-year-old stake. She’s doing well, handles the track well, might as well give it a try.”
In between her recent turf wins Bayou Brigid ran third in the June 6 Martha Washington over Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course, beaten three lengths by multiple stakes-winner Haute Diva. Overall, she has two wins, two seconds and two thirds in nine tries on the turf, with a win and a third in two Tapeta attempts.
Bayou Brigid has also made one dirt start, finishing fifth in the My Dear Girl division of the Florida Stallion Stakes Series last November behind Mythical, a six-time stakes winner including the 2025, Gr. III Adirondack.
“She doesn’t like the dirt at all, that’s obvious. It was worth a try with those stallion series races we had last year, but it did not help her. She trains well enough on it, just doesn’t carry over to running on it,” Smullen said. “I think she’s marginally better on the grass than she is on the Tapeta. She runs OK on the Tapeta but doesn’t have the same kind of kick.”
Third in the one-mile Our Dear Peggy last fall on the Gulfstream turf, Bayou Brigid has two of Smullen’s three stakes placings as a trainer. The other is the 3-year-old colt Wootun, who finished second in the March 14 Hutcheson.
Smullen is enjoying the Royal Palm Meet, ranking in the top 10 in both wins (17) and purses earned ($679,675). She has 42 wins and more than $1.9 million in purse earnings from 476 lifetime starters.
“It’d be very nice. I wouldn’t complain at all,” Smullen said of a potential first stakes win. “I’ve had horses run well in stakes and she’s one of them. She’s been third in two different stakes. She shows up, and that’s a big part of it. If you can lead them over there and know they’re going to put in an effort for you, that’s all you can ask for.”
Leonel Reyes gets the return mount from the rail in a field of eight. All horses will carry 120 pounds. “It’s not my favorite [post], but you just take what you get,” Smullen said.
Green With MV Stable and trainer Patrick Biancone’s Laigina (Post 3, J.G. Torrealba) has been second in a pair of one-mile turf stakes at Gulfstream, the Honey Ryder May 2 and Ginger Brew Jan. 2, both by less than two lengths. The Leinster filly also finished third by a length and a quarter in the March 28 Sanibel Island going 7 ½ furlongs on the grass, and comes out of a fifth-place finish against elders in the July 11 Powder Break, which marked her Tapeta debut.
Morplay Racing and RT Racing Stable’s Curly Sue (Post 7, Yolber Torres) was supplemented into the Miss Gracie by trainer Jose D’Angelo after the bay daughter of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin won her season debut at the course and distance, beating older horses. She ran twice at 2, both times on the dirt, running second in her unveiling and last of five over a sloppy track in late November before getting time off.
Turkish Flame (Post 2, Marcos Meneses), Call the Bullpen (Post 4, Samy Camacho), Sorokin (Post 5, Rasheed Hughes), Del Mar Sunrise (Post 6, Jose Morelos) and Bert’s Knoty Girl (Post 8, Pedro Pena) complete the field.