In what will be his 12th start of the season, grade I winner Lochte will try to nail down his third stakes win of 2014 when he faces an expected eight rivals in the $100,000 Tropical Turf Handicap (gr. IIIT) Nov. 22 at Gulfstream Park West.
Crossed Sabres Farm's Lochte scored an upset victory this February when the 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro gelding rallied along the rail under regular rider Orlando Bocachica in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (gr. IT). Since that effort, Lochte has registered two more grade I placings and two starts ago scored a half-length victory over Dreams Cut Short in The Vid Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
"From the beginning, I've always had my ups and downs with him," said trainer Marcus Vitali. "He's had his share of problems, like any athlete. Now, we've got him well managed and he's been on the upswing. We're going to take it one race and a time and hopefully point him in the right direction."
Rollin Fishback and Charles Logsdon's Dreams Cut Short, who also will start in the Tropical Turf, turned the tables on Lochte when he scored a 1 1/4-length victory in an Oct. 12 allowance race on the turf at Gulfstream Park West. The 5-year-old Belong to Me gelding will try to secure his first stakes win in Saturday's 1 1/8-mile turf event for 3-year-olds and older.
The field also will include a New York-bred heading south for the approaching winter—consistent grade III winner Lubash, who has seven stakes victories and 12 additional stakes placings in five seasons of racing. A 7-year-old son of Freud who earned all but one of those 19 stakes placings in New York, Lubash has finished first or second in six straight races.
The field is expected to be nine if the race stays on turf and Gulfstream Park West also saw four horses entered under main-track-only conditions. Should the race be moved to the main track, Crossed Sabres Farm also is covered among that group with Valid, a winner of three of his past four starts who enters off an Oct. 11 stakes win at Gulfstream Park West.
GULFSTREAM PARK WEST, Saturday, November 22, 2014, Race 7Entries: Tropical Turf H. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Rapscallion (KY) Gabriel Saez 114 H. Graham Motion - 2 2Lubash (NY) Brice Blanc 116 Christophe Clement - 3 3Reporting Star (FL) Carlos H. Marquez, Jr. 121 Pat Parente - 4 4Dreams Cut Short (KY) Edgar S. Prado 119 Michael J. Maker - 5 5Edge of Reality (PA) Joe Bravo 116 H. Graham Motion - 6 6Grand Tito (KY) Santiago Gonzalez 117 Antonio Sano - 7 7Lochte (KY) Orlando Bocachica 120 Marcus J. Vitali - 8 8Unbridled Command (NY) Edgard J. Zayas 119 Martin D. Wolfson - 9 9Karibu Gardens (KY) Leandro R. Goncalves 118 Josie Carroll - 10 10Midnight Cello (KY) Fernando Jara 116 Marcus J. Vitali - 11 11Valid (VA) Orlando Bocachica 115 Marcus J. Vitali - 12 12Csaba (KY) Ramsey Zimmerman 114 Philip A. Gleaves - 13 13I'm Steppin' It Up (FL) Jose C. Caraballo 112 Anthony Pecoraro -
