Ashima Launching Comeback in Time Passage Handicap

Shares Saturday Spotlight with 5 1/2F Carotari, Also on Tapeta

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Wallace Moore Jr.’s 5-year-old mare Ashima, a 12-time winner that has gone unraced since late April, is set to launch her comeback over a course and a distance she loves in Saturday’s $60,000 Time Passage overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The one-mile, 70-yard Time Passage for fillies and mares 3 and up is the first of two overnight handicaps over the all-weather Tapeta course, followed by the $60,000 Carotari for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs. Post time for the first of 11 races is 12:20 p.m.

Ashima is a daughter of late Grade 1-winning sprinter The Big Beast, who passed away in June at age 15. Ashima ran third or better in 11 consecutive starts, seven of them wins, after being claimed for $8,000 by trainer Sal Santoro in November 2024 including a debut victory in the 2025 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf for her new connections.

Santoro decided the time was right for a break after Ashima finished off the board in back-to-back starts, both on the grass, most recently fourth by two lengths in the FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf April 25 behind Souper Zonda, a four-time stakes winner capped by her popular front-running triumph in the Oct. 10 Daring Kathy overnight handicap at Gulfstream.

“You have to give kudos to the owner. I told him she’s got to have a break, she’s not a machine, and he said fine,” Santoro said. “He’s been patient and understanding, the whole nine yards. I give him a ton of credit. A lot of owners wouldn’t be happy about having to pay bills with no chance of anything coming in because the horse isn’t running. He was great with it. He’s excited as hell [to have her running], that’s for sure.”

Ashima has been training steadily since returning to Santoro’s barn in early August, breezing twice last month at Gulfstream including a bullet five furlongs in 59.69 seconds Oct. 24 over the Tapeta. She has a record of 9-1-1 in 13 lifetime races on the synthetic, and is 5-for-7 with one second and one third at the mile and 70-yard distance with four more wins going 1 1/16 miles.

“She was just off to give her some R and R and let her be a horse. We took our time with her and she’s been moving along pretty good. She’s fresh, she’s feeling good,” Santoro said. “It’s time, and we figured this is as good a spot as any to get her going. We were trying to find a starter and we entered a couple, but they just didn’t go. It’s time to run, so we discussed it and the owner said, ‘Hell, yeah, put her in.’

“One of the vets came by the other morning and checked her out, jogged her up and down the shedrow, went over her with a fine-toothed comb and said, ‘Good luck on Saturday. She looks good,’” he added. “We’re just waiting. We’re looking forward to it.”

Diego Herrera gets the riding assignment for the first time on Ashima, who drew Post 6 in a field of eight, will carry 121 pounds and is rated as the co-fourth choice on the morning line at 6-1 for her first start in 197 days.

“I’m not putting on a clean shirt for a win picture, first race back, but I think she’s going to run good. She’s on a surface she likes and hopefully she’ll get something out of the race and like everybody else come back safe and sound,” Santoro said. “We’re all excited. That’s about all I can say.”

The narrow 5-2 program favorite is Palm Beach Racing V’s Miss Mary Nell (Post 8, Jonathan Ocasio, 123 pounds). The 4-year-old Girvin filly was 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Ashima when third in the FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf, is 6-for-13 lifetime on the synthetic and won half of her 12 tries at the distance, latest a 1 ¾-length victory in the off-the-turf Ginger Punch Sept. 12. In her last start, Miss Mary Nell ran third by two lengths in the Daring Kathy.

Glassman Racing’s Candy Quest (Post 5, Sonny Leon, 7-2) is the 124-pound topweight and, like Ashima, will be entering the Time Passage off a lengthy layoff. The 4-year-old daughter of Connect hasn’t been out since finishing ninth in the 1 1/16-mile Sand Springs on the Gulfstream turf March 28, a span of 225 days. Winner of last summer’s Ontario Colleen (G3) on the grass at Woodbine, Candy Quest will be making her Tapeta debut though she has two siblings with past success on the synthetic including multiple Grade 3 winner Frosted Over.

Among the field is Gary Barber’s Minty (Post 1, Angel Cruz, 10-1, 120), a stablemate of Candy Quest that was most recently eighth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the six-furlong Sensible Lady Sept. 12 on the Laurel Park turf. She raced twice over the Tapeta during the 2025-2026 Championship Meet, both at a mile and 70 yards, including a front-running optional claiming victory last November.

R.A.F. Productions’ Fantasy Performer (Post 4, Joe Bravo, 3-1, 122) won the one-mile Frolic’s Revenge overnight handicap Aug. 16 on the Gulfstream turf over next-out winners Little Jamie and Miss Mary Nell, the latter avenging that loss by three-quarters of a length when Fantasy Performer ran second as the favorite. The 5-year-old mare finished behind Miss Mary Nell again when sixth in the Daring Kathy.

Lets Go Koko (Post 2, Edwin Gonzalez, 6-1, 120), upset winner of the 2025 Powder Break on the Gulfstream turf, Simply Striking (Post 3, Marcos Meneses, 20-1, 117) and Oshala (Post 7, Heriberto Figueroa, 8-1, 119) complete the field.

Bred in Florida by Baoma Corp. and trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. for his wife, Laurie, and Karl Glassman, Time Passage made 18 of her 21 lifetime starts at Gulfstream Park. She was first or second 10 times with six wins including four in a row to end her 2023 campaign, a streak that included the Soaring Softly overnight handicap, Miss Gracie and Cellars Shiraz stakes. She was retired in 2024 with $374,302 in purse earnings.