Damon’s Mound Faces Seven in $100,000 FHBPA Sprint

Nic’s Style Seeks Elusive Win in FHBPA Filly & Mare Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Finding the right races for an eight-time stakes winner of three graded events can be tricky, but Cliff and Michele Love’s 6-year-old millionaire homebred Damon’s Mound appears to have landed an ideal spot in Saturday’s $100,000 FHBPA Sprint at Gulfstream Park.

The Sprint and $100,000 Filly & Mare Sprint, both going 6 ½ furlongs for older horses, are among a half-dozen six-figure stakes restricted to Florida-breds on an 11-race program that begins at 12:05 p.m. ET

Trained for the last season and a half by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Damon’s Mound will be facing state-breds for just the fourth time in his 21st start but third in the last four after winning Gulfstream’s six-furlong Sunshine Sprint Jan. 17 to kick off his season for a second straight year. Though he had already won a pair of graded-stakes, his 2025 Sunshine Sprint win was particularly significant being his first race in 13 months.

Damon’s Mound broke a step slow and raced far back early before rallying to be second, beaten three lengths, in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Feb. 21, coming back a popular and determined winner of the NYRA Bets Sprint March 29 at Tampa Bay Downs, both going six furlongs.

“He’s a nice horse. He’s very special, and we really like him,” Cliff Love said. “I’m amazed at the talent he’s got.”

The 71-year-old Love’s stable star, by Grade 1-winning millionaire Girvin, is named for the small town of Damon, Texas where his grandparents lived, about an hour southwest of the owner-breeder’s Houston home. The town had a geological feature called a salt dome, which the locals dubbed ‘Damon’s Mound,’ and the name also fit in with the family’s love of baseball.

“We’re very proud of him. He’s a special kind of horse that doesn’t come around that often. We’re just enjoying the experience with him,” Love said. “For me, I’d rather brag about him after the race than before.”

The FHBPA Sprint will be the fourth time Damon’s Mound has tried 6 ½ furlongs and first since finishing fourth in the 2025 Parx Sprint. He has one win at the distance, the 2022 Saratoga Special (G2) in just his second start, which followed a 12 ½-length debut romp six weeks earlier.

“Going back to his first race he showed he was pretty special and everybody thought he was going to be good,” Love said. “We’re just excited about every race with him. No matter how big or how small, we just like to see him run.”

Regular rider Junior Alvarado returns to South Florida for the call on Damon’s Mound, favored on the morning line at 7-5 from outermost Post 8.

Wathnan Racing’s Flood Zone (Post 6, 5-2) will try to turn the tables on Damon’s Mound after finishing third by two lengths at Tampa last out. The 4-year-old Frosted colt graduated against state-breds second time out going 6 ½ furlongs at Gulfstream in January 2025 for previous trainer Victor Barboza Jr. The 2025 Gotham (G3) winner opened this year with a seven-furlong optional claiming win Feb. 28 at Tampa, his first try against elders.

Also exiting the Tampa sprint is fourth-place finisher Classic of Course (Post 1, 9-2), who has run third or better in seven of nine career tries on Gulfstream’s main track. Two of them are wins including his most recent, the one-mile Awesome Banner overnight handicap Nov. 8. The versatile son of Awesome of Course trained by Patrick Biancone also won the 7 ½-furlong Cutler Bay last winter over the Gulfstream turf.

Completing the field are Carambaso (Post 2, 20-1), Hurricane Nelson (Post 3, 5-1), Nothingsubtle (Post 4, 12-1), Joey Muscles (Post 5, 20-1) and Neshume (Post 7, 20-1).

Nic’s Style Seeks Elusive Win in FHBPA Filly & Mare Sprint

Rousseau Racing’s Grade 3 winner Nic’s Style, her stop-and-start career back in full swing, looks to snap a string of four straight runner-up finishes against six rivals including millionaire Mystic Lake in Saturday’s $100,000 FHBPA Filly & Mare Sprint Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The 6 ½-furlong Filly & Mare Sprint for older horses is the first of six consecutive $100,000 stakes for Florida-bred horses to conclude an 11-race program that gets under way at 12:05 p.m. ET

Now 6, Nic’s Style has made five starts since returning from an eight-month absence running fourth in the seven-furlong Pumpkin Pie Nov. 8 at Aqueduct. The Uncaptured mare won the Pumpkin Pie the previous year to start a four-race win streak that ended with Gulfstream’s 6 ½-furlong Hurricane Bertie (G3) last March before going to the sidelines.

“She’s been a roller coaster ride, what can I say?” Stephen Rousseau said. “I named her after my wife [Nicola]. She won her first race very impressively and we thought we had a Florida Stallion Stakes horse. Then she got injured and [when] we brought her back 18 months later, she won impressive and got injured again. Another seven or eight months she came back to training.”

“She reeled off like seven or eight wins which was just a great ride. Her last win was her fourth in a row and then she got hurt and we had to lay her off again. We brought her back in New York and it has just been a tough ride since we brought her back,” he added. “All the injuries she’s had, nothing has ever been serious. Just little things that needed a few months on the farm to rest and heal up.”

After the Pumpkin Pie, Nic’s Style made her next three starts at Gulfstream starting in the Dec. 20 Sugar Swirl, when she was 1 ½ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Mystic Lake making her first start in three months. She was then beaten in back-to-back optional claiming allowances, the first over a sloppy track and the latter by subsequent Madison (G1) winner Eclatant, before coming up short against fellow graded winner Irish Maxima March 21 at Aqueduct.

“When we came back we had one thing after another. In New York, two races got canceled because of the weather. She ran fourth there then we came back and ran in the Sugar Swirl and she wasn’t 100 percent at that point,” Rousseau said. “Then we came back and got a wet track which didn’t really suit us, and then we ran into Eclatant who is a monster. She’s been running against very good horses since she’s been back. We’re hoping that we get lucky and find the winner’s circle again.”

Nic’s Style drew Post 5 and will have the services of regular rider Junior Alvarado, aboard for 11 of her 13 starts. First or second 12 times, she is rated as the 6-5 morning line favorite carrying 120 pounds, six fewer than topweight Mystic Lake.

“She’s doing very well and she’s getting older, but hopefully she’s still got it in her to win one,” Rousseau said. “She’s really been unfortunate to have been bucking up against some really, really good horses. Mystic Lake is a pretty tough horse but we’re hoping that she gets the job done. She’s been a joy. She’s a once in a lifetime horse. For me it’s been a pleasure.”

Miller Racing, BAG Racing Stables and Stefania Farms’ Mystic Lake (Post 3, 7-5) will be making just her fifth of 25 career starts at Gulfstream, where her wins include the 2024 Sugar Swirl and 2025 Inside Information (G2). Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., she has won 13 races and nearly $1.6 million in purse earnings, 12 of her victories coming in stakes, three of them graded. Exiting a sixth in the April 4 Madison at Keeneland, she will have Micah Husbands aboard.

Girvin Star (Post 1, 20-1), Poiema (Post 2, 15-1), Just a Philly (Post 4, 6-1) and Joe Orseno-trained stablemates Happy Ride (Post 6, 8-1) and Love Actually (Post 7, 20-1) are also entered.