Familiar Foes to Meet Again in $175,000 Honey Fox (G3)

Among Nine Stakes, Eight Graded, worth $2.025 Million Saturday

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Crevalle d’Oro and Movin’ On Up, separated by a half-length when respectively second and third in the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G2) four weeks ago, will be major contenders when they square off again in Saturday’s $175,000 Honey Fox (G3) presented MyRacehorse at Gulfstream Park.

The 41st running of the Honey Fox for older fillies and mares scheduled at one mile on the grass is the seventh of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.025 million in purses on a blockbuster program anchored by the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m. ET.

Michael and Jules Iavarone and TCC Stables’ 5-year-old mare Crevalle d’Oro will be making her 21st career start and third since fetching $500,000 at Keeneland’s November sale and moving to the barn of trainer Jose D’Angelo. The first of those races was a determined 10-1 head upset at the course and distance in the Dec. 20 Suwannee River, Gulfstream’s Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf prep.

Sent off at 31-1, Crevalle d’Oro got bumped at the start of the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf before coming with a late run between horses only to fall a half-length short of winner Destino d’Oro. She has now placed twice in graded company, following the 2024 Selene (G3) at Woodbine for prior connections.

“She has run good for us, especially the last time. She was just a bit unlucky at the end,” D’Angelo said. “Now she is back to the one mile, which I think is her best distance. We don’t have a good post position from the outside, but she is doing great. Hopefully in the first part of the race she can get good position.”

Second choice on the morning line at 5-2, Crevalle d’Oro will break from outermost Post 10.

“I like to make plans with my horses and this was the plan with her. The first race that she won, later the Pegasus and now this race,” D’Angelo said. “We are looking forward to running her.”

Ken Ramsey’s Movin’ On Up (Post 6, 3-1) was beaten a head by Crevalle d’Oro in the Suwannee River and wound up third by a length after taking a short lead into the stretch of the Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. She won twice during last winter’s Championship Meet, a one-mile optional claiming allowance and the 1 1/16-mile Sand Springs by 5 ? combined lengths.

Movin’ On Up, claimed for $35,000 out of a maiden win on the all-weather Tapeta course in December 2023, has placed in three other stakes including thirds in the Distaff Turf Mile (G2) and Mint Julep (G3) last spring in Kentucky.

“She made the lead in the Pegasus and she just got run down. Actually, both of her last two races she got run down close to home,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “She’s been kind of against the pace, where she’s into a fast pace and probably sat a little too close and just got run down. Hopefully this time things work out a little better. She’s not far off from winning this race. If she fires her best and gets the right kind of trip, she can get the job done.”

Joseph also entered Silver Moonlight and Public Defender in the Honey Fox. C2 Racing Stable’s Silver Moonlight (Post 1, 15-1) has put together three consecutive wins starting with a one-mile optional claimer in early October on the Gulfstream turf after a summer freshening. Following a trip to Tampa, she won another optional claimer Dec. 21 at Gulfstream in her most recent start.

“She’s getting faster and becoming a better horse. She’s learning to relax, and that’s helped her,” Joseph said. “She’s drawn well. She’s going to need to improve, but we’ve kind of pointed to this race for a while. It came up a little tougher than we envisioned, but I think she’s ready to make the jump to that next level.”

Public Defender (Post 8, 15-1) won five of 10 starts including the Nellie Mae Cox Handicap last summer on the Colonial Downs turf before being purchased privately by Miller Racing. A rallying third in the Suwannee River, beaten 2 ? lengths, she was a non-threatening eighth in the 1 1/16-mile Endeavour (G3) Jan. 31 at Tampa Bay Downs in her graded debut.

“She needs to be able to save some ground. She ran good behind [Crevalle d’Oro] and Movin’ On Up, so that was a good run,” Joseph said. “At Tampa, she got no trip. It was a slow pace and she was hung five to six wide every single bend. It was a throwout race. If they go fast here and she gets the right kind of trip, she’s got a shot.”

Dixiana Farms’ Grade 1 winner Lush Lips (Post 9, 2-1), closing in on $1 million in purse earnings, is the program favorite. First or second in nine of 11 starts, she went 4-for-7 last year including wins in the June 28 Tepin and 1 1/8-mile Queen Elizabeth II (G1) and 1 1/16-mile Mrs. Revere (G2) back-to-back to close her sophomore campaign. Trainer Brendan Walsh won last year’s Honey Fox with Special Wan.

Also entered are Jan. 10 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf winner Super Zonda (Post 2, 12-1); Classic Q (Post 3, 8-1), a stakes winner that has placed three times in graded company including a third in the Mrs. Revere; Fantastic Flame (Post 4, 30-1); Gata Brazil (Post 5, 30-1); and Irish-bred Queen’s Command (Post 7, 20-1), second by a head in the 2025 Maple Leaf (G3) going 1 ? miles on the Woodbine synthetic.

A Florida-bred daughter of Minnesota Mac, Honey Fox won five consecutive starts in 1980-81 including Gulfstream’s Suwannee River and Orchid (G3). Among her 13 lifetime wins were the 1982 Black Helen (G2) and Columbiana at Hialeah.