G2 Winner Steal Sunshine Back on Turf for Mambo Meister

Facing Multiple Stakes Winners Tank, Prevent, Private Thoughts

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Michael and Jules Iavarone and TCC Stables’ 7-year-old veteran Steal Sunshine, a Grade 2 winner on dirt chasing the million-dollar mark in career earnings, will get another chance to transfer his form to the turf in Saturday’s $65,000 Mambo Meister overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Mambo Meister for 3-year-olds and up scheduled around two turns on the grass supports a pair of $150,000 Florida-bred juvenile sprint stakes, the Three Ring for fillies and Express Tour, on a 10-race program that begins at 12:20 p.m.

Steal Sunshine is a proven commodity on the dirt, where he has made 35 of his 40 lifetime starts with eight wins, five seconds and eight thirds since his December 2021 debut which, ironically, came on turf. His next 27 races came on the dirt including a pair of stakes wins at 3 and the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) as a 4-year-old in 2024.

Since then, Steal Sunshine has won twice and placed eight other times, four of them in graded-stakes, in 20 starts including a trip to the Middle East for the 2025 Godolphin Mile (G2), where he ran fourth. His bankroll sits at $891,170.

“I’m trying to get him to win a million. I’m not far away,” trainer Bobby Dibona said. “He’s ready and he’s doing great. He’s lost a little bit off his fastball and that’s understandable, but he’s still very good. He shows up every time. He’s a racehorse.”

It was after Steal Sunshine’s return from Dubai that Dibona revisited the turf idea. The son of Constitution closed stoutly to be second in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer in mid-June 2025 behind Beach Gold, who went on to spring a 22-1 upset of the Preview Mint Millions and set an Ellis Park course record.

Steal Sunshine made it to Kentucky Downs for the Mint Millions (G3) that fall but was never a factor finishing last of 13. He was sixth by three lengths in the Jet Propulsion overnight handicap on the Gulfstream turf, where he would make one more start – running seventh behind Wolfie’s Dynaghost’s 1 1/8-mile course record in the Fort Lauderdale (G2) last December – before returning to the dirt.

“I always thought he was a turf horse. Because of circumstances, of winning stakes and certain things, I had no reason to bring him back to the grass,” Dibona said. “Then we had a break when I came back from Dubai and I ran him on the grass and he run a beauty. I got beat a [neck] to a stakes winner.

“When we went to Kentucky Downs, everything came unglued. He came back and ran in the stakes race and they set the track record that day, but it was a good race,” he added. “I haven’t been back on it.”

Steal Sunshine has run third or better in each of his last three races, including the Wildcat Red and Black Diamond Cat overnight handicaps, both at one mile, the latter Aug. 1 in his most recent start. Samy Camacho, up for that race, returns to ride from Post 2 in a field of eight. They are rated as the third choice at 9-2 on the morning line.

“This is nothing like what I ran with before, so I’m optimistic,” Dibona said. “He’s just the coolest horse. I’ve never had a horse with me that long. He’s been with me since Day 1, so it’ll be five years I’ve had this horse. It’s amazing, really. We’re just trying our best.”

The 2-1 program favorite is Divin Propos (Post 4, Rasheed Hughes, 123), owned and trained Saffie Joseph Jr., who recently wrapped up his 16th consecutive Gulfstream training title at the Royal Palm Meet. Bred in France and cross-entered in an optional claiming allowance Saturday at Kentucky Downs, the 6-year-old gelding ran fourth in the Fort Lauderdale and is winless in three tries this year, among them a fourth in the Barbados Gold Cup (G1) March 7.

Multiple stakes winners Prevent and Tank are entered to face each other for just the second time, though they have competed on the same card on four other occasions. Prevent, 5, is owned by the BC Racing of Brian Cohen, who also serves as racing manager for Arindel, which bred and owns 4-year-old Tank.

Prevent (Post 1, Micah Husbands, 119, 8-1) matches Steal Sunshine as an eight-time winner and four-time stakes winner, the most recent coming in the Jan. 24 Carousel Club overnight handicap. All of his stakes success has come on the all-weather Tapeta course, including last year’s Mambo Meister, and he is 1-for-13 lifetime on turf including a last-out sixth in the one-mile Empire Builder overnight handicap Aug. 2.

Tank (Post 5, Diego Herrera, 123, 5-2) won the Sophomore Turf at Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream’s English Channel and 1 1/16-mile Not Surprising in succession last spring, and was a front-running winner of the FHBPA Turf April 25, also at 1 1/16 miles on the Gulfstream turf. Most recently, the Adios Charlie colt was second by a half-length to Siege of Boston in Empire Builder.

Jet Propulsion winner Private Thoughts (Post 3, J.G. Torrealba, 122, 10-1), Fiveeyesonskystars (Post 6, Miguel Vasquez, 118, 20-1), Iron Hand (Post 7, Leonel Reyes, 118, 10-1) and Indecisiveness (Post 8, Anthony Thomas, 121, 6-1) are also entered.

Mambo Meister raced for much of his career in South Florida with trainer Phil Gleaves, winning nine stakes including the 2009 Spend a Buck Handicap (G3) and 2010 Miami Mile (G3) and Memorial Day (G3) handicaps. Retired after running in Gulfstream’s 2012 Mac Diarmida (G2), he finished with 11 wins from 43 starts and $703,725 in purse earnings.