Heracles Back on Home Turf for Saturday’s Armed Forces

Redland Rebels Looks ‘Very Tough’ in Showing Up Co-Feature

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – David Romanik’s stakes-placed homebred gelding Heracles, unsuccessful in back-to-back stakes assignments on the road, returns home looking to get back on track at the site of his winning debut in Saturday’s $75,000 Armed Forces at Gulfstream Park.

The Armed Forces for 2-year-olds, scheduled for a two-turn mile on the grass, co-headlines an 11-race Halloween program with the $75,0000 Showing Up for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles, also scheduled for turf. Post time is noon.

Bred by Romanik and SCF Inc. and trained by Ron Spatz, Heracles sprung a 12-1 upset in his July 4 unveiling, rating just off the pace and coming with an inside run to draw clear by 1 ¾ lengths in the open maiden special weight going 7 ½ furlongs on the Gulfstream turf.

By Grade 1-winning multimillionaire Seeking the Soul, runner-up in the 2019 Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream, and out of a mare, Raki, that was a stakes winner on the Gulfstream turf, Heracles was subsequently sent to Colonial Downs for the 1 1/16-mile Kitten’s Joy and finished a troubled third.

Heracles was ambitiously placed in his most recent outing, the 1 1/16-mile Bourbon (G2) Oct. 4 at Keeneland, where he went off at odds of 37-1 and actually took a half-length lead into the stretch before weakening to be ninth.

“He didn’t run bad, actually. He was a little headstrong going into the first turn chasing a horse that was speeding six [lengths] in front of him, but he was still the only one going after him and caught him turning for home. He got to the lead and I was like, ‘Holy [cow],’ and then he caved in,” Spatz said. “He’s done that the last two times, so I took the blinkers off in this race. I’m trying to see if he’ll settle a little better.

“He’s certainly run with the best company,” he added. “It took him a few days when he came back to get his energy, but he’s a pretty high-energy horse. He lets you know when he’s back. He seemed to bounce out of it and gave me a good work the other day, so we’ll give it a go.”

Heracles will break from Post 6 with Edgar Perez up, his fourth rider in as many starts, as the narrow 3-1 second choice on the morning line in a field of nine.

“He likes this turf course. That turf course at Keeneland is a little bit deeper. It had rained for a few days. and they keep the grass longer, and he came back really tired. I think he just got tired running over it, running too aggressively and too fast. [In] the Virginia race he just had so much trouble. It was incredible that he even finished third,” Spatz said. “That was really an impressive race to me, maybe more impressive than his first-out win. If he can relax a little bit and come back to that, he should be very tough.”

Trainer Graham Motion counters with a pair of homebreds, Wertheimer Et Frere’s Indian Pharoah and Hope Jones’ Sushi Party. Indian Pharoah (Post 1, Sonny Leon, 8-1), a son of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, will be making his fourth start and first on the grass after a win and a second in three prior dirt tries.

“I have a feeling that he probably is going to be better on the grass,” Motion said. “He’s kind of bred to be better on the grass, and this sort of gave us a good opportunity to experiment a little bit and get him down there and give him an opportunity. I’m not saying it’s an easy spot by any means, but it’s not throwing him in the deep end right away.”

Indian Pharoah has raced exclusively at Delaware Park, finishing second by a nose in debut sprinting 5 ½ furlongs July 31 and returning with a determined front-running head score going six furlongs Sept. 9. Last out he pressed the pace over a muddy and sealed track for three-quarters of a mile and then faded to fifth in the one-mile Rocky Run Oct. 3.

“He’s quite quick,” Motion said. “I’m still trying to figure him out. I hope I’m not barking up the wrong tree because he’s quick enough to sprint. Everything about him makes sense that he’d want to stretch out, and I didn’t think his last race was that bad, to be honest.”

Second on debut Aug. 14 on the all-weather surface at Presque Isle Downs, beaten 4 ½ lengths after being outkicked late, Sushi Party (Post 3, Cipriano Gil, 5-2) returned four weeks later with a hard-fought head decision in a 7 ½-furlong maiden special weight on the Delaware Park turf.

Sushi Party is out of the Into Mischief mare Party Boat, who Motion trained to finish third or better 14 times in 20 starts with two stakes wins and three graded-stakes placings including Gulfstream’s 2017 Herecomesthebride (G3). Among Sushi Party’s siblings is Cruise the Nile, winner of the Henry S. Clark and third in the Dinner Party (G3) this year.

“It’s a really good family,” Motion said. “Everything out of that mare has gone on to run well and kind of be stakes competitive. He’s a little smaller than the others. He’s got some growing to do. It’s a Catch-22. Do you wait around for an allowance race, or do you take a shot in a race like this? I think it’s a good opportunity for him.”

Megaplumb and Ready to Rage each come out of maiden claiming victories. Megaplumb (Post 2, Jose Morelos, 20-1) overcame a slow break and tight quarters to rally for a 1 ¼-length triumph at the course and distance Sept. 27 and was taken for $25,000 by owner-trainer Dan Hurtak. Troy Johnston, Charles Lo, Wendell Yates and Robert Fritts’ Ready to Rage (Post 4, Jonathan Ocasio, 12-1) raced once each on Tapeta and turf before breaking through going 7 ½ furlongs on the grass Sept. 5.

Also taking a win into their stakes debut are MHM Stables’ Palingo (Post 5, Heriberto Figueroa, 6-1), off since a 3 ½-length decision Aug. 30; Caribbean Comet (Post 7, J.G. Torrealba, 20-1), promoted to first in an Oct. 4 maiden optional claimer; and Mitzman (Post 9, Leonel Reyes, 8-1), a popular 1 ¾-length winner Oct. 2 – all going a mile and 70 yards on the Tapeta.

Completing the field is Peter Vesgo’s Lord Henry (Post 8, Diego Herrera, 7-2), a 7 ½-furlong turf maiden special weight winner over fellow Florida-breds Aug. 10 before finishing sixth last out in the five-furlong Hollywood Beach Sept. 26.

Redland Rebels Looks ‘Very Tough’ in Showing Up Co-Feature

Before and after a brief foray onto the 2026 Road to the Kentucky Derby, Calypso Stables 2024 LLC’s Redland Rebels has enjoyed success on turf, as well as Tapeta, at Gulfstream Park.

Rain or shine, the versatile Uncle Chuck gelding will seek to continue that success in Saturday’s $75,000 Showing Up, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds scheduled for turf that will close out an 11-race program that gets underway at 12 Noon.

“I know he’s better on the turf, but he won the other day on Tapeta. On turf he’s going to be very, very tough,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “He’s coming into the race with good expectations.”

Redland Rebels broke his maiden on turf before finishing a late-fading fourth behind The Puma in the March 7 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and checking in sixth behind Renegade after setting the pace in the March 28 Arkansas Derby (G1) over Oaklawn Park’s main track. He returned to Gulfstream, where he has subsequently won on turf and Tapeta.

Regardless of the surface that is under him, Redland Rebels routinely flashes high early speed.

“He doesn’t really need the lead. He’s horse with a big action who finds himself on the lead,” Biancone said. “It’s the way he gallops. He’s the kind of horse who will jump well and take the lead and prove tough to catch.”

Redland Rebels, who will be ridden by J. G. Torrealba, is rated second on the morning line at 3-1.

Calumet Farm’s Turf Star has been installed as the 9-5 morning line in a field of 10. The son of Caravaggio has faced Grade 1 and Grade 2 company in two of his three starts since winning the James W. Murphy on the Preakness Stakes undercard at Laurel Park. Trainer Graham Motion is hopeful Turf Star will find the competition more to his liking Saturday.

“That was kind of the idea, to kind of give him a little bit of relief. He could have run in the Bryan Station at Keeneland, but that was just a brutal race. I think it was 14 runners, really good runners, and I really just kind of wanted to give him some class relief,” Motion said. “He’s been running against kind of the best 3-year-olds around, and he’s doing really well.”

Cipriano Gil is named to ride Turf Star for the first time Saturday.

Trainer David Fawkes will be represented in the Showing Up by a pair of Monarch Stables Inc. runners: High Lateen, who will make his stakes debut after winning three straight races since being claimed for $30,000; and Nickel C, who is coming off a turf allowance victory for Florida-breds.

Diego Herrera has the return call on High Lateen (6-1), while Edgar Perez will ride Nickel C (12-1) for the first time.

BG Stables’ Behold the King (6-1) will be seeking his first stakes victory Saturday since winning last year’s Armed Forces at Gulfstream. Sonny Leon has the call on the son of Not This Time, who is trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse,

Half Hollow Stables LLC and ProRacing Stable LLC’s Khozalite, Lindsay Rousso and David Rousso’s Justin Smiles, Jose Pinchin and Micharl Bernard’s Trelawny, Black Horse Bloodstock LLC’s Senor Roberto, and Cypress Creek Equine and Ad Noir LLC’s Bourbon Dream round out the field.