Lightning Tones Looking to Strike Again in Finallymadeit

Handicap Also Attracts Veterans Steal Sunshine, Lure Him In

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Over the course of eight months JC Racing Stable’s Lightning Tones made Jose Castro a stakes winner, first as an owner and then as a trainer. Horse and horseman will continue to chase that success Sunday in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The Finallymadeit for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on the main track, which also attracted fellow multiple stakes winners Steal Sunshine and Lure Him In, headlines a 10-race program that gets under way at 12:20 p.m.

A horse owner since 2023, Castro sent out his first starter as a trainer April 24. In just the third race after claiming Lightning Tones for $16,000 last summer, the now 5-year-old gelding captured Gulfstream’s Sunshine Classic Jan. 25.

Castro took over Lightning Tones’ training in the spring, and in their second start together the son of 2014 Belmont (G1) winner Tonalist made a last-to-first rally to capture the Black Diamond Cat overnight handicap Aug. 30.

“He’s a good, good horse. We love him,” Castro said. “The best part about him is his heart. He has a huge, huge heart. He’s a nice horse and he loves to run. If you put him in the shorter distance, he doesn’t do well because he loves to run the whole racetrack.”

Lightning Tones had been primarily used as a sprinter early in his career, with 20 of his first 23 starts coming around one turn. He has gone a mile or longer in all eight of his races since joining Castro with two wins, two seconds, two thirds and a $143,105 bankroll – Castro’s first six-figure earner. Both of his stakes wins have come at 1 1/16 miles.

“He was one of our better claims,” Castro said. “When we started to work with him we found that he’s got a huge, huge heart. He loves to run. When we worked with him we realized to loves to run a distance. He loves to run the whole racetrack. The longer races are better for him.”

Castro had been familiar with Lightning Tones after watching him beat multiple stakes winner Zydeceaux in back-to-back starts in January and February of 2024, just months before they became stablemates. Zydeceaux won the Pasco and OBS Sophomore Stakes in the winter of 2023 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“We love Zydecaux and when we saw [Lightning Tones] we thought he could be a nice horse,” Castro said of his decision to make the claim. “We thought if we could get the horse with us and training in our program he was going to be a winner.”

Following the Sunshine Classic, Lightning Tones ran third in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) behind Mindframe and Steal Sunshine and fourth in the Ghostzapper (G3) to multiple Grade 1 winner and $7 million earner White Abarrio. In his most recent start, Lightning Tones rallied to be second, beaten a length, in the one-mile Mr. Jordan overnight handicap Oct. 18 at Gulfstream.

“We work with him little by little because he’s an older horse and we try to take care of him,” Castro said. “He talks to me and when he says ‘I want to train,’ we train him. When he says ‘I don’t want to train today,’ we leave him alone. We work with him and he’s doing great.”

Miguel Vasquez will ride Lightning Tones, second choice on the morning line at 2-1 carrying co-topweight of 122 pounds, from Post 5 in a field of seven.

Steal Sunshine, also at 122 pounds, drew Post 4 and is favored at 9-5 in the program as the richest horse in the Finallymadeit with $787,000 in purse earnings. The 6-year-old son of Constitution is a three-time stakes winner including the 2024 Gulfstream Park Mile and has placed in six other graded-stakes, but has been the beaten favorite in each of his last two races. He was fifth by three lengths in the Oct. 4 Jet Propulsion overnight handicap going 1 1/16 miles on the turf, and fifth by 3 ¼ lengths in the Mr. Jordan.

Grade 3-placed Lure Him In (Post 1, 3-1, 121) has the most experience in the field, posting an 11-10-9 record and $705,683 in purses earned from 55 starts. All of three of his stakes wins have come at Gulfstream, the 2022 Sunshine Turf, 2024 Sunshine Classic and 1 1/16-mile Wildcat Red overnight handicap June 8, his most recent victory. Winless in two starts at Del Mar this summer including the Pacific Classic (G1), he was a rallying fourth in the Mr. Jordan.

Swashbuckle (Post 2, 12-1, 116), Virginia City (Post 3, 12-1, 116), Single Dot Yaht (Post 6, 12-1, 116) and Awesome Train (Post 7, 8-1, 117) complete the field.