Moon Spun Chasing Turf Stakes Sweep in Captiva Island

5YO Mare Takes Four-Race Win Streak into 5F Grass Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Two years after sweeping Gulfstream Park’s series of turf sprint stakes for older fillies and mares, trainer Brian Lynch is poised to do it again when he sends out Moon Spun in Saturday’s $125,000 Captiva Island at Gulfstream Park.

The 12th running of the Captiva Island for older fillies and mares, scheduled for five furlongs on the grass, anchors a program that includes two other $125,000 stakes – the Any Limit for 3-year-old fillies and Hutcheson for 3-year-olds, both sprinting six furlongs on the main track.

Post time for the first of 12 races is 12:50 p.m. ET

Stone Silent won the 2023 Abundantia and 2024 Ladies Turf Sprint and Captiva Island for Lynch, capping her career running third later that fall in the Franklin (G2) at Keeneland. Moon Spun has followed suit this winter to run her personal win streak to four races.

“The sprint series down here is fantastic. We captured all three of them a couple years ago, so it’d be neat to come back with Moon Spun and do it again,” Lynch said. “She couldn’t be doing any better coming into it. She looks to have just blossomed this meet.”

Unraced at 2, Moon Spun won two of five starts as a 3-year-old and then went unraced for more than 13 months before returning with a front-running three-length optional claiming allowance score over the all-weather Tapeta course on Thanksgiving Day, opening day of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet.

The 5-year-old daughter of Hard Spun then held off two-time Grade 3-winning millionaire Haulin Ice by a neck in the Dec. 27 Abundantia before opening her 5-year-old campaign with a decisive 3 ¼-length triumph in the Ladies Turf Sprint Feb. 7. She is 3-0 lifetime on the Gulfstream turf including her maiden triumph last March, all sprinting five furlongs.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, aboard for all three of her runs this winter, returns to ride the 9-5 program favorite from the rail in a full field of 11.

“She’s been a very consistent mare,” Lynch said. “When you look at her form she’s never been off the board, but now that she’s older and bigger and stronger she’s just become a filly that loves her job, and she’s just very fast. She’s definitely on a roll coming into this, and we just couldn’t be happier with the way she’s training.”

The next three horses to finish behind Moon Spun in the Ladies Turf Sprint all return for another try in the Captiva Island led by runner-up Le Amazonia, one of two in the race for trainer Victor Barboza Jr. Vicente Stella Stables’ 4-year-old Le Amazonia (Post 6, 10-1) has been first or second in nine of 11 starts, three of them wins, including an optional claimer at the course and distance Jan. 10.

The Ladies Turf Sprint “was a very good race,” Barboza said. “The filly for Brian Lynch is a very good filly and she runs very good all the time on the turf at Gulfstream. My filly ran very well. She was down inside in the first quarter and once she moved outside, she finished strong to be a good second.

“She is a filly that is improving race by race. I think right now she is in the best condition of her life,” he added. “She has a big chance. It will be very important how she breaks from the gate and her position in the race. Hopefully she gets the trip.”

Barboza also entered Orlyana Farm’s multiple stakes-winning mare Great Venezuela (Post 4, 8-1) to make her 5-year-old debut, not having raced since her popular 2 ¼-length victory in the Islamorada overnight handicap sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the Tapeta Nov. 30. The previous month she was fourth in the Senator Ken Maddy at Del Mar on Breeders’ Cup weekend.

While more accomplished on the synthetic, where she has seven wins in eight starts, Great Venezuela has been third or better in seven of eight tries on the grass with two wins including last winter’s five-furlong Lightning City at Tampa Bay Downs.

“After the race in California she had a long trip back to Gulfstream and she came back and ran a big race to win. After that we wanted to give her a chance to relax for a month, month and a half, so that’s the reason for the time since the last race,” Barboza said. “We planned to run the filly three weeks ago at Tampa in the stake she won last year, but we had a little problem so we had to pass on the race so we made a new plan to run at Gulfstream. She’s doing very good.”

Joe Imbesi’s Pennsylvania homebred Flamingo Way (Post 7, 12-1) raced near the back of the field before making a belated run to get up for third in the Ladies Turf Sprint, beaten 4 ½ lengths after finishing fourth by 1 ½ lengths in the Abundantia. Hernan Gomez’s Twirling Queen is a four-time stakes winner that pressed Moon Spun in the Ladies Turf Sprint until fading to fourth.

LSU Stables’ Pandora’s Gift (Post 11, 3-1) is entered to make her season and Gulfstream debut for trainer Miguel Clement. The Irish-bred 5-year-old has run six times since coming to North America, all in graded-stakes, placing on both the turf and synthetic. Her most recent race was in the mid-September Presque Isle Downs sprinting 6 ½ furlongs, a race where she was second by a neck in her 2024 U.S. unveiling.

Rounding out the field are last out winners Sunna (Post 2, 20-1) and Coco Abarrio (Post 10, 15-1); Karaya (Post 3, 12-1), third in the 2025 Ladies Turf Sprint who returned from a year layoff to run second behind Coco Abarrio Feb. 6; 2024 Stewart Manor winner Me Governor (Post 8, 12-1); and stakes-placed Taliesin (Post 5, 15-1).