Project Ace ‘Will Do His Thing’ in Saturday’s G3 Holy Bull

Walden Looking Ahead with Hollen Drive, Speed Shopper
Music Burst Makes Season, Stakes Debut in G3 Forward Gal

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Dale Romans will saddle Albaugh Family Stables LLC’s Project Ace for a start in Saturday’s $275,000 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park with the belief that the son of War of Will has the potential to participate in the 2026 Triple Crown.

“I think his running style puts him in the game. We’ll give him a chance. We’ll figure out his level this weekend,” Romans said. “I know he’s got some quality about him. I love his running style. He does everything right. Smart horse.”

The Holy Bull, a 1 1/16-mile prep for the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 28 at Gulfstream, will headline a 12-race program with five stakes for 3-year-olds.

Project Ace will make his 2026 debut in the Holy Bull after breaking his maiden at 1 1/16 miles to finish off his 2-year-old campaign. After closing from 12th to third in his career debut going six furlongs at Churchill Downs Sept.16, he closed from far back to come up a nose short of victory at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 18 at Keeneland. He graduated at the Holy Bull distance with a last-to-first rally at Churchill Downs Nov. 15.

“He’s going to improve with distance and time,” Romans said. “He’ll be settling and come running. That’s just his style and he’s always trained that way. That’s the way he’s run and he’ll keep running that way.”

Races at 1 1/16 miles run around Gulfstream’s 1 1/8-mile main track finish at the first finish line, which may be at Project Ace’s disadvantage.

“He’s going to do his thing. The most concerning thing is the short stretch. He’ll have to get running a bit on the turn,” Romans said. “Hopefully, there’ll be a fast pace and he’ll get some horses to pick up at the end.”

Project Ace is expected to face six rivals, including Nearly, the 9-5 morning-line favorite who will make his stakes debut following back-to-back wins at Gulfstream for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Riley Mott-trained Incredibolt, who captured the 1 1/16-mile Street Sense (G3) at Churchill in his last 2025 start, and Brad Cox-trained Cannoneer, an impressive front-running maiden winner at Churchill who is expected to be a strong pace factor Saturday.

Romans would take special satisfaction should Project Ace continue to develop into a Triple Crown-calibre colt for the Albaugh Family Stables, long-time clients for whom he has trained graded-stakes winners Not This Time, Brody’s Cause, Dennis’ Moment and Free Drop Billy.

“They always do the right thing. They run a great program, and you want to do well for them,” Romans said.

Corey Lanerie, who has been aboard Project Ace in his three races, has the return mount in the Holy Bull.

Walden Looking Ahead with Hollen Drive, Speed Shopper

OXO Equine homebred Hollen Drive, an impressive winner over the track last month to open her 3-year-old season, takes the step back up into stakes company when she returns in Saturday’s $175,000 Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The 46th running of the Forward Gal for 3-year-old fillies is the third of five stakes, two graded, worth $950,000 in purses on Saturday’s 12-race program.

Sprinting seven furlongs, the Forward Gal is another step toward the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 28 on the Curlin Florida Derby undercard and offers 42 qualifying points for the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top five finishers on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis.

Hollen Drive was a popular 4 ¾-length winner of her Oct. 1 unveiling at Horseshoe Indianapolis sprinting 5 ½ furlongs, then caught a sealed muddy track the next month at Laurel Park and wound up last of five in the six-furlong Smart Halo. Both the second and third-place finishers in that race came back to win including Just Philtored in the Maryland Juvenile Filly.

“Her first start was at Indiana. We do that, not necessarily because we think they’re lesser, talent-wise, but maybe just how they are mentally or maturity level-wise we’ll place them there. I thought she ran great,” trainer Will Walden said. “The trip to Laurel, I’m not sure she was crazy about the sealed track that day. We drew a line through that and brought her down here, and I thought she performed admirably.”

Stretched out to 6 ½ furlongs, Hollen Drive found herself trailing all but one horse early in the optional claiming allowance before making a four-wide move into the stretch and rallying for a two-length victory Jan. 3 under jockey Jorge Ruiz, who returns to ride from Post 7 in a field of eight. They are listed at 15-1 on the morning line.

Hollen Drive is by millionaire Practical Joke, a two-time Grade 1 winner at seven furlongs that went winless in five tries around two turns including a runner-up finish in Gulfstream’s Fountain of Youth (G2) and a fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) in 2017.

“I’m not sure how much farther she’ll go past seven-eighths. I think that’s probably where she caps, but I can say that and be completely wrong,” Walden said. “These are young horses and we’re still learning about them each and every time we breeze them in the morning and certainly in the afternoon. So, we’ll just let her tell us, but I think the seven-eighths should fit her well.”

Meanwhile, Walden has high hopes for Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ 5-year-old mare Speed Shopper, a 1 ¾-length upset winner of the $175,000 Christophe Clement (G3) on the Pegasus World Cup Day program. Formerly run as the La Prevoyante, it marked the first time the race was renamed in honor of the late trainer who died last spring at the age of 59 from a rare form of eye cancer.

“It was great. The filly performed how we were hoping she would. Winning the first inaugural running of the Christophe Clement meant a lot to me just because of what he meant to me,” Walden said. “She came out of it great. We’ll just move forward. Hopefully this filly can take us to November.

“We don’t know yet, but we want to give her the opportunity. Going from January all the way to November is a lot to ask. She’s not going to go home or anything. She’ll stay with us, but we’ll probably give her a little bit of a break,” he added. “She’s won her last two starts, and we’ll probably just let her catch her breath and go from there.”

Music Burst Makes Season, Stakes Debut in G3 Forward Gal

Bryant Prentice III’s Music Burst will be back on the dirt when she makes her season and stakes debut in Saturday’s $175,000 Forward Gal (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Rusty Arnold, who won the Forward Gal with Red Carpet Ready in 2023 and Letgomyecho in 2005, Music Burst raced at three different Kentucky tracks as a 2-year-old, all going six furlongs. She finished a distant sixth in her mid-October debut at Keeneland, then rebounded with a front-running maiden special weight triumph four weeks later at Churchill Downs.

“We really liked her when we ran her the first time at Keeneland. She didn’t get away good and had dirt hit her in the face. Typical with a baby’s mind, she dropped back,” Arnold said. “But when we ran her back, everything went right. Jose [Ortiz] rode her and made the lead, and she was pretty impressive.”

Before moving his string to South Florida for the winter, Arnold gave Music Burst one more start on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park. She raced just off the pace and gained steadily on wide run late to get up for second in an optional claiming allowance, beaten a half-length Dec. 21.

“We were going to come on down, but it kind of fit where there was an a-other-than right there at Turfway,” Arnold said. “We didn’t go to the synthetic just to try it. The purse was good and races for her really hadn’t gotten going down here yet in the older [condition] book before the Championship Meet. So we ran her there and she ran really well. She didn’t have a great trip that day and still ran on.”

Luis Saez is named to ride Music Burst, rated at 10-1 on the morning line, from the rail in a field of 11.

“She was in the one-hole the day she won. She wasn’t on the lead at Turfway and was trying to get to the wire from where she was,” Arnold said. “She doesn’t have to be in front. The one-hole kind of forced it that day. She broke good and there she was, and he went right on with her.”