Reef Runner Making Return in $70,000 Warrior’s Pride

Joined by Stablemate Asher’s Edge in Five-Furlong Turf Dash

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s Florida homebred stakes winner Reef Runner, unraced since May 1, is set to launch his comeback over a course where he has never failed to hit the board in Sunday’s $70,000 Warrior’s Pride overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The Warrior’s Pride, a five-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up, will also be the first race as a gelding for Reef Runner, a 4-year-old son of The Big Beast whose $310,905 in purse earnings from 17 starts makes him the richest of 10 contenders.

“He’s a very cool horse. I can’t say anything but good things about him,” trainer David Fawkes said. “After his last race I just kicked him out, gelded him and he’s come back and is doing great. He’s ready to run. Looking forward to it. He’s a very nice horse.”

Five times stakes-placed, Reef Runner became a stakes winner in the Bob Umphrey Sprint last fall at Gulfstream, rained off the grass to the all-weather Tapeta course. He raced three times during Gulfstream’s 2024-2025 Championship Meet, finishing third in the Janus and Turf Sprint and second by a nose in the Silks Run – all five furlongs on the grass.

Overall, Reef Runner has two wins, three seconds and four thirds in nine career tries over the Gulfstream turf. He is winless with one second and three thirds in five starts this year, most recently beaten less than a length in the April 5 Go Cats Go overnight handicap and 1 ½ lengths in an open allowance May 1.

“If he moves forward off of his gelding, which I think he’s going to, I’m going to look for some other spots outside of Florida,” Fawkes said.

Among the rivals Reef Runner will face is his stablemate, J J Brevan Stable’s Florida homebred Asher’s Edge, who will be making his second start off a layoff. The 4-year-old Competitive Edge gelding returned to be fourth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the July 6 Successful Native overnight handicap sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the Gulfstream Tapeta.

“He’s just run the one time, and he kind of needed that race,” Fawkes said. “He sure ran good that day.”

Asher’s Edge has shown a similar consistency as Reef Runner, having been third or better in nine of 12 starts with three wins. His speed figures have topped out at 88 while Reef Runner has been 90 or better six times including each of his last three races, with a high of 92.

“They’re both working excellent. Actually, when it comes to breezing, Asher’s Edge has always held an edge over Reef Runner,” Fawkes said. “But the numbers show a big difference between the two horses.”

Reef Runner drew Post 6 with jockey Reylu Gutierrez at co-topweight of 122 pounds. Cipriano Gil rides Asher’s Edge from outermost Post 10 at 118 pounds.

Trainer Joe Orseno counters with the pair in And Uwish and Extendo, who respectively finished first and fifth in the Successful Native. It was the first stakes win for And Uwish, coming over his favored stablemate that had run in the 5 ½-furlong Jaipur (G1) June 8 on the turf at Saratoga in his prior start.

“I had a missed a work with [Extendo] that I needed to get into him. When he shipped from Monmouth Park back to me, I lost a little bit of training, I missed a work, and he got a shade sick,” Orseno said. “It’s easier [to say] now, but I should have skipped the race and just waited. But they tout you, too. He was jumping around in the afternoon and feeling good at feeding time, so we decided to run. I could see Extendo running the race he ran.”

Extendo tuned up for the Warrior’s Pride with a half-mile move over the Gulfstream Tapeta in 45.81 seconds, the kind of effort that signals to Orseno that the 5-year-old is sitting on go. Edwin Gonzalez gets the return call from Post 8 at 122 pounds.

“He had a fantastic work the other day for this race and that’s what this horse needs. He needs to breeze like that before he runs. It just wakes him up and puts him in the right direction. So, I expect a different effort from Extendo,” he said. “And, And Uwish is just hitting on all cylinders. He’s doing great. I’m hoping that they run 1-2.”

Adam Parker, Suzette Parker and Orseno’s And Uwish has two wins in three starts this year after going nearly 14 months before returning with a half-length optional claiming triumph in his debut against older horses May 16, also sprinting five furlongs on the Gulfstream turf.

“We had to give him a little time, which turned into a lot of time, but it did him a world of good. We gelded him and just let him forget about racing and brought him back,” Orseno said. “He was a young horse when we stopped. I had him nominated to quite a few stakes around the country, but we decided to just stay here with both of them.”

Edgard Zayas, up for all three of his races this year, rides back from Post 3 at 120 pounds.

Also with a pair of entrants is trainer Gerald Bennett, who will send out El Principito and Rouki. Winning Stables, Inc. and Todd Bittiger’s El Principito is entered for his first turf start since last April, 12 of his last 14 races coming on dirt including a runner-up finish in the six-furlong Smile Sprint over a sealed muddy track July 5 at Gulfstream.

Tropic Lightning Racing’s Rouki won the five-furlong Turf Dash Feb. 22 at Tampa Bay Downs and is two-for-two lifetime sprinting on the grass having captured an optional claimer over older horses last fall at Tampa.

Completing the field are 2024 Successful Native winner Abrir Caminos, who ran seventh in defense of his title, and third-place finisher Louie the Sun King; Sultan the Great and El Apagon.