Stablemates Tank, Scarecrow Try $100,000 FHBPA Turf

Ashima Seeks Rebound in $100,000 FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Arindel’s multiple stakes-winning homebred Tank and stakes-placed stablemate Scarecrow will meet for the second straight race chasing their first win of the year in Saturday’s $100,000 FHBPA Turf at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Turf and one-mile Filly & Mare Turf, both going two turns for 4-year-olds and up, are among six $100,000 stakes for Florida-breds on an 11-race program that kicks off at 12:50 p.m. ET. The six stakes will make up a mandatory Rainbow 6 payout.

A 4-year-old son of Adios Charlie trained by Carlos David, Tank cuts back following Gulfstream’s 1 3/8-mile Mac Diarmida (G2) Feb. 28 and 1 1/8-mile Turf Classic last out against state-breds March 29 at Tampa Bay Downs, where he was third by a half-length as the favorite after leading throughout.

“He just missed up there at a mile and an eighth, but at a mile and a sixteenth here I think he should be pretty tough,” Arindel’s racing manager Brian Cohen said. “We’re not sure exactly what distance he prefers. I always kind of thought he wanted to go a bit longer with a comfortable pace, but he had that at Tampa and he just missed. Maybe it is the mile, mile and a sixteenth that he’ll prefer.”

Tank has been third or better in 10 of 17 starts with four wins, stringing together three straight last spring when he won the Sophomore Turf at Tampa against state-breds and Gulfstream’s one-mile English Channel and 1 1/16-mile Not Surprising in open company. He then ran three times at Saratoga, beaten 1 ½ lengths when fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Derby (G1), before returning to South Florida.

The winner of the Belmont Derby, Test Score, won the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream in his lone start this year, and runner-up World Beater came back to win the Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1). Third-place finisher Luther was subsequently third in the Hall of Fame (G2), a race where Tank ran sixth.

“Last year [Tank] went on a little heater there where he won three in a row and then we sent him up to Saratoga for the Grade 1 and he wound up just a length [and a quarter] behind Test Score. He was right there,” Cohen said. “It was a photo for second and in the photo he ended up fourth and the horses that were second and third are graded-stakes horses.”

Jockey Samy Camacho, who won nine races in four days at the Royal Palm Meet last weekend, rides from Post 5 in a field of eight. They are rated as second choice on the morning line at 3-1.

Scarecrow, also 4, has raced just eight times with two wins and two thirds. Beaten 1 ¼ lengths when third in the one-mile Armed Forces on the Gulfstream turf in November 2024, his second career start, he exits an even sixth in the Turf Classic at Tampa.

“I think ultimately Scarecrow is going to want to go a little bit longer,” Cohen said. “I don’t think necessarily this track at Gulfstream does him any favors because he wants to come from so far off of it [and] he doesn’t really have speed. But he’ll be there.”

Scarecrow was a head winner of an open 1 1/16-mile allowance last February in his lone start on Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course that had the connections thinking big.

“We thought we were going to go to the Jeff Ruby [G3] and have a good shot at maybe potentially getting him into the [Kentucky] Derby [G1] last year but he got hurt aiming for that,” Cohen said. “He had a surgery and he had a long time off so we’ve just kind of let him race himself back. He spent a lot of time on the shelf, but we do think a lot of him.”

Edgard Zayas, a South Florida mainstay who moved his tack to New York following the 2025-2026 Championship Meet, is named to ride Scarecrow (10-1) from outermost Post 8.

Private Thoughts, co-owned by David Romanik and trainer Ron Spatz, is the 2-1 program favorite from Post 2 having run in five straight overnight handicaps dating back to early October, with wins in the Dec. 27 St. Augustine on Tapeta and Oct. 4 Jet Propulsion going 1 1/16 miles on turf, where the 5-year-old gelding has a record of 3-2-1 from eight starts. Jockey Leonel Reyes, one win shy of 1,000 in North America, has the mount.

Classic Mo Town (Post 1, 8-1), winner of last summer’s Eclipse (G2) on the Woodbine synthetic that is 1-for-5 lifetime on turf; stakes-placed Adios Cole (Post 6, 7-2) and Brawn (Post 3, 20-1); Junction Road (Post 7, 7-2), riding a two-race win streak for trainer Rohan Crichton; and Tapit Kissit Winit (Post 4, 20-1) complete the field.

Ashima Seeks Rebound in $100,000 FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf

Wallace Moore Jr.’s 5-year-old mare Ashima, her string of 14 consecutive top three finishes snapped last time out, cuts back and takes on state-breds for just the fifth time in her 25th career start looking to rebound in Saturday’s $100,000 FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.

The Filly & Mare Turf for older females, scheduled for a two-turn mile on the grass, anchors an 11-race program featuring six straight $100,000 stakes for Florida-bred horses ages 3 and up.

Ashima had run third or better with 10 wins, including five straight at one stretch, over a span of 582 days dating back to Aug. 24, 2024 when trained by Jose D’Angelo. The daughter of The Big Beast was claimed by trainer Carlos David out of her subsequent start and then by Sal Santoro one start later for the same $8,000 price, both from wins.

Since then, Ashima has put together a record of 8-2-2 from 13 starts racing on turf and the all-weather Tapeta course including wins last year in Gulfstream’s one-mile Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf and the 1 1/16-mile Claiming Crown Tiara in Kentucky. Third Jan. 10 in defense of her Sunshine title, she most recently finished eighth in the 1 1/16-mile Sand Springs March 28 on the undercard of the Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

“She got into a little trouble out there. No excuses,” Santoro said. “She had an outside post position. It just didn’t come together for her, but that’s racing. What are you going to do?”

Ashima, rated as third choice on the morning line at 9-2, drew Post 1 against eight rivals including pair of a familiar faces in stakes winners Souper Zonda and Let’s Go Koko.

“She’s been training good, she’s feeling good, she’s eating good. She’s all business in the morning. She loves to train. I think she’s ready,” Santoro said. “We got the rail, that’s good and bad. It depends. There’s some serious speed in the race. Koko is there and Souper Zonda. I think it’s going to be a hell of a horse race and I’m looking forward to it.”

In outermost Post 9 comes Live Oak Plantation homebred Souper Zonda, the 9-5 program favorite. After winning the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf she was checked repeatedly while running seventh in Gulfstream’s one-mile Honey Fox (G3) Feb. 28 but returned with a determined half-length victory against state-breds in the 1 1/16-mile Distaff Turf March 29 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Also figuring to be part of the early pace is Flying Finish Farm Inc.’s Let’s Go Koko (Post 2, 3-1), who led the way into the stretch before settling for second in Tampa’s Distaff Turf, just the 5-year-old mare’s second start since late September. She has one win in four tries over the Gulfstream turf, a front-running half-length score in the one-mile Powder Break last May.

Carolin Von Rosenberg’s 5-year-old homebred mare Dreaming of Abba also exits the Distaff Turf, finishing fourth while beaten 2 ½ lengths. The four-time winner in 20 starts is twice stakes-placed including last summer’s Violet at Monmouth Park, her most recent victory coming at the distance Jan. 9 at Tampa.

Also entered are three-time stakes winner Charlie’s Wish (Post 3, 12-1), with a field-high 29 starts and $479,449 in purse earnings; Nina’s Last Gift (Post 4, 20-1), exiting a March 20 win on the Gulfstream Tapeta; Sheshimaintenance (Post 5, 10-1), who has won five straight races for four different trainers since early November; and Notable Exchange (Post 6, 12-1) and Miss Mary Nell (Post 7, 20-1), respectively sixth and eighth in the Distaff Turf.