Sweet Ember Takes Win Streak into $125,000 Any Limit

Lennilu Tops Nominees to Texas Glitter, Melody of Colors
Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $300,000
Sequence Includes Hutcheson on Dirt, Captiva Island on Turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Leon Ellman, Glassman Racing and Laurie Plesa’s Sweet Ember, a $380,000 daughter of champion sprinter Mitole, takes a two-race win streak into her stakes debut in Saturday’s $125,000 Any Limit for 3-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Laurie Plesa’s husband, Eddie Plesa Jr., Sweet Ember will face six others in the six-furlong Any Limit led by Grade 3 winner and 9-5 program favorite Mythical.

“From the day we bought her up until now I’ve liked her every minute. She’s a classy filly,” Plesa Jr. said. “We did pay a lot of money for her but thought she was worth it. [We] still hope she’s worth it.”

Sweet Ember, out of the Big Drama mare Sadie Be Good, was purchased during OBS’ April 2025 2-year-old in training sale after fetching just $36,000 at its yearling auction the previous October. She wasn’t unveiled until Nov. 9, when she finished second in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight sprint on the all-weather Tapeta.

Plesa entered Sweet Ember for the dirt in her second start Jan. 15, but rain forced the maiden optional claimer back to the Tapeta. One of five horses not in for the $50,000 tag, Sweet Ember cruised on the front end to win by 1 ¾ lengths. She was even more impressive Feb. 26 in a six-furlong allowance for Florida-breds, going gate to wire to romp by 9 ½ lengths over the main track.

“All her races have been big. In her first race the jock dropped the stick about the eighth pole. It looked like she could have won that race, but she came back and won. We were dying to get her on the dirt and, needless to say, that was a big, big effort last time,” Plesa said. “She does everything right. It’s a nice time to be a 3-year-old.”

Jockey Jose Morelos has been aboard Sweet Ember for all three of her races and gets the assignment again, breaking from Post 2 as the 3-1 third choice. Though the filly was never headed in winning her last two races, Plesa is certain Sweet Ember is not a one-dimensional type.

The other speed in the Any Limit comes from Arindel homebred Mythical, who lost for the first time at Gulfstream last out in the seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3) Jan. 31. Four of her five career wins have come in stakes – the Tremont against boys and Adirondack (G3) at Saratoga and Susan’s Girl and My Dear Girl divisions of the Florida Sire Stakes series at Gulfstream.

“She’s blessed with speed and [Morelos] has great hands on a horse. He can get her to relax,” Plesa said of Sweet Ember. “Is she a speed demon that you can’t control? No. She’s got speed and we’ve been using it to her advantage, but if somebody else had to get to the lead I think she could rate off of them and do well.”

The Any Limit is carded third on a 12-race program that includes the $125,000 Hutcheson for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs on the main track (Race 9) and $125,000 Captiva Island, a scheduled five-furlong turf dash for older fillies and mares (Race 12).

Lennilu Tops Nominees to Texas Glitter, Melody of Colors

Multiple stakes-winning filly Lennilu, unraced since finishing off the board for the first time last fall in the Breeders’ Cup, heads nominees to both the $125,000 Texas Glitter and $125,000 Leinster Melody of Colors next weekend at Gulfstream Park.

The Texas Glitter for 3-year-olds will be run March 21 and the Melody of Colors for 3-year-old fillies is set for March 22. Both races are scheduled for five furlongs on the grass.

Trained by Patrick Biancone and campaigned by an ownership group led by Amy and Caitlin Dunne, Lennilu won four of six starts in 2025 including a perfect 3-0 mark at Gulfstream – the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies and Hollywood Beach sprinting five furlongs on the turf and Desert Vixen division of the Florida Sire Stakes series going six furlongs on the main track.

Her Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies victory earned Lennilu an automatic berth at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England where she ran third, beaten less than two lengths, facing the boys in the five-furlong Queen Mary (G2). After winning the Hollywood Beach, she went to Del Mar for the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Sprint (G1) Oct. 31, finishing seventh.

Resolution Road Stables’ undefeated Arbiter is also among nominees to the Texas Glitter. The undefeated Charlatan colt is entered in Saturday’s $125,000 Hutcheson sprinting six furlongs on the dirt but trainer Wesley Ward indicated he is likely to scratch after having drawn the rail.

Intricate Spirit and Expressway, respectively first and fourth in last fall’s Futurity (G3) at Aqueduct; Casson, a stakes winner on Woodbine’s synthetic last summer; 2025 Awad winner Throckmorton; and Monster, twice stakes-placed including a third to Lennilu in the Hollywood Beach, are also nominated.

Other nominees to the Melody of Colors include Viable Asset, unbeaten in two starts this winter at Gulfstream, one each on turf and dirt; last-out winners Finch, I Love Giraffes, Rockyta, Tizasweetlady; and Sapphire Beach, most recently fifth in the one-mile Herecomesthebride (G3) Feb. 28 on the Gulfstream turf.

Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $300,000

Unsolved for the sixth straight racing day Friday, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is estimated to grow to $300,000 on Saturday’s 12-race program at Gulfstream Park.

First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

The popular multi-race wager last returned a Championship Meet-high $462,562.64 jackpot payout March 1.

In the Rainbow 6, the jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

The Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 7-12 and includes two of the day’s three $125,000 sprint stakes, the seven-furlong Hutcheson for 3-year-olds on dirt in Race 9 and five-furlong Captiva Island for older fillies and mares on turf in the Race 12 finale.

Saturday’s Rainbow 6 kicks off with a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs on the main track that drew a field of 10 including first-time starters by Into Mischief, Munnings and Candy Ride. The 2-1 program favorite is Triple Crown-nominated Amberjack, a $320,000 son of Complexity that ran second to highly regarded Code Review in debut Jan. 25 at Gulfstream.

The Hutcheson is led by Green With MV Stable’s Diciassette, most recently fourth in Gulfstream’s seven-furlong Swale Jan. 31. The Mitole colt ran three times at 2, winning his debut and the Proud Man at Gulfstream before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) Oct. 4 behind champion Ted Noffey.

In the Captiva Island, Town and Country Racing’s 5-year-old mare Moon Spun chases a fifth consecutive victory and a sweep of Gulfstream’s turf sprint stakes series for older females after winning the Abundantia Dec. 27 and Ladies Turf Sprint Feb. 7. Trainer Brian Lynch previously swept the series with Stone Silent in 2024.

Also on Saturday’s card in Race 3 is the $125,000 Any Limit for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs on the main track, featuring a matchup of speedsters Mythical and Sweet Ember. Sweet Ember will be making her stakes debut after two straight wins, while Mythical is a four-time stakes winner taking the Tremont against boys and Adirondack (G3) last summer at Saratoga and FSS Susan’s Girl and My Dear Girl in the fall at Gulfstream.

A mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 is scheduled for Sunday. On mandatory payout days, the entire pool is disbursed to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the popular wager’s six-race sequence.

Who’s Hot: Jockey Tyler Gaffalione and trainer Blake Kelly teamed up to win Race 4 with The Great Oscar ($9.20) and Race 7 with Baby Blocks ($11.20) … Jockey Micah Husbands doubled on Real Macho ($4.20) in Race 6 and Culpa ($5.20) in Race 9 … Jockey Luis Saez visited the winner’s circle with Science Rockets ($6.20) in Race 3 and McKellen ($4.20) in Race 10.