Trainer Barboza Sends Out Talented Trio in Lady’s Island

5F Overnight Handicap on Turf Draws Eight Fillies & Mares

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Stakes-winning stablemates Great Venezuela and Tiffany Gold, each hindered by poor starts last time out, will break from the outside at a new distance and surface when they make their return in Saturday’s $70,000 Lady’s Island overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The Lady’s Island for fillies and mares 3 and up, scheduled for five furlongs on the grass, is the headliner on an 11-race program as the Royal Palm Meet resumes live action with a 12:20 p.m. first post.

Orlyana Farm’s Florida homebred Great Venezuela and Lean Entertainment’s Tiffany Gold, 5-year-old mares with 14 wins from 32 combined starts, respectively ran third and seventh after encountering early trouble in Gulfstream’s Little Miss Holly overnight handicap sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the all-weather Tapeta course June 14.

“The last race was bad luck for my two mares with the bad start, and [now] going five furlongs you need always a good start,” trainer Victor Barboza Jr. said. “With a good start in the race, they can be very dangerous.”

Great Venezuela (Post 8, Diego Herrera, 7-2) hopped at the break, got bumped and raced four wide early but made a late run to be third, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the Little Miss Holly. In her previous start, the Neolithic mare also ran third as the favorite in the five-furlong Golden Beach overnight handicap April 11 on the Gulfstream turf.

With nine wins and $445,420 in purse earnings from 19 starts, Great Venezuela is the most accomplished horse among eight older females in the field. Much of her success has come on Tapeta, where she is 7-for-10 lifetime with wins in the Islamorada and Portofino Bay handicaps, but she has also been third or better in eight of nine grass starts including a win in the Lightning City at Tampa Bay Downs and a second in the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream in 2025.

“The last race she did not have a good start, but I think the [post] position on the outside is perfect position for the break,” Barboza said. “She has obviously been very good on the synthetic but she has also run good on the turf. She is a stakes winner on the turf. The last two races she didn’t get the best start. I think she has a good chance. She is maybe the best mare in the race.”

Tiffany Gold (Post 7, Edwin Gonzalez, 3-1) won the Lady’s Island by a head in front-running fashion last spring before going to the sidelines. Last time out she got bumped at the break and rushed up to press pacesetting winner Vindicate Cha Cha through splits of 21.90 and 44.15 seconds in the Little Miss Holly before fading to be last of seven. It was her second start off nearly a year layoff following a 1 ¼-length comeback triumph at the course and distance May 9.

“She came back very well after not running for 11 months. She ran a very good race to win her comeback,” Barboza said. “The last race she didn’t run very well. I don’t think the synthetic is the best track for her. Now she has a good post position and she’s training very well. She has a good chance. She can be very dangerous in the race.”

Barboza also entered Vicente Stella Stables’ Le Amazonia (Post 2, Samy Camacho, 5-2), set to make her first start since finishing second in the Golden Beach overnight handicap at the course and distance April 11. A winner on both grass and Tapeta, she also ran second to Great Venezuela in the 2025 Islamorada and Feb. 7 Ladies Turf Sprint sprinting five furlongs on turf.

“I think she is a much better horse on the turf with the shorter distance. It’s not the best post position but she is in very good condition. I prefer the turf for her,” Barboza said. “She had a very good race the last time. After the race the owner sent her to the farm to rest for three weeks and she has come back perfectly for the difficult races to come later this year.”

Clear Stars Stable and Mitre Box Stable’s Vindicate Cha Cha (Post 1, Francisco Arietta, 12-1) was entered in the Lady’s Island but trainer Michael Lerman said the 5-year-old mare would only run if the race was moved to the Tapeta, where she improved to 6-for-13 lifetime with her two-length victory in the Little Miss Holly.

“She’s legit, but she’s not as good on the grass,” Lerman said. “I just think she’s better on the synthetic. She’s [winless on] the turf and she’s never really missed the board on the synthetic.”

Greenfield Cougar (Post 6, Miguel Vasquez, 6-1), owned by Steel City Stable and trainer David Fawkes, also found trouble in the Little Miss Holly while racing in tight between horses and then being steadied entering the turn but managed to get up for second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Great Venezuela in her stakes debut.

Laila Bella Girl (Post 4, Leonel Reyes, 15-1), a state-bred allowance winner by a nose at the course and distance July 3 in her first start since mid-December; Coco Abarrio (Post 5, Edgar Perez, 4-1), third in March 14 Captiva Island on the Gulfstream Tapeta; and Tree C’s Kai (Post 3, Jonathan Ocasio, 20-1), sixth in the Little Miss Holly, complete the field.

The Lady’s Island honors the Florida-bred mare that won 18 of 35 starts and $665,575 in purses from 2017-21. Among her victories were seven stakes including back-to-back editions of the Sugar Swirl (G3) and Musical Romance in 2019 and 2020.