Undefeated Random Harvest Another Rising Turf Star for Toner

Pegasus World Cup Preview Day Nominations Published
Sunshine Classic on Horizon for Defending Champ Lure Him In

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – His success with turf females well-established, trainer Jimmy Toner has another rising star on his hands in Joseph Allen’s homebred Random Harvest.

Undefeated in her only two starts, Random Harvest is set to make her stakes debut in Saturday’s $140,000 Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park.

A daughter of champion Uncle Mo out of the Galileo mare Claire de Lune, Random Harvest will take the first steps on a path carved out by such Toner-trained standouts as millionaires Soaring Softly, Memories of Silver, Winter Memories and Wonder Again and fellow Grade 1 winner Time and Motion.

Soaring Softly was the champion grass mare of 1999, kicking off the year with an allowance win at Gulfstream and capping it with a victory in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Mother and daughter Memories of Silver (1998) and Winter Memories (2012) won the Diana (G1) 14 years apart; in between, Toner also won it with Wonder Again (2004).

Though Random Harvest still has much to accomplish, the 84-year-old Toner, who won his first career race in 1960, believes she shares similar talent and traits to her celebrated predecessors.

“She does, yeah,” Toner said. “I’m not saying she’s a Winter Memories or anything like that, but she reminds me quite a bit of some of the nice fillies I’ve had. The main thing is that she’s got a good mind to her, and that always helps them.”

Random Harvest went unraced at 2 and has faced older horses in both her starts this year. She rallied from mid-pack to capture her unveiling, a one-mile maiden special weight Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs, by 3 ½ lengths and followed up with a 1 ¼-length open allowance triumph going 1 3/16 miles Oct. 26 at Keeneland, also from off the pace.

“She had some minor issues as a 2-year-old and, being an Uncle Mo, we decided to just take our time with her and be careful with her. It’s all paid off pretty good so far,” Toner said. “She’s quite a nice filly. She trained well and then we sent her down to Kentucky. It’s hard for a horse to win first time out like that at Kentucky Downs, so that was impressive. Then she showed it again when she ran back at Keeneland. We’re quite excited about her. She’s a nice filly to be around, she does everything the right way and is just classy top to bottom.”

Maryland-based jockey Victor Carrasco is named to ride Random Harvest for the first time. They drew Post 6 in an overflow field of 15 that includes Grade 3 winners Life’s an Audible and Waskesiu, Grade 2-placed Vive Veuve and Grade 3-placed Yatta. Life’s an Audible, Vive Veuve, In Our Time and De Regreso are all stakes winners on the Gulfstream turf.

“It’s the last chance to run against 3-year-olds. I know there’s a pretty solid group of horses in there, so she’s lacking experience. But she’s won two, so it’s either an allowance race against older horses or go against 3-year-olds,” Toner said. “We’d like to get some black type, which I think we’ll get somewhere along the line, next year anyway, but we’ll see how we do against these fillies.

“She’s just a very nice filly, very classy, and she’s very smart. Whatever you want her to do, she does,” he added. “We’re just thrilled to death with her.”

Pegasus World Cup Preview Day Nominations Published

Nominations for five stakes on the Dec. 21 Pegasus World Cup Preview Day program at Gulfstream Park, including the $165,000 Harlan’s Holiday (G3), the $215,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) and $165,000 Suwanee River (G3), are available at Gulfstreampark.com.

The Harlan’s Holiday, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up, is the key local prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), which will headline a Jan. 25 card at Gulfstream that will also feature the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2), and seven other stakes (four graded).

C2 Racing Stable, Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz and Antonio Pagnano’s White Abarrio, the 2022 Florida Derby (G1) and 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner, is prominent on the list of 18 nominations but is scheduled to prep for the Pegasus World Cup in the $150,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) a week later at Gulfstream. White Abarrio’s trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has nominated five others for the Harlan’s Holiday, including Two Twenty Racing and Joseph’s Comedy Town, who has found his best stride since transitioning back to dirt and winning three straight, two stakes, and finishing third in the Phoenix (G2) at Keeneland last time out.

Trainer Brad Cox is represented on the Harlan’s Holiday noms list by FMZ Stables’ multiple graded stakes-winning veteran Saudi Crown, Evan Ferraro and Stephen Ferraro’s Liberal Arts and Godolphin’s Kinetic.

Michael Iavarone and partners’ Steal Sunshine, who won the Gulfstream Mile (G2) last season for trainer Bobby Dibona; Wathnan Racing’s Tumbarumba, whom Brian Lynch saddled for a victory in the Hooper (G3) on Pegasus Day last season; and Mohammed Khaleel Ahmed’s Bendoog, the Bill Mott-trained Suburban (G2) runner-up; are also prominent on the Harlan’s Holiday noms list.

Live Oak Plantation’s Win for the Money, who captured the Nov. 2 Woodbine Mile (G1), and Whisper Hill Farm LLC’s Grand Sonata, winner of the Kentucky Downs Turf Cup (G2), top a list of 20 nominations for the Fort Lauderdale, a 1 1/8-mile steppingstone to the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. Win for the Money and Grand Sonata, who both finished off the board in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) last time out, are trained by Hall of Famers Mark Casse and Todd Pletcher, respectively.

The Suwannee River, a mile prep for the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf, has attracted 23 nominations, including Team Valor International LLC and Gary Barber’s Bless My Heart, a Group 1 winner in South Africa whom Pletcher is preparing for her U.S. debut. Trainer Graham Motion nominated Golden Hostess, a South African import owned by Cayton Park Stud Ltd. A group winner in South Africa, Golden Hostess finished a rallying second in the Autumn Days at Aqueduct in her second U.S. start Nov. 8. Five Joseph-trained fillies and mares have been nominated to the Suwannee River, including e Five Racing Thoroughbreds’ Mrs. Gambolini, a lightly raced daughter of More Than Ready who is coming off a sharp optional claiming allowance score at Gulfstream.

The $140,000 Sugar Swirl, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares that serves as a prep for the seven-furlong Inside Information (G3) on the Pegasus card, attracted 13 nominations, including Jorge Delgado-trained Olivia Darling, AMO Racing USA’s defending Inside Information champion.

The $140,000 Janus, a five-furlong turf dash that serves as a prep for the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on the Pegasus program, drew 17 nominations, including last season’s winner Panther Island. Golden Kernel Racing Stable is also represented on the noms list by veteran turf sprinter Yes I Am Free. Both horses have been recently transferred to Cox.

Sunshine Classic on Horizon for Defending Champ Lure Him In

Multiple-stakes winner Lure Him In breezed Thursday at Gulfstream Park for the first time following his comeback race and return to the barn of trainer Sam Wilensky, who is pointing the 7-year-old gelding to a title defense in next month’s Sunshine Classic.

“That is the game plan, ideally,” Wilensky said. “I hope that we can have an opportunity to win that race again.”

C2 Racing, Double B Racing Stables, Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch and Mach 1 Stables’ Lure Him In worked an easy half mile in 50.38 seconds over Gulfstream’s main track, 20 days after finishing third to Steal Sunshine in a second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going one mile.

“The horse is doing phenomenal. It’s been a pleasure to get him back in our barn. I thought he ran a great race the other day off the layoff. He was maybe a breeze or two short, but Steal Sunshine is obviously a very good horse,” Wilensky said. “We just entered today for the exact same spot. He had a good breeze today. They had it in 50 [seconds] but I got it a little quicker than that. He came out of it perfect. He should be ready to go.”

Lure Him In won the 1 1/16-mile Sunshine Classic for Florida-bred 4-year-olds and up Jan. 20 in his season debut, two years after taking the Sunshine Turf, which in 2022 was contested at 1 1/8 miles over the all-weather Tapeta course. He raced four times for trainer Saffie Joesph Jr. over the spring and summer – including fourths in Gulfstream’s Ghostzapper (G3) and the Steve Sexton Mile (G3) at Lone Star Park – and was sent back to Wilensky after running fifth on the turf Aug. 1 at Delaware Park.

In addition to Lure Him In’s next start, planned for Dec. 19, Wilensky is keeping an eye on the Florida-bred competition such as Saturday’s FSS Marion County sprinting seven furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs led by the top two finishers from Gulfstream’s Gil Campbell Memorial Oct. 19, Loco Abarrio and Big Martini.

“From the group I saw just entered at Tampa, there was nobody overly overwhelming in that group. I really don’t expect it to be that much different down here,” Wilensky said. “I really don’t know a Florida-bred to be too worried about.”