Vincey Girl Chasing Stakes Trifecta in Daring Kathy Handicap

Turf Co-Feature with $60,000 Chasing Artie Overnight Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Already having found stakes success on dirt and synthetic, Blu Boy Racing Stables and Gary Ferman’s veteran distaffer Vincey Girl will get the chance to add turf to her resume when she lines up against 10 rivals – six of them fellow stakes winners – in Saturday’s $60,000 Daring Kathy overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The Daring Kathy for fillies and mares 3 and older, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass, anchors a 10-race program that includes the $60,000 Chasing Artie overnight handicap, a five-furlong turf dash for 3-year-olds and up.

First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

Vincey Girl, a 5-year-old daughter of multiple graded-stakes winner Race Day, returns to Gulfstream after making her last two starts on the West Coast where she finished off the board in the Yellow Ribbon (G2) and John C. Mabee (G2) over the Del Mar turf.

Trainer Jose D’Angelo is following a similar blueprint to one he used earlier this summer, when Vincey Girl returned to South Florida after a failed attempt against graded competition. After running fifth in the Bed o’ Roses (G2) sprinting on dirt at Saratoga, Vincey Girl came from next-to-last to register a determined half-length victory in the July 11 Powder Break.

The Powder Break was only the second time around two turns and was to be the turf debut for Vincey Girl but the race was rained onto the all-weather Tapeta course at the same 1 1/16 miles as the Daring Kathy, where she has been installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

“The last time she ran here was at the distance, and she won,” D’Angelo said. “I think everything was perfect that day. The pace was perfect and she was in the right position. Her last race she had a very bad post position. She broke very wide and was not able to recover.”

Vincey Girl drew Post 9 of 11 in the Daring Kathy, carries co-topweight of 123 pounds and gets the services of jockey Leonel Reyes, who leads the fall Sunshine Meet standings with 18 wins. D’Angelo is hoping better racing luck leads to another stakes win at Gulfstream including a dominant performance in last summer’s seven-furlong Sheer Drama on the dirt.

“I think the longer she runs, the better,” D’Angelo said. “She was very unlucky in California. The first race she had a bad trip and the second race the post position really [hurt] her. Now she’s home and she’s doing very good. She worked the other day and I’m very happy with her. Hopefully we are lucky on Saturday.”

Among those looking to spoil Vincey Girl’s return are Miss Mary Nell, Fantasy Performer, Defiant Lass and Lets Go Koko, separated by a total of three lengths as the top four finishers in Gulfstream’s Sept. 12 Ginger Punch, contested at a mile and 70 yards on the Tapeta.

Miss Mary Nell’s three-quarter-length triumph avenged a loss to Fantasy Performer in the Aug. 16 Frolic’s Revenge overnight handicap going one mile on the Gulfstream turf. It was her second stakes win following a 24-1 upset in the Jan. 24 South Beach overnight handicap on the Tapeta. The runner-up that day was Warming, who has gone on to win the Gallorette (G3), Yellow Ribbon and Dance Smartly (G2) this year.

“She’s competitive and she runs her race every time,” trainer Carlos David said. “It’s coming up to the winter meet so she’s just going to gear up. She’s going to have to be competitive again in this spot if she’s going to win some races in the winter.”

Palm Beach Racing’s 4-year-old Florida homebred Miss Mary Nell (6-1, 123 pounds) tuned up for the Daring Kathy with an easy half-mile work Oct. 4 in 49.70 seconds under jockey Jonathan Ocasio, who returns to ride from Post 6.

“She’s a good work horse on the dirt. I almost wonder if she can dirt; at some point we’ll probably try it,” David said. “She’s doing good. It looks like it’s a little bit tougher this time, but we’re going to give it a go.”

R.A.F. Productions’ Fantasy Performer (Post 10, Miguel Vasquez, 10-1, 123) also won the 1 1/8-mile Key West overnight handicap on the Tapeta Jan. 1 for Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning trainer Cam Gambolati. Phillips Racing Partnership and Pam Gartin’s Defiant Lass (Post 5, Samy Camacho, 15-1, 118) has been beaten a total of three lengths, hitting the board in each of three starts since returning from a 10-month layoff and changing barns to trainer Jimmy Toner.

Live Oak Plantation’s 4-year-old homebred Souper Zonda (Post 4, Sonny Leon, 3-1, 123) began the year in her native Florida, winning Gulfstream’s one-mile Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf and FHBPA Filly & Mare Turf and the 1 1/16-mile Distaff Turf at Tampa Bay Downs. After a brief freshening she was a front-running neck optional claiming winner July 19 at Colonial Downs and second in the Aug. 22 Violet at Monmouth Park.

Leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. entered the pair of Carrie Brogden and Circle N Thoroughbreds’ Turino (Post 2, Rasheed Hughes, 5-1, 121), neck winner of the one-mile Monroe May 16 on the Gulfstream turf, and Brogden and Ryan Fubini’s Hello Hello Hello (Post 1, Micah Husbands, 8-1, 119), most recently sixth in the Ginger Punch.

Completing the field are Oshala (Post 3, Heriberto Figueroa, 20-1, 118); Crafty Collector (Post 7, Marcos Meneses, 20-1, 117), a stakes winner on turf and Tapeta; 2025 Powder Break winner Lets Go Koko (Post 8, Edwin Gonzalez, 15-1, 119); and Janana Han (Post 11, Yolber Torres, 50-1, 116), a 4-year-old daughter of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify making just her fourth start.

John Eaton and Steve Laymon’s Florida homebred Daring Kathy, trained by David Fawkes, won eight of 19 starts and nearly $500,000 in purse earnings from 2014-16. Six of her wins came in stakes including the 2014 My Charmer (G3), Cellars Shiraz, Starfish Bay and Honey Ryder and 2016 Soaring Softly, all at Gulfstream.