BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—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 twenty-fifth 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-years-old and older.
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 eight wins with two seconds and two thirds from 13 starts racing on turf and the all-weather course including wins last year in Gulfstream’s $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf going a mile and the $157,286 Claiming Crown Tiara over a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the Churchill Downs turf. Third Jan. 10 in defense of her Sunshine title, she most recently finished eighth in the $150,000 Sand Springs (Listed) over a mile-and-a-sixteenth on 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 one against eight rivals including pair of a familiar faces in stakes-winning Florida-breds Souper Zonda and Lets 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 nine 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) on February 28 but returned with a determined half-length victory against state-breds in the $100,000 Distaff Turf raced at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on March 29 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Also figuring to be part of the early pace is Flying Finish Farm Inc.’s Lets Go Koko, 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.
Lets Go Koko has post two and is 3-1 in the program.
Carolin Von Rosenberg’s 5-year-old homebred mare Dreaming of Abba also exits the Distaff Turf, finishing fourth while beaten two-and-a-half 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 January 9 at Tampa.
Also entered are three-time stakes winner Charlie’s Wish, with a field-high 29 starts and $479,449 in purse earnings; Nina’s Last Gift, exiting a March 20 win on the Gulfstream synthetic; Sheshimaintenance, who has won five straight races for four different trainers since early November; and Notable Exchange and Miss Mary Nell, respectively sixth and eighth in the Distaff Turf.
Return to the April 23 issue of Wire to Wire
