BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—Florida-bred stablemates Fourth and Central and Wine Candy, each coming off maiden victories nearly a month apart, will take the next step in their development when they line up together for Saturday’s $75,000 Proud Man at Gulfstream Park.

The Proud Man for 2-year-olds and $75,000 Sharp Susan for 2-year-old fillies, each sprinting six furlongs on the main track, are the co-headliners on an 11-race program that kicks off at 12:50 p.m.

Bred and owned by trainer Michael Yates’ Shadybrook Farm Inc., Fourth and Central has not raced since a determined four-and-a-half-furlong debut victory May 31 at Gulfstream, taking a length-and-a-half lead into the stretch and holding off next-out winner Camigol by a neck in :55.17.

 

The chestnut gelding is by Stonehedge Farm South stallion Cajun Breeze, whose progeny include Grade 3-winner Dean Delivers and stakes-winners Breeze On By, Zydeceaux, Cajun’s Magic, Cajun Firecracker, Grade 2-placed Sunny Breeze and Grade 3-placed Cajun Brother.

“His first race was I think a little better than the time may suggest,” Yates said. “I thought it was a good race. He’s been training forwardly since the race. I’m really happy with how he’s doing.

“He certainly appears to be a little above average, for sure,” he added. “He was a little green in his first race but he’s always shown that he’s got some natural talent. He just keeps kind of moving forward all the time with his training. Hopefully he continues to pass each test.”

Fourth and Central is out of Little Red Frog, by Munnings and the chestnut gelding has earnings of $50,000.

He is eligible for the lucrative Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes for 2-years-old by registered Florida Stallions. The series begins Sept. 6 at Gulfstream with the $100,000 Dr. Fager, for colts and the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies, both at six furlongs.

Marcos Meneses will ride from post five.

Pinnacle Racing Stable’s Wine Candy, by champion Vino Rosso and also bred in Florida, dueled early before tiring to be last of four in his May 2 unveiling. He stretched out to five-eighths for his return June 29 and responded with a four-and-a-half-length romp over Fear, a popular next-out winner Aug. 2.

 

“He’s kind of in the same boat,” Yates said. “His second race obviously was much improved. His first race was kind of a throwout. I think a lot of it was due to greenness and he didn’t run well. But he trained well after that and he duplicated it in the afternoon. I look for him to move forward, as well.”

Leonel Reyes is named on Wine Candy from outermost post nine.

“I think they both probably look like they should stalk,” Yates said. “I’m not crazy about that, but I think the biggest reason why I decided to run them both in there was because it’s more about their development at this point. Although I would prefer to have separate spots to run them in, the importance of their development kind of supersedes that at this moment. So, we need to lead them both over there and run them and see where the chips fall.”

Wine Candy is out of Clawback, by Candy Ride (Arg) and was bred in Florida by Valerie Mastromonaco, Tristan de Meric and Gus King.

Trainer Patrick Biancone also entered a pair of Florida-breds in Squire and Diciassette.

Co-owned by Biancone and Amy Dunne, Squire graduated by a head first-time out going four-and-a-half furlongs April 18 then moved to the turf for the five-furlong $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile May 10 where he ran second by a length-and-a-half to Sandal’s Song. Sandal’s Song went on to be third in the Norfolk Stakes (G3) at Royal Ascot.

 

Squire is a son of Leinster, whose three graded-stakes victories include the 2021 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint (G3) in what turned out to be his career finale. Leinster stands in Florida at Pleasant Acres Stallions.

“He’s doing good,” Biancone said. “We gave him a break after the race in May. We sent him back to the farm, we gelded him and we just gave him time because he had nothing to run in. We’re targeting the [Florida Sire Stakes], but we may run him. We’re not sure yet because he’s not 100 percent fit, but we may run him to give him a prep race for the sixth of September.”

Green with MV Stable’s Diciassette, a son of champion sprinter Mitole whose name means ‘seventeen’ in Italian, wheels back 21 days following his come-from-behind half-length victory over fellow Florida-breds sprinting five furlongs July 20 at Gulfstream.

 

“We were expecting him to win first time out and he did. Now we’ll see the second time if he can climb the next step. He’s training very well and we’re very happy with him. We’ll see if he has enough talent to do that,” Biancone said. “The [last] race came up and so we pointed for it, hoping he would do good and come back here for this race. We have to see if he’s capable to go one step higher. It’s the logical step.”

Diciassette drew post two with Jonathan Ocasio, who won his first career stakes race in the Aug. 2 Bear’s Den at Gulfstream, while Luca Panici is named on Squire in post three.

Also entered are Copernium, a $375,000 son of Charlatan that beat Wine Candy May 2 in his lone start; fellow Florida-bred last-out winners I’m Tuff Enough and Trelawny; Khon Han, beaten a nose at 34-1 in a June 13 maiden special weight at Gulfstream; and Street Player, off the board in the Prairie Gold Juvenile July 5 at Prairie Meadows.

Previous Florida-bred winners of the Proud Man include Naughty Rascal in 2024, future millionaire and graded stakes-winner Bentornato in 2023 and Hot Blooded in 2020.

Return to the August 8 issue of Wire to Wire