BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—Rousseau Racing’s Grade 3-winner Nic’s Style, her stop-and-start career back in full swing, looks to snap a string of four straight runner-up finishes against six rivals including millionaire Mystic Lake in Saturday’s $100,000 FHBPA Filly & Mare Sprint at Gulfstream Park.
The six-and-a-half-furlong Filly & Mare Sprint for older horses is the first of six consecutive $100,000 stakes for Florida-breds to conclude an 11-race program that gets under way at 12:05 p.m. ET.
Now 6-years-old, Nic’s Style has made five starts since returning from an eight-month absence running fourth in the $150,000 Pumpkin Pie (Listed) won by Weigh the Risks on November 8 at Aqueduct. The Uncaptured mare won the Pumpkin Pie the previous year to start a four-race win streak that ended with Gulfstream’s six-and-a-half-furlong Hurricane Bertie (Grade 3) last March before going to the sidelines.
“She’s been a roller coaster ride, what can I say?” Stephen Rousseau said. “I named her after my wife [Nicola]. She won her first race very impressively and we thought we had a Florida Stallion Stakes horse. Then she got injured and [when] we brought her back 18 months later, she won impressive and got injured again. Another seven or eight months she came back to training.
“She reeled off like seven or eight wins which was just a great ride. Her last win was her fourth in a row and then she got hurt and we had to lay her off again. We brought her back in New York and it has just been a tough ride since we brought her back,” he added. “All the injuries she’s had, nothing has ever been serious. Just little things that needed a few months on the farm to rest and heal up.”
After the Pumpkin Pie, Nic’s Style made her next three starts at Gulfstream starting in the $125,000 Sugar Swirl (Listed) on December 20, when she was a length-and-a-half lengths ahead of third-place finisher Mystic Lake making her first start in three months. She was then second again in her next two, both upper level $62,500 optional claiming races at Gulfstream. She was second to Lynn’s Milky over a sloppy track on January 22 then beaten by subsequent Madison (G1)-winner Eclatant on February 15. She was second again last out against fellow graded-winner Irish Maxima on March 21 at Aqueduct in an upper tier, $75,000 optional claiming.
“When we came back, we had one thing after another. In New York, two races got canceled because of the weather. She ran fourth there then we came back and ran in the Sugar Swirl and she wasn’t 100 percent at that point,” Rousseau said. “Then we came back and got a wet track which didn’t really suit us—and then we ran into Eclatant, who is a monster. She’s been running against very good horses since she’s been back. We’re hoping that we get lucky and find the winner’s circle again.”
Nic’s Style drew post five and will have the services of regular rider Junior Alvarado, aboard for 11 of her 13 starts. First or second 12 times, she is rated as the 6-5 morning line favorite carrying 120 pounds, six fewer than topweight Mystic Lake.
“She’s doing very well and she’s getting older, but hopefully she’s still got it in her to win one,” Rousseau said. “She’s really been unfortunate to have been bucking up against some really, really good horses. Mystic Lake is a pretty tough horse but we’re hoping that she gets the job done. She’s been a joy. She’s a once in a lifetime horse. For me it’s been a pleasure.”
Miller Racing, BAG Racing Stables and Stefania Farms’ Mystic Lake will be making just her fifth of 25 career starts at Gulfstream, where her wins include the 2024 Sugar Swirl and 2025 Inside Information (G2). Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., she has won 13 races and nearly $1.6 million in purse earnings, 12 of her victories coming in stakes, three of them graded. Exiting a sixth in the April 4 Madison at Keeneland, she will have Micah Husbands aboard.
Also entered are Girvin Star with J.G. Torrealba riding, Poiema and jockey Edgar Perez, Just a Philly will have Diego Herrera up and Joe Orseno-trained stablemates Happy Ride, (Edgard Zayas rides) and Love Actually (jockey Edwin Gonzalez).
Return to the April 24 issue of Wire to Wire
