Lochte stars in Tropical Turf; Angelica Zapata, Daring Kathy highlight My Charme

Lochte stars in Tropical Turf; Angelica Zapata, Daring

Kathy highlight My Charmer

Lochte figures to be well backed in the betting for

Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000

Tropical Turf Handicap at Gulfstream Park West, if for

no other reason than the four-year-old gelding is one of two Grade 1 winners

in the field.

The son of Medaglia d'Oro sprung a 39-1 surprise in the

Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on February 9 for trainer Marcus Vitali.

He validated that result with a

close-up second in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and a third-place finish

in the Grade 1 Makers 46 Mile at Keeneland in his next two starts. Lochte didn't fare nearly as well in four subsequent races

at Monmouth, Belmont and Saratoga during the summer before returning to South

Florida.

"From the beginning, I've always had my ups and downs with

him. He's had his share of problems, like any athlete. Now, we've got him well

managed and he's been on the upswing," Vitali explained. "We're going to take it

one race and a time and hopefully point him in the right direction."

Of course, the ultimate goal for Lochte is a title defense

in the Grade 1, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on February 7 on a turf course over which he

has shown a distinct affinity.

Although his fondness for the Gulfstream turf was

reconfirmed with a late-charging victory in the The Vid Stakes upon his

return to South Florida on September 13, Lochte still has to prove himself over the

course at Gulfstream Park West, where he was beaten as the odds-on favorite in

an open allowance race on October 18. The dark bay raced wide throughout that mile turf

race before taking the lead in midstretch, only to be caught late by Dreams Cut

Short, one of 13 (including four main-track-only horses) entered in Saturday's

Tropical Turf.

"I just think the trip got him beat. I think it was unavoidable. It was just

the way the race unfolded. It cost him the race," Vitali said. "He likes to get

covered up and make one big run."

Orlando Bocachica, Vitali's go-to rider, has the return

mount aboard Lochte, Saturday's 5-2 morning-line favorite who provided all of

his connections with memorable moments last February.

"It was a very exciting day," Vitali noted. "That was my

first Grade 1 and it was the first Grade 1 for Orlando, and I think it was the

first Grade 1 for (owner) Crossed Sabres. It was a win-win-win."

Unbridled Command will attempt to

recapture the Grade 1 form he flashed almost two years ago when he capped a five-race win streak with victory in the

Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on November 15, 2012. The five-year-old son of Master

Command was far from disgraced when he

finished third behind Point of Entry and Animal Kingdom in the 2013 Gulfstream

Park Turf Handicap, but after more than a year layoff he's gone winless in four

starts on the West Coast this season.

The New York-bred veteran is scheduled to make his

first start since finishing ninth in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at

Santa Anita on September 28 as well as his first start for trainer Marty Wolfson.

A look at the past performances of Rapscallion might lead

one to think that trainer Graham Motion entered the Speightstown four-year-old for the

Tropical Turf in the hopes that the 1 1/8-mile contest is moved to the main track.

The bay gelding's last two victories have come in off-the-turf races

at Keeneland, including a front-running second-level allowance victory by 4 1/2

lengths in his most recent start.

"I wasn't really thinking of that. I was more thinking that

it was a good spot and the timing was good. It was a chance to see if he

improved in general, or if it was a freak thing with the move to dirt, but I've

always thought he was a better turf horse," Motion said. "He's coming off a nice

win on the dirt at Keeneland, but we always thought he was more of a grass

horse.

"We gelded him before his last start, and I'd like to think that helped

him a little bit. He probably wasn't putting everything into it that we'd

seen he was capable of in the morning, Motion said. "In the morning, he always

breezed like a nice horse."

Two races following the Tropical Turf, Angelica Zapata will attempt to add a

first graded victory to her 10 career stakes wins when facing 10 rivals, plus

two main-track only entrants, in the Grade 3, $100,000

My

Charmer Handicap.

The six-year-old Sharp Humor mare just missed by a half-length while closing

out 2013 in the My Charmer and opened her 2014 campaign with a third-placing in the

Grade 3 Marshua's River on January 4 at Gulfstream Park, beaten a length by Naples Bay.

"We came off the hedge and the horse that won it, Naples

Bay, went right through the hole that we could have gone through," trainer Ron Pellegrini

said. "Those were two Grade 3s where we thought after the races that we should

have won both, but racing luck is a different story."

Angelica Zapata was a distant fourth in the Grade 2 Sabin in

February before getting a break, coming back to win the Nancy's Glitter and

Soaring Softly overnight stakes in successive starts. Most recently, she was a

troubled second by a half-length as the favorite in the September 27 Wasted

Tears at Gulfstream Park.

"She had a horrible trip that day, but what can you do,"

Pellegrini shrugged. "We planned on running her in this race, so we've just been

getting ready for it. I think she's coming into it great. I couldn't ask her for

any more. I think she's going to run a big race.

Meet-leading rider Edgard Zayas will be aboard Angelica

Zapata from post 4 at top weight of 119 pounds.

Also seeking her first graded win in the My Charmer is

Daring Kathy, a three-year-old daughter of Wildcat Heir trained by David Fawkes.

The bay miss will be trying older horses and 1 1/8 miles

for the first time in her first start since a front-running 3 1/4-length victory

in the Cellars Shiraz Stakes on October 18 at Gulfstream Park West.

Unraced as a juvenile, Daring Kathy is five-for-eight this year, with four

wins and two thirds in six starts since being moved to the turf by Fawkes in

March. She is unbeaten on the grass in her native Florida, including victories

in the Honey Ryder and Starfish Bay this spring.

"Naturally you always wonder about the distance, but she's

handled everything so far that we've given her," Fawkes said. "We thought,

'Let's try to stretch her out and see what happens.'

"If you look at her numbers, if she gets any break early at

all she's very strong at the finish," he added. "She still finishes well even

when she gets pressed. She still has that late kick. I'm sure this is a step

forward, so you just have to hope that the race works out for her."

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