Tonalist's Shape kept her unbeaten record intact and trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.'s hot streak going while becoming her sire (by Tapit)'s first graded winner. The chestnut belied 19-1 odds to take her Sept. 28 unveiling here while in the barn of trainer Juan Avila and carrying the colors of Sabana Racing Stable Corp. The phone started to ring after that, and she resurfaced with her current connections to take a Gulfstream Park West optional claimer by daylight Oct. 20. Tonalist's Shape aired by nine lengths and earned a strong 89 Beyer Speed Figure for her Nov. 30 Hut Hut S. effort over an additional furlong, and looked more or less like a lock for this one on paper.
Not away particularly quickly, the favorite advanced down the backside and was third out in the clear as they entered the bend. She seemed to idle for a few strides midway around the turn, but Eclipse-winning pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr. soon gave a confident flick of his stick and she started to take off. She bounded clear in upper stretch, and was wrapped up late after proving too much for her competition to handle.
Debuting Nikki and Papa, a $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream purchase last term, broke in very badly from the rail, but ran well to make up the ground she spotted her more experienced foes to get up for third.
“I got a perfect trip,” said winning pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr. “She broke out of there a little slow, but she usually does that. She worked her way up pretty quick and after that I just went with the flow. When I asked her turning for home, she really responded. She did everything right.”
Joseph added, “It's so important that she wins a graded stake because they paid good money for her and now it makes her valuable in that sense. This race came by design. It was to give her a break for the Forward Gal and go through the Gulfstream series because they have a good series for 3-year-old fillies. Today was the first stepping stone. She did everything we asked. She was a further back in the beginning. I know cutting back, she doesn't really want to be [sprinting], but it was the right way to get her where we need to get her. She did everything we asked and we can't be more proud of her.
“She's not flashy, but she's going to do what she needs to do. I'm just glad to have her and thankful that the owners put her in our barn. She's won with four different riders and she could have probably won with four different trainers. All being well, we'll go in the [Feb. 29 GII] Davona Dale and the [Mar. 29 GII] Gulfstream Park Oaks. That would be a good plan for her.”
Saturday, Gulfstream Park
FORWARD GAL S.-GIII, $150,000, Gulfstream, 2-1, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:24.77, ft.
1–TONALIST'S SHAPE, 122, f, 3, by Tonalist
1st Dam: Hitechnoweenie (SW, $175,332), by Harlan's Holiday
2nd Dam: Hi Tech Honeycomb, by Meadow Monster
3rd Dam: Star of Fairway, by It's Freezing
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($45,000 RNA Ylg '18 KEESEP;
$60,000 RNA 2yo '19 OBSAPR). O-Slam Dunk Racing, Doug
Branham & Legacy Ranch, Inc.; B-Sabana Farm (KY); T-Saffie A.
Joseph, Jr.; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $92,070. Lifetime Record: 4-4-0-0,
$190,350. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Street of Dreams, 118, f, 3, Street Sense–Breaking Promises,
by Broken Vow. ($80,000 Ylg '18 FTKOCT; $150,000 2yo '19
EASMAY). O-Lothenbach Stables, Inc. (Bob Lothenbach);
B-New Cal Stable (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes. $29,700.
3–Nikki and Papa, 118, f, 3, Mineshaft–Starship Spirit, by Grand
Slam. ($70,000 Ylg '18 FTKJUL; $500,000 2yo '19 FTFMAR).
O-Ron Paolucci Racing, LLC, Todd Cady, Leigh Anderson-Butler,
Jeffrey Lambert, Steve Melen & Nydia M. Sigband; B-Susan
King (OH); T-Robert B. Hess, Jr. $14,850.
Margins: 3 3/4, 1 3/4, NK. Odds: 0.30, 3.20, 22.50.
Also Ran: Fujairah, Compensate, New Day Dawning.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Pedigree Notes:
Tonalist's Shape was the also first black-type winner for her Classic-winning 'TDN Rising Star' sire. She RNA'd for $60,000 at OBS April after breezing in :10 2/5. Her dam annexed the Panthers S. going a mile at Prairie Meadows in 2013 and was second by a nose sprinting on the Turfway all-weather in the 2014 Holiday Inaugural S. Second dam Hi Tech Honeycomb also took the Panthers in 2002, and was graded-placed on the grass and in the slop. Hitechnoweenie produced an Outwork filly in 2018 and a Connect colt in 2019 before visiting Tiznow for 2020. Tonalist's Shape is the eighth graded/group winner out of a Harlan's Holiday mare, and is bred like 2015 GII Adirondack S. heroine Just Wicked (Tapit).
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