A Three-Year-Old to Watch: Orb

Orb overcame a poor start to rally from last and win a nine-furlong allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park this afternoon, stamping himself as a colt of excellent potential in the process.

With Joel Rosario aboard, Orb was off just a touch slowly and had to steady a bit while in tight on the first turn. As a result, he was last of seven horses early on as Duke of the City and Mountain Eagle set a moderate pace of :24.32 and :49.11 seconds. Saylor's Creek and Indy's Illusion were racing right behind the two leaders, followed by Uptown Anthem, Looking Cool, and Orb.

Rounding the final turn, Rosario guided Orb to the outside and allowed his mount to advance, and by the time the field turned for home, Orb was challenging Duke of the City for the lead. Those two put on quite a show down the homestretch, with Orb going by and opening up a 1 1/2 length advantage at the eighth pole before Duke of the City re-rallied and closed the gap to just under a length at the wire. The final time of 1:51.05 seconds was about four-fifths of a second slower than an identical allowance race earlier on the card.

Indy's Illusion rallied well in the final furlong to finish third, 2 3/4 lengths behind Duke of the City. Mountain Eagle, Uptown Anthem, Looking Cool, and Sayler's Creek completed the order of finish.

The winner is trained by Shug McGaughey and is owned by Stuart Janney III and the Phipps Stable. He is a son of Malibu Moon out of Lady Liberty, by Unbridled.

-Keelerman

Mountain Eagle entered in Saturday allowance race

Mountain Eagle, a promising three-year-old maiden winner trained by Nick Zito, is entered to race on Saturday in a nine-furlong allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park.

A son of Birdstone out of the Gulch mare Gulch Legacy, Mountain Eagle finished fourth sprinting 6-1/2 furlongs in his debut at Churchill Downs, then stretched out to a mile at Gulfstream Park and promptly won by 4 1/2 lengths. Owned by Marylou Whitney Stables, a victory by Mountain Eagle would likely launch him on his way to a major Kentucky Derby prep race.

Others entered in the race include Orb, who beat the super-promising Revolutionary when breaking his maiden on November 24th at Aqueduct; Looking Cool, who won a maiden special weight here at Gulfstream in gritty fashion on January 5th; Saylor's Creek, most recently seen breaking his maiden at Churchill Downs over subsequent LeComte Stakes (gr. III) runner-up Golden Soul; and Uptown Anthem, who has placed in a trio of stakes races at Calder.

Post Positions
1 Saylor's Creek
2 Duke of the City
3 Orb
4 Looking Cool
5 Indy's Illusion
6 Uptown Anthem
7 Mountain Eagle

-Keelerman

Gulfstream Park Derby Entries: Purple Egg headlines eight-horse field

The undefeated Purple Egg, winner of the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, headlines the eight-horse field that has been entered in the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby, which will be contested on New Year's Day at Gulfstream Park.

The one-mile race is the first in a series of four major Kentucky Derby prep races -- the others being the Holy Bull Stakes, Fountain of Youth Stakes, and Florida Derby -- that will be held at Gulfstream Park this winter.

In addition to Purple Egg, other major contenders include Itsmyluckyday, winner of the Foolish Pleasure Stakes and Fasig Tipton Turf Dash Stakes at Calder; Sr.  Quisqueyano, winner of the Seacliff Stakes and runner-up in three other stakes; and Star Contender, winner of the Cup and Saucer Stakes and runner-up in the Coronation Futurity.

Post Positions:
1 Undrafted
2 Purple Egg
3 Uptown Anthem
4 Sr. Quisqueyano
5 Itsmyluckyday
6 Almost English
7 Star Contender
8 Joshua's Comprise

-Keelerman