Tappan Street and Poster, two promising 3-year-olds sidelined by injury before the Kentucky Derby (G1), are ready to race again at Gulfstream Park.
Tappan Street, winner of the Florida Derby (G1) in March, sustained a condylar fracture of his right front leg while training for the Derby and returns for the first time in nearly nine months on Friday as the 4-5 favorite in a $58,000 optional claiming allowance race going a mile.
“He’s doing great. I wouldn’t have brought him down here if I didn’t have the utmost confidence that he’s in great shape and ready to run a big race,” Harty said.
Poster, trained by Eoin Harty, won the 2024 Remsen Stakes (G2), added enough Derby qualifying points in two other preps, but sustained a condylar fracture after the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) on March 23. He returned with an allowance win at Churchill Downs on Nov. 9 and is the 2-1 favorite in Saturday’s $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes (G3).
Trained by Brad Cox, Tappan Street is the only horse to defeat Derby, Belmont Stakes (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty in 2025. The win came in the Florida Derby, when Tappan Street, ridden by Luis Saez, held off a closing Sovereignty by 1 ¼ lengths.
A son of Into Mischief, Tappan Street will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. for the first time. A field of six is set to run. It may not look like a race worth betting, but it’s always worth a wager on a long shot when a horse is coming off a long layoff after an injury.
Tappan Street won at first asking, then ran second in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3), both at Gulfstream Park, prior to the Florida Derby.
“He’s a nice horse. I’ve seen all his races,” Ortiz said. “Coming off the layoff, Brad always does a great job getting his horses ready. I’m excited. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to get on the horse. Hopefully, everything goes the right way.”
Let’s look at Steppe, who runs regularly at Gulfstream Park for trainer Bobby DiBona. He won at a mile last time out on Nov. 8 and has finished first or second in his last six races. At 6-1 and the second betting choice, the son of Sky Mesa may be worth a small investment.
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The comeback continues for Poster, who is 4-for-6 in his career that was interrupted by injury after he ran fourth in the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on March 23.
He sure seems to have recovered nicely as he made his return a winning one, going a mile on the turf in an allowance optional claimer on Nov. 9. He pressed the pace from inside and took the lead with a sixteenth of a mile to go and won by a half-length.
“He’s very accomplished on the turf, and he’s had two starts on the dirt. He won the Remsen at a mile, and an eighth on the dirt, and he was a very good third with a very troubled trip at Tampa,” Harty said.
“I don’t think he carries his track with him. He can run his race on any surface.”
Flavien Prat gets the call aboard Godolphin-owned Poster, leaving from gate five in a field of seven.
Poster will be running at Gulfstream for the first time, so perhaps there’s a horse in the field with a home track advantage?
That could be Skippylongstocking, trained by Florida-based Saffie Joseph, Jr. Skippy is a multiple graded-stakes winner with earnings of $3.86 million, plus a win in this race in 2024. The 6-year-old is the 3-1 third betting choice, with Chile-bred Con Compania at 5-2.
Last out, though, Skippylongstocking finished a disappointing eighth in the Charles Town Classic (G3) in West Virginia, and before that, he ran seventh in the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga.
“His last two races haven’t been up to par. His Whitney wasn’t too bad. It was his first start back. We had missed some time. He made a big run and got tired. That was kind of an OK race,” Joseph said. “His Charles Town race was very disappointing. He got the thumps (a spasmic contraction of the diaphragm similar to hiccups in humans) in that race. It’s something he’s done from time to time.”
His last two workouts at Palm Meadows have gone well.
“He’s doing really, really well. He’s training really well. We gave him a break. All the data that you could get back is positive,” Joseph said. “He’s 6, turning 7, but we feel like he’s just as good now as when he’s in peak form. Hopefully, that shows on Saturday.”
Richard Rosenblatt is an award-winning journalist and former Associated Press Horse Racing Editor. Currently, he serves as the news editor at US Racing, overseeing exclusive content from contributors worldwide.
