NEWS
You and I Forever wins Gulfstream Park Handicap
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:02 PM
YOU AND I FOREVER
Coglianese Photos
To view the Gulfstream Park Handicap, click here.
by Myra Lewyn
With a deal looming for a stud career in India, You and I Forever ran the race of his life to win the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) on Saturday after trainer Marty Wolfson pleaded to start the royally bred A.P. Indy horse the previous evening.
The five-year-old bay rated off a quick early pace, rallied five wide to gain the lead near the top of the stretch, and scored a 1½-length victory over stablemate Motovato as he earned his first stakes victory at 13.70-to-1 odds.
“He wasn’t even going to run," Wolfson said of You and I Forever, the first foal produced by late owner Edmund Gann’s multiple Grade 1 winner You, by You and I. “A deal has been made [by the estate of Edmund Gann] to sell the horse to interests in India as a stud prospect. I begged them last night to let me run him.”
You and I Forever covered one mile in 1:36.83 on a track rated as fast to earn his fourth victory from 17 career starts. He tired to finish seventh in the seven-furlong Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) on February 13 in his previous start, but he was full of run going longer on Saturday under Javier Castellano to score a convincing win.
You and I Forever relaxed in eighth early in the 11-horse field as Cool Coal Man and Inkado pressed pacesetter Le Grand Cru, who laid down fractions of :23.86 for the opening quarter and : 46.40 through a half-mile.
You and I Forever raced in third at the quarter-pole, where 2008 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner Cool Coal Man seized a narrow lead before fading to third.
Grade 3 winner Motovato, the 4.30-to-1 second wagering choice, got a stalking trip under Elvis Trujillo, who guided him to the inside of Inkado in early stretch, but You and I Forever made the most of his rally and opened a clear lead at the eighth pole.
“There was a lot of speed in there and I wanted to be midpack and wait for the horses to come back to me and just let my horse finish, and it worked out exactly that way,” Castellano said. “They went pretty quick, and I was able to sit just off the speed. I went a little wide, but I wanted to be in the clear and didn’t want him getting a lot of dirt kicked back on him. And when I put him in the clear, he just took off.”
Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes winner This Ones for Phil, a Grade 2 winner and the 1.70-to-1 favorite, tracked the early pace from fourth then flattened out and finished eighth.
You and I Forever has been competitive in graded stakes, finishing second to Quality Road in the Hal’s Hope Stakes (G3) in his 2010 debut. He also finished second in the 2008 Jerome Handicap (G2) and ’09 Phillip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) before his breakthrough performance on Saturday.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
