Sloane Avenue (Candy Ride) galloped over Gulfstream Park’s main track on Tuesday morning in advance of his anticipated start in Saturday’s $500,000 Donn H. (G1).
Under exercise rider Wayne Tanner, Sloane Avenue galloped 1 1/4 miles shortly after 7:45 a.m. (EST) following the first renovation break. The four-year-old olt, based in England with trainer Jeremy Noseda, arrived at Gulfstream on Sunday afternoon after clearing quarantine.
“I thought he moved great,” Noseda said. “He’s a very relaxed horse early on in his gallop. He wasn’t really concentrating, but once he got down the lane and got into his bridle I was delighted. He looked to be in great order.”
The first major stakes in the country for older horses, the 1 1/8-mile Donn will be the first start on dirt for Sloane Avenue, whose sire was undefeated in six lifetime starts including Group 1 victories in Argentina as well as the 2003 Pacific Classic (G1) on the dirt at Del Mar.
“I’m more than hopeful,” Noseda said. “I’m sort of quietly confident that he will handle the dirt really well.”
Sloane Avenue has raced once before in North America, finishing eighth in a field of nine in the Hill Prince (G3) last October over Belmont Park’s soft turf course. In his last start on November 19, he won the Hyde Stakes at Kempton Park by a neck.
Michael Roy, the son of owners Susan and Paul Roy, also accompanied Sloane Avenue to South Florida with Noseda, whose last trip to Gulfstream Park came for the 1989 Breeders’ Cup, a decade before being purchased and later given a multi-million reconstruction by The Stronach Group.
“It looks a lot different from 1989, that’s for sure,” Noseda said. “The track looks the same, just the grandstand has changed significantly.”
Trained by Bob Hess, Blue Tone will make his next start in the Donn. The gelded six-year-old son of Birdstone was expected to arrive from Santa Anita early Tuesday evening.
The Donn will be the 13th lifetime start for Blue Tone and first outside of southern California. Most recently he was third, beaten two lengths by Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) in the San Pasqual (G2) on January 10.
“The ship is a concern, but having raced at Gulfstream over the last four winters I’m pretty confident he’ll handle everything and, knowing the horse, I think he’ll handle the shipping as well. But, it is a question mark,” Hess said.
Veteran jockey Corey Lanerie has been lined up to ride multiple graded stakes-placed Blue Tone in the Donn. Hess said the horse will walk the shedrow under tack on Wednesday and gallop and school Thursday and Friday. Hess was due to arrive Tuesday evening.
“He’s a really honest, really genuine, healthy, hard-trying horse,” Hess said. “He shows up every time, so I’m confident that he’ll love the surface. I’m confident that he’ll get a great trip and a great ride, and we’ll just go from there.”