2025 marks the third year that Gulfstream Park will host the Royal Palm Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies stakes, the only two juvenile Royal Ascot qualifying races in the country.
Contested over five furlongs on the turf May 10, the Royal Palm Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies offer the winner an automatic entry into one of Royal Ascot's six prestigious juvenile races. In addition to the automatic berth, the winning connections also receive a $25,000 travel stipend to help cover the costs of sending the horse to England.
The series has proven largely successful since its 2023 inauguration. Crimson Advocate, winner of the 2023 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, traveled abroad to triumph in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) while last year's Royal Palm Juvenile victor, Gabaldon, was narrowly beaten when running second in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
Wesley Ward, the winningest United States-based trainer at the Royal Ascot meet with a total of 12 wins, will send out his homebred Fuzzy Stare in the Juvenile and Hat Creek Racing's Satisfied Mind in the Juvenile Fillies.
"It should be a good race for both horses," Ward said. "I'd say the filly (Satisfied Mind) should be shooting out of there and going, she's extremely quick. (Fuzzy Stare), he can be a little tactical, I'd say."
Fuzzy Stare is one of nine first-time starters to draw into the body of the 12-horse field. The Hootenanny gelding ships southward off a series of quick drills at Keeneland. Emisael Jaramillo has the call.
Jose D'Angelo, trainer of Gabaldon, will look for a return ticket to England with the unraced Raging Bull colt Ciborio and the Florida-bred Fear, third in his April 18 Keeneland debut for Arindel.
An overflow field of 12 also assembled for five-furlong Juvenile Fillies, led by Keeneland first-out winners Satisfied Mind and Lennilu.
Satisfied Mind, a daughter of First Samurai , went gate to wire in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on the dirt for Ward. She garnered a field-high 87 Equibase Seed Figure for her debut victory.
"I always thought she was going to be a grass filly," Ward said. "This race was always in mind from the onset for her second start.
"She's a talented filly. She won off only a few works. She should move forward for having had that race in not only fitness, but seasoning underneath her."
Emisael Jaramillo will ride Satisfied Mind.
Lennilu, trained by Patrick Biancone, rallied from the off the pace to take her debut by one length over a sloppy track going 4 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland.
"We were very happy with her performance," Biancone said of the Leinster filly. "The idea was to run there and if everything goes right we would follow the program.
"She ran a very good race that day and she came back good. We learned that she's a very good traveler, too, because she handled it very well. All was perfect."
Biancone will also saddle another filly in Saturday's race with the unraced Emerald Ember. Both Lennilu and Emerald Ember are from the first crop of graded stakes-winning turf sprinter Leinster, who stands at Pleasant Acres Stallions near Ocala, Fla.
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, May 10, 2025, Race 6Entries: Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Royal Testament (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 118 George Weaver 15/1 2 2Bibi Dahl (KY) Jose E. Morelos 118 Jorge Delgado 9/2 3 3Strada Del Sogno (KY) Cipriano Gil 118 Tareq Moubarak 30/1 4 4Satisfied Mind (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 121 Wesley A. Ward 5/2 5 5Nonna's Love (KY) Edgard J. Zayas 118 Todd A. Pletcher 7/2 6 6Lennilu (FL) Luis Saez 121 Patrick L. Biancone 6/1 7 7Authentic Guitar (KY) Leonel Reyes 118 Dante Zanelli, Jr. 30/1 8 8Emerald Ember (FL) Jonathan Ocasio 118 Patrick L. Biancone 15/1 9 9Rumpus in Paradise (CA) Luca Panici 118 Luis Mendez 20/1 10 10Bohemian (KY) Edgar Perez 118 Jack Sisterson 20/1 11 11Kitty Cleo (IRE) Francisco Arrieta 118 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 6/1 12 12Le Sunshine (FL) Rajiv Maragh 118 Mark E. Casse 20/1 13 13Just a Little Bit (CA) Luca Panici 118 Luis Mendez 20/1 14 14Divinely Inspired (KY) Miguel Angel Vasquez 118 Mark E. Casse 15/1
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, May 10, 2025, Race 10Entries: Royal Palm Juvenile S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Sandal's Song (KY) Luca Panici 118 George Weaver 15/1 2 2Beers On Me (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 118 Luis Mendez 10/1 3 3Win N Juice (FL) Miguel Angel Vasquez 118 Nolan Ramsey 12/1 4 4Squire (FL) Luis Saez 121 Patrick L. Biancone 6/1 5 5Chasing My Dream (FL) Leonel Reyes 118 J. David Braddy 8/1 6 6Fuzzy Stare (KY) Emisael Jaramillo 118 Wesley A. Ward 5/2 7 7Tully Road (FL) Jonathan Ocasio 115 Patrick L. Biancone 15/1 8 8Arkadelphia (CA) Cipriano Gil 118 Luis Mendez 10/1 9 9I Think I Can (IRE) Rajiv Maragh 115 Todd A. Pletcher 6/1 10 10Fear (FL) Edgard J. Zayas 118 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 8/1 11 11Cadenced (FL) Jose E. Morelos 118 Mark E. Casse 20/1 12 12Ciborio (KY) Francisco Arrieta 118 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 12/1 13 13Skipping Stars (FL) Emisael Jaramillo 118 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 20/1 14 14Hotter Than Dem (KY) Edgar Perez 118 Jose Francisco D'Angelo 15/1
