Exotics Plays for the Allen Jerkens Stakes

A large field of 11 turf stayers will go two miles on the Gulfstream Park turf in Saturday’s $115,000 H. Allen Jerkens Handicap. The unique race is a tricky one to decipher since horses rarely run this distance on the lawn in the States, so I will spread with a quartet of contenders in the cast. 

Jerkens Exotics

• $2 exacta box 5,7,8,9 ($24)
• $1 trifecta 8,9 with 5,7,8,9 with 5,7,8,9 ($12)
• 10-cent superfecta 8,9 with 5,7,8,9 with 5,7,8,9 with all ($9.60)

#8 Utah Beach is one I expect to thrive at the voyage for conditioner Ignacio Correas. A winner in his lone try on the Gulfstream turf, the gray has run four times at 12 panels in 2024 with two wins and a third in the Sycamore S. (G3), and the son of English Channel is bred to run all day. The four-year-old has shown a sustained late run and will be in range as the field turns for home with Tyler Gaffalione taking the reins. 

Trainer Graham Motion will saddle two for the tilt, led by #9 The Grey Wizard who is the one to beat. The gray son of Caravaggio aced the Belmont Gold Cup (G2) at this distance in June, and he has been first or second in a trio of stakes races in succession following that triumph. He is the lone winner at two miles in the field, and the five-year-old gelding has to be on most tickets with Javier Castellano taking the reins.

#7 Six Minus missed by a neck when third in the event in 2023 and will have blinkers added for Saturday. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the dark bay son of English Channel was a close runner-up in a Keeneland allowance event going 1 1/2 miles in his latest showing, and he will be a threat with a forward move. The six-year-old is far from a win machine with just three tallies from 25 assignments, but he makes sense for a top-three finish under Edgard Zayas. 

The Keri Brion-trained #5 Lord Flintshire lacks the class of some in the field but there is no doubt that this one does his best work at extended voyages on the lawn. The Flintshire gelding was a very good third behind The Grey Wizard at Fair Hill last time out, and his best Brisnet Speed figures have been earned in races at 1 1/2 miles or longer. He is just 2-for-26 in his lifetime, but the Empire State-bred seems like a likely exotics threat with Paco Lopez in the stirrups, nonetheless.