HALLANDALE BEACH - Gatsby pulled off a gutsy debut victory over heavily favored Golden Pal at Gulfstream Park on April 11, 2020. His three-quarters of a length triumph in a 4 ½-furlongs maiden special weight race is being viewed more and more as a significant upset as Golden Pal continues to rattle off graded-stakes victories, including the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

    Carlos David-trained Gatsby has gone on to prove that his stunning debut victory wasn’t a complete fluke, establishing himself as a stakes-winner who can routinely stand up to tough competition in South Florida. The 4-year-old homebred son of Brethren will be among the top contenders in Saturday’s $100,000 Gil Campbell Memorial.

    The mile handicap for Florida-bred 3-year-olds and up, which offers an additional $50,000 for Florida Sire Stakes eligible entrants, will be a supporting feature on Saturday’s program that will be co-headlined by the $400,000 In Reality and the $400,000 My Dear Girl, the final legs of the 2022 Florida Sire Stakes series. Undefeated Lynx will represent Arindel and David in her attempt to sweep the 2022 FSS series for fillies in the My Dear Girl.

    Gatsby is a 4-year-old full brother to Octane, who captured the seven-furlong Affirmed and the 1 1/16-mile In Reality during last year’s FSS action. The Gil Campbell Memorial, in which Gatsby will carry highweight of 123 pounds, will require him to race beyond seven furlongs for the first time.

    “I think he’ll get the distance. He’s Octane’s full brother. They’re both pretty similar,” Arindel’s Brian Cohen said. “It might be that seven furlongs is his distance and a mile is a little too far, but he’s doing really well. I think he should get the mile, and Chantal knows him.”

    Jockey Chantal Sutherland will seek to remain undefeated aboard Gatsby Saturday, having visited the winner’s circle both times she has ridden him dating back to Sept. 9, 2021.

    “Chantal rides him well,” Cohen said. “He doesn’t want the lead. He wants a target. Dean Delivers drew outside of us, but it would be nice if he could get to the outside of Deal Delivers and stalk him.”

    Gatsby is rated second in the morning line at 9-5 behind 8-5 favorite Dean Delivers, a 3-year-old who is coming off a pair of sharp optional claiming allowance victories.

            “What I like about Gatsby is that now that he’s late in his 4-year-old year, he’s become more rateable,” David said. “Chantal Sutherland understands the horse and knows how to relax him. She knows how to get the best out of him.”

    Gatsby and Sutherland were reunited for a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 4 just five days shy of a year since they had last teamed for a victory. Sutherland closely tracked the pace aboard Gatsby, who kicked in through the stretch to score by a neck.

     Gatsby, who captured the Sunshine Sprint Stakes during the Championship Meet, will be joined in the Gil Campbell Memorial field by Clapton, an Arindel 3-year-old homebred son of Brethren who finished third in the Carry Back stakes at Gulfstream before finishing off-the-board last time out in the Smarty Jones (G3) at Parx.

   Edgard Zayas has the call aboard Clapton.

     Stonehedge Farm’s Dean Delivers finished second in the Swale (G3), a half-length behind My Prankster, during the Championship Meet. The Michael Yates-trained 3-year-old gelded son of Cajun Breeze defeated older rivals two starts back by 5 ¼ lengths while running six furlongs in a swift 1:09.39.

     Miguel Vasquez has the call aboard Dean Delivers, who will also seek to win beyond seven-furlongs for the first time while receiving four pounds from Gatsby.

     Harold Queen and trainer David Fawkes’ Noble Drama, a 7-year-old gelding with nearly $750,000 in earnings, won back-to-back overnight handicaps at the one-turn mile distance last year before gong on hiatus. The son of Gone Astray, who is out of a half-sister to champion Big Drama and a full sister to multiple Gra.1 winner Sheer Drama, has finished fourth in his first two starts this year.

    “This will be his third race, which should be his best race, and it’s his best distance – a flat mile going one-turn,” Fawkes said. Noble Drama, who has been assigned 122 pounds, is a seven-time stakes-inner thus far during his five seasons of competition.

    “He’s been a wonderful horse and he’s great to have around the barn. He’s a cool horse. He’s good to deal with. Anyone can gallop him,” Fawkes said. “You don’t even know he’s in the barn. He’s quiet. He’s just the nicest horse.”

   Emisael Jaramillo has the call aboard Noble Drama.

 Jacks or Better Farm Inc.’s Shivaree, a four-time stakes-winner who finished second behind Tiz the Law in the 2020 Florida Derby; William and Corinne Heiligbrodt and Spendthrift LLC’s Cattin, a stakes-winning son of Neolithic; Glassman Racing LLC’s Klugman, who followed up a third-place finish in the Not Surprising Stakes with a 7 ¼-length optional claiming allowance win at a mile; and Ricardo De Anda’s Sociallongdistance, a one-time winner in five career starts; round out the field. 

    All entrants in the Gil Campbell Memorial with the exception of Klugman are eligible for the $50,000 Florida Sire Stakes bonus, which will be distributed on a 70%-20%-10% basis.

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