HALLANDALE BEACH -Trainer David Fawkes will be otherwise occupied at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York Saturday, but the veteran trainer with a long list of stakes successes on his resume, both in South Florida and elsewhere, will be very well represented in the three stakes at Gulfstream Park.

    Fawkes will be on hand at The Spa to saddle multiple graded stakes-winner Reef Runner for a start in the Gr. I Jaipur, a 5 ½-furlong turf stakes on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes. He won’t be present at Gulfstream to watch Pure Class step up in class for the $125,000 Big Drama Handicap; Nickel C face nine other 3-year-olds in search of his first stakes score in the $125,000 Not Surprising; nor Nyfive try to win her third race in a row in the $125,000 Martha Washington.

    Reef Runner is regarded as one of the top contenders in the Jaipur, and Fawkes is confident his stablemates will be ready to offer the best performances of their respective careers at Gulfstream.

    Robert Mooney and Jeffrey Siskin’s Pure Class is coming off a dazzling 3 ½-length front-running score in a seven-furlong $35,000 claiming races in his first start since being claimed for $35,000. The son of The Big Beast was bred and formerly owned by Reef Runner’s connections, Alex and Joanne Lieblong, and trained by Fawkes before being claimed away for $62,500 last fall. When he surfaced in a $35,000 claiming race, Fawkes was quick to drop a slip to claim him back for his current owners.

    “I lost him for $62,500. He ran two or three times, and they dropped him in for $35,000 and I took him back. He got beat, but I ran him back three weeks later and he ran a 90 Beyer number. He ran huge. He ran a big number on the Thoro-Graf sheets,” Fawkes said. “We’re trying to see if we can get him there. The distance is right. He loves seven-eighths. That’s his distance. Edwin’s won four on him and he’s riding him again.”

    Edwin Gonzalez, who was aboard for the victorious homecoming May 10 in a seven-furlong $35,000 claiming race, has the return call on Pure Class, who will carry 118 pounds, six fewer than co-highweights Concrete Glory and Chrome Ghost.

    “We found a really good spot and he ran a really good race, obviously,” Fawkes said. “After that, he’s been doing so good, I thought, ‘well, if ever there’s a chance to win a little something with him, maybe this is the spot.’”

    Purse Class has been priced at 10-1 on the morning line in the field of seven assembled for the Race 10 feature. Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stakes veteran Concrete Glory has been tabbed ast 5-2 in the morning line with Fausto Gutierrez-trained Rolando rated second at 3-1.

    A victory at Gulfstream Saturday would be especially satisfying for Fawkes, who trained Big Drama during a career (2008-2011) that included a victory in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs, followed by an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion sprinter.

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