HALLANDALE BEACH - Sound Machine, graded stakes-placed two starts back, will seek to rebound from a recent disappointing performance when she takes on nine rivals in Saturday’s $75,000 Musical Romance at Gulfstream Park.

    The Musical Romance, a 6 ½-furlong race for Florida-bred fillies and mares, will headline a 12-race program while kicking off a Memorial Day weekend stakes schedule that will continue Sunday with the $60,000 Key Biscayne, a five-furlong overnight handicap for fillies and mares, and Monday with the $75,000 Soldier’s Dancer, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for Florida-bred 3-year-olds and up.

    Sound Machine, a stakes-winner and multiple graded stakes-placed 4-year-old, finished fourth as the even-money favorite in an April 25 optional claiming allowance in which she lacked running room at the top of the stretch.

    “I think she’s coming into the race really well. In her last race, she had a troubled trip,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “The trip probably looked worse than it was because she didn’t seem to fire.”

    In her previous start, the daughter of Into Mischief, who was purchased for $500,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale, finished second in the March 20 Hurricane Bertie, in which she took the lead in mid-stretch after making a three-wide move coming off the final turn, only to be caught by Pacific Gale.

    “She looks like she’s coming into this race in good order,” Joseph said. “I think it’s her race to win or lose.”

    Joseph will also be represented in the Musical Romance by Team Hanley and Paul Braverman’s Loriloupies and All In Line Stables’s Merseyside. Loriloupies, a 4-year-old daughter of Rattlesnake Bridge, is scheduled to make her stakes debut Saturday following a dominating optional claiming allowance in Florida-bred company at Gulfstream.

    “It wasn’t planned to go into this race but there wasn’t an allowance for her. I talked to the owners and they said to give it a go,” Joseph said. “She fits in the race. If she jumped up and won, it wouldn’t be a total surprise, but going from a Florida-bred race to a stake is tough.”

    Merseyside, a 4-year-old daughter of Maclean’s Music, returns to dirt Saturday after winning one of five starts on turf. She broke her maiden in an off-the-turf race over a sloppy Gulfstream track back in December of 2019.

    Edgard Zayas has the return mount aboard Sound Machine; Emisael Jaramillo will be back aboard Loriloupies; and Juan Carlos Diaz Jr. is slated to ride Merseyside for the first time.

    My Purple Haze Stables’ Heiressall, a multiple stakes-winning daughter of Wildcat Heir, is coming off a 3 ½-month layoff in the Musical Romance. The Terri Pompay-trained 6-year-old mare, who disappointed over a wet track at Tampa Bay Downs in the Feb. 13 Minaret, has scored seven career victories, including the Dec. 12 City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes at Tampa and the Sheer Drama at Gulfstream last September. Miguel Vasquez has the call.

    Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Darsan Inc.’s A Bit of Both will be seeking her 11th victory in 20 career starts in the Musical Romance. The Michael Maker trainee, who has demonstrated versatility by winning on dirt, turf and synthetic surfaces, is coming off a troubled 10th-place finish in a Churchill Downs turf stakes. In her prior start, she captured the off-the-turf Sanibel Island at five furlongs over a sloppy Gulfstream surface. Victor Lebron is slated to ride the 5-year-old daughter of Paynter for the first time Saturday.

    Averill Racing, ATM Racing and CCF Racing Stable’s Ms Meshak, a stakes-winner who came off a 10-month layoff to win a $30,000 claiming race and finish a solid fourth in the Golden Beach; Stein Racing’s Our Fantasy, who will make her stakes debut after winning her last three starts with authority; and Starship Stables and trainer Steve Dwoskin’s Starship Bonita, a multiple stakes-winner of $500,000 who is scheduled to make her 2021 debut; are among the other prominent entrants.

    Dan and Ryan Zebrowski’s Bramble Berry and Lowward Farm and trainer Fernando Abreu’s Royal Meghan, round out the field. comments powered by Disqus