Trainer George Weaver will send Easy Life to Gulfstream Park this Saturday for her career debut in the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with the hope that the filly, owned by R A Hill Stable, BlackRidge Stables LLC and SGV Thoroughbreds, is destined for a future on turf.
“We don’t know if she is turf or dirt to be perfectly honest with you, but we’re going to ask her to turf to see if she can run at Royal Ascot,” Weaver said.
The Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies will co-headline Saturday’s Gulfstream card with the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile. The winners of both five-furlong turf stakes for 2-year-olds will each earn an automatic entry into one of six juvenile stakes during the Royal Ascot meeting (June 16-20) at Ascot Racecourse and a $25,000 equine travel stipend.
Weaver has enjoyed considerable success in Gulfstream’s Royal Palm stakes since their inception in 2023, when he saddled Crimson Advocate for a Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies victory and No Nay Mets for a win in the Royal Palm Juvenile. Crimson Advocate went on to capture the Queen Mary (G2) at Ascot Racecourse. No Nay Mets ran off the board in the Norfolk (G2).
“It’s a very, very hard place to win. It’s some of the best racing in the world that you can get. It’s not only great racing, it’s a great social scene, a great atmosphere,” said Weaver, who won the Royal Palm Juvenile last year with Sandal’s Song, who went on to finish third in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot. “When you’re there you feel like you’re participating in something special.”
Easy Life, a daughter of 2022 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) winner Life is Good, was purchased out of the OBS March sale for $300,000.
“She came out of the 2-year-old sale and had a nice breeze over there. She’s got some speed and we’ve been having a little progress with her since we got her,” said Weaver, who will also be represented at Gulfstream Saturday by Automatic Press in the Royal Palm Juvenile.
J.G. Torrealba has the mount on the filly who is priced at 6-1 on the morning line.
Joker’s Chic, trained by Wesley Ward, enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies with one-race experience, however disappointing her fourth-place finish may have been. The Twin Oaks Bloodstock LLC’s daughter of Practical Joke had trained sharply in preparation for her debut, particularly at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
“She had a work at Palm Meadows on March 15 on turf. Joel Rosario breezed her. We sent her off behind two very nice fillies – two, three lengths behind – and she sat back there and she just eased out and went rolling by them,’ Ward recalled. “It was a very impressive workout.”
Joker’s Chic, a $200,000 purchase at the 2025 Keeneland September sale, prompted the early pace on her debut in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test over Keeneland’s main track before fading to fourth under Irad Ortiz Jr.
“When she ran, I was pretty confident with her. She broke and Irad had her in a beautiful position, but she didn’t make that explosive move she made at Palm Meadows,” Ward said. “I told the owner, ‘This must be a grass filly.’ If she runs back to her work at Palm Meadows, she’s going to be double tough to beat.”
Joao Moreira was named to ride Joker’s Chic at the time of entry but was unable to be released from commitments in Hong Kong. Joe Bravo will replace the international star aboard the Ward trainee, who is rated at 6-1 on the morning line.
Dew Sweepers’ Pot’s Right has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of nine fillies on the strength of her debut victory at Keeneland. The daughter of Bolt d’Oro overcame a slow start to rally for a 1 ½-length debut victory in a 4 ½-furlong maiden test on dirt.
The Phillip Antonacci-trained filly returned to Palm Meadows to become acquainted with turf during a four-furlong breeze last Friday.
Luis Saez will ride Pot’s Right for the first time on Saturday.
Arindel’s Boots, an impressive 3 ½-length winner of her 4 ½-furlong debut at Gulfstream April 16, is rated second on the morning-line for her turf debut in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. The homebred daughter of Brethren, who debuted for trainer Jorge Delgado, will make her first start since being transferred to Carlos David.
Samy Camacho has the return call on Boots.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will be represented by D.J. Stable LLC’s Pros and Cons and Gary Barber’s Sass Sass, in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. Pros and Cons, a $375,000 son of Triple Crown champion Justify, and Sass Sass, a homebred daughter of War of Will, will both make their debuts on Saturday.
Edwin Gonzalez has the call on Pros and Cons, while Martin Chuan will ride Sass Sass.
Mark B. Davis’s Dee Snook, an Irish-bred daughter of Sioux Nation trained by Doug O’Neill, and John Franklin and Diane Franklin’s Mo Town Foxy Brown, a Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained daughter of Mo Town, are entered to make their respective debuts.
Leonel Reyes has the mount on Dee Snook, while Nick Juarez has the call on Mo Town Foxy Brown.
Teresa and David Palmer’s Liberty Rings enters the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies off a rallying third-place finish, beaten by a half-length, on her debut on dirt at Gulfstream on April 19.
Miguel Vasquez has the return mount on the Nicholas Palmer-trained daughter of Awesome Slew.
Key takeaways from the Royal Palm><Royal Ascot pathway to date:
- Winners of Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Stakes (fillies’ and colts’ contests) receive free entry & travel stipends to any of Royal Ascot’s two-year-old races (six to choose from).
- Now in its fourth year, Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Series started with a bang in 2023’s fillies’ division when Crimson Advocate landed a rare transatlantic double, before 2024 Juvenile victor Gabaldon finished second in the Windsor Castle Stakes.
- Five of the six Royal Palm winners have subsequently taken up their Royal Ascot engagements (with Lennilu and Sandal’s Song flying the flag by both recording third-placed finishes in 2025).
- Crimson Advocate was also subsequently bought by Wathnan Racing, rehomed in the UK, before going on to win last year’s Duke of Cambridge Stakes, demonstrating the long-term prospects of these juveniles.
