US expert Tom Collins fancies talented maiden to get off the mark at Gulfstream

Outshine
8.51 Tampa Bay Downs
1pt win

Voodoo Zip
9.41 Gulfstream Park
2pts win

Tyler Gaffalione is riding out of his skin since the new Gulfstream meet got underway on Thursday with a treble on the opening card and a four-timer on Friday. His seven winners from 16 rides across the two days, means he is operating at a 44 per cent strike-rate.

Following the hot jockey at a meet is wise and Gaffalione appears to have another strong book of rides on Sunday, with Voodoo Zip ranking his best chance in the $45,000 maiden special weight (9.41) for trainer Danny Gargan.

Gargan has the hottest barn in the US since the start of 2020 with a fantastic 24 winners from 61 runners (39 per cent strike-rate), and he does especially well at Gulfstream with 12 winners from 35 runners at the last meet that began in November.

In Voodoo Zip, Gargan has an exciting prospect. A $120,000 purchase, Voodoo Zip ran a nice race to take third in a maiden special weight at Belmont on debut in October (won by a stablemate) and then had almost three months off the track.

He has shown marked improvement on his last two starts, finishing second on both occasions at this track from wide draws. Voodoo Zip was only just run out of it by a talented rival on those starts, and the horse who beat him back in December has since gone on to land an allowance contest with ease.

Voodoo Zip has drawn a better bit here in stall six and should be able to get across to the rail and lead these a merry dance. If he does that, he will prove extremely tough to beat. His speed figures are well above the average it takes to win a race of this nature.

Another horse that stands out on speed figures across the cards on Sunday is Outshine, who runs in an $18,900 allowance optional claimer at Tampa Bay Downs after a disappointing last 12 months.

It was only last March that Outshine was one of the most exciting three-year-olds in training and Todd Pletcher sent him here (only start at the track) for the Tampa Bay Derby.

He was reasonably well fancied in the market and ran a cracking race, finishing second to the extremely talented Tacitus and putting himself down as a likely future Grade 1 winner.

Things haven't gone to plan since, though. He bobbled and took a bump at the start of the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on his next outing before disappointing in Listed company at Belmont.

The dirt track at Gulfstream clearly didn't suit him on his last two outings and Pletcher, who is 4-16 at Tampa this meet, has now decided to get him on turf.

I expect him to return to something like his best and if he does, he will take a lot of beating under Daniel Centeno.

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