Souper Zonda wins Gulfstream turf stakes, adds black-type success

Souper Zonda did more than win a Florida-bred stakes at Gulfstream Park. She answered the bigger question about her form: whether her first stakes success was a home-track fluke or the start of a filly who can keep stepping up.

The 4-year-old Curlin filly settled into the FHBPA Fillies and Mares Turf Stakes and was still fourth through the early calls before Sonny Leon asked for more late. She responded, getting by Dreaming of Abba, Miss Mary Nell, Ashima and Notable Exchange to win the $100,000 mile over firm turf by 3/4 of a length in 1:33.19. The official chart listed fractions of 22.51, 45.68, 1:08.75 and 1:20.79, with a temporary rail set at 38 feet. That kind of finish matters because it was not a wire-to-wire stroll on a loose lead. It was a measured, efficient turf performance that held together when the pace quickened.

That is why this win reads as more than a track-specific score. Souper Zonda already had one Gulfstream stakes in hand, the Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf on Jan. 10, when she covered a firm course in 1:33.32 for her first stakes victory. Now she has repeated the trick with a faster mile, another clean trip over Gulfstream’s turf, and a second straight win in 2026. For a filly and mare division that often rewards timing, position and finish more than flash, those are the traits that travel into deeper spots later in the meet.

The numbers are moving the right way, too. Gulfstream said the victory was Souper Zonda’s fourth in nine lifetime starts and pushed her bankroll to $187,282. Equibase identified her as a Florida-bred foaled Feb. 28, 2022, bred by Live Oak Stud and owned by Live Oak Plantation. Mark E. Casse has her trained in the kind of program that can keep a turf horse pointed at the right spots, especially when local conditions fit so cleanly.

Race 11 on a card built around six Florida-bred stakes worth $600,000 turned into a useful form check for the mare division, and Souper Zonda passed it. On firm Gulfstream turf, against a real group and not much margin for error, she showed the kind of late punch that can make her dangerous in the next round, not just comfortable at home.