Versatile Seminole Chief Favored for Sunshine Turf
At 0h04, on January 17, 2026 • By Gulfstream Park
The last time Brad Grady and David Grund’s Seminole Chief faced fellow Florida-breds, the 5-year-old gelding captured the $300,000 In Reality, the 1 1/16-mile final of the 2023 Florida Sire Stakes series for juveniles over the main track at Gulfstream Park.
Seminole Chief returns to action against state-breds Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $75,000 Sunshine Turf, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for Florida-bred 4-year-olds and up on turf, which will co-headline an 11-race program with the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint, a six-furlong dash for Florida-bred 4-year-olds and up.
Seminole Chief’s victory in the In Reality was his last on dirt, but the Jack Sisterson-trained son of Girvin has gone on to prove himself on Tapeta and, especially, turf.
“He is very versatile. Not many people remember he was entered in the (2024) Florida Derby a couple of years ago when we had to scratch him. He had a setback,” Sisterson said. “Tapeta came up timing-wise, and we decided to run him there. We were going to put him back on the dirt because he’d handled it well, and then we just thought that we’d try him on the grass, and he’s run some good races on the grass.”
After winning a two-turn Tapeta optional claiming allowance, Seminole Chief ran once more on dirt without success to close out his 3-year-old campaign. In his third start of his 4-year-old season last year, the gray gelding won an optional claiming allowance on turf at Gulfstream before capturing the mile Appleton Stakes on turf on the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) undercard. He went on hiatus after a pair of subsequent disappointing efforts on turf in the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita and the Wise Dan (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Seminole Chief enters the Sunshine Turf off a third-place finish behind Graham Motion-trained One Stripe, an invitee to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream. He trailed the field early while saving ground before rallying for third, 6 ¾ lengths behind One Stripe.
“I thought it was a very creditable performance. Granted Graham’s horse was very impressive winning and had the back class going into the race,” Sisterson said. “He acted up slightly in the gate, which didn’t cost him the win because he wouldn’t have beaten Graham’s horse that day, don’t get me wrong. But we might have finished second. I liked the way he finished off a long layoff, and we feel he has room for improvement going into this race Saturday.”
Hall of Famer John Velazquez is slated to ride Seminole Chief for the first time Saturday.
Seminole Chief, who has been installed as the 7-2 morning-line favorite, is scheduled to face 11 rivals in a very well-balanced field that includes C2 Racing Stable LLC and partners’ Neoequos, a multiple graded stakes-placed son of Neolithic who will be making his turf debut Saturday.
