Invasor tops big day in Florida

The Sunshine Millions offered some good racing, but ...

What could be the best card of the young year will take place today at Gulfstream Park. The stakes-heavy lineup will feature a reigning horse of the year, Invasor; a turf champion, Miesque’s Approval, and a colt many feel is the best 3-year-old in the country, Nobiz Like Shobiz.

Invasor, who clinched horse-of-the-year honors with a victory over Bernardini in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs, will begin what his handlers hope will be a defense of that title in the $500,000 Donn Handicap, one of six graded stakes in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Winner of nine of 10 starts, Invasor, owned by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Shadwell Stable and trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, will be the first horse of the year to race the following year since Ghostzapper won the title in 2004.

Ghostzapper ran once in 2005, winning the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park in May before a hairline fracture in his left front ankle forced his retirement.

In the Donn, a Grade I at 1 1/8 miles, Invasor, the 6-5 morning-line favorite, will break from the rail under jockey Fernando Jara in the field of nine in his first start at Gulfstream.

“The rail probably isn’t my first choice but, on the other hand, we’ll be able to save ground on the first turn and, hopefully, we can stay out of trouble and have a clean trip,” McLaughlin said. “He’s the best horse and we just need to have a good trip. Usually you can when you have the best horse.”

After the Donn, Invasor is scheduled to make a return trip to the United Arab Emirates for another encounter with unbeaten Discreet Cat in the $6-million Dubai World Cup on March 31.

Discreet Cat is the only horse to have defeated Invasor, finishing seven lengths ahead in the UAE Derby last March. Invasor was fourth.

Three races before the Donn, Miesque’s Approval, who won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top male grass horse, will make his first start as an 8-year-old in the $100,000 Canadian Turf Handicap.

Winner of 12 of 39 for owner-breeder Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation, Miesque’s Approval will break from the outside in the field of eight. Eddie Castro will ride for trainer Marty Wolfson in the Grade III at 1 1/16 miles.

The Canadian Turf Handicap will be followed by the $150,000 Holy Bull, a Grade III at one mile. That race will be highlighted by the return of Nobiz Like Shobiz.

Trained by Barclay Tagg for owner-breeder Elizabeth Valando, the 3-year-old Albert The Great colt has been away since an impressive win in the Remsen on Nov. 25 at Aqueduct.

The choice of many as the leading Kentucky Derby contender, Nobiz Like Shobiz will have seven opponents in the Holy Bull.

Cornelio Velasquez will ride against a field that includes Scat Daddy, who finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Nobiz Like Shobiz as the Champagne winner last October at Belmont Park.

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The main events today at Santa Anita are the $300,000 Strub for 4-year-olds and the $100,000 Sham for 3-year-olds. Each race is at 1 1/8 miles.

The Strub, a Grade II, brings together six colts and geldings who competed in the San Fernando Breeders’ Cup Stakes last month, including the 1-2-3-4 finishers.

Awesome Gem, who won the San Fernando by a nose, is back, along with runner-up Midnight Lute, third-place finisher Brother Derek, and fourth-place finisher Arson Squad.

A Grade III, the Sham is a prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7.

The contenders are Liquidity, who finished second in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 16, recent maiden winner Ravel and Silent Soul.

Liquidity, a son of Tiznow, is one of three 3-year-olds trained by Doug O’Neill for owner Paul Reddam. They also have Notional, the San Rafael winner, and Great Hunter, the winner of last fall’s Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and third behind Street Sense and Circular Quay in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

bob.mieszerski@latimes.com