HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A couple of talented and undefeated Florida-bred 2-year-olds, Bentornato and R Harper Rose, solidified their leadership atop their respective divisions with impressive victories Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the middle legs of the Florida Sire Series. Bentornato and R Harper Rose used similar styles, stalking the early leaders before taking command and running well clear of their competition, to win the $200,000 Affirmed and its filly counterpart, the $200,000 Susan’s Girl. Bentornato was a comfortable 2 3/4-length winner over stakes winner Mattingly in the Affirmed, while R Harper Rose checked home four lengths better than northern invader Honey Dijon to win the Susan’s Girl. Both races were seven furlongs.    Bentornato entered the Affirmed with three consecutive victories on his resume’, included a dominating 7 1/2-length triumph in the six-furlong Dr. Fager six weeks ago. The son of Valiant Minister had defeated open company in similarly handy fashion earlier this summer in the Proud Man Stakes. Each of those races was run at six furlongs. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. With regular rider Emisael Jaramillo in the irons, Bentornato broke well and stalked the early pace of the stakes-placed Esperon before sticking his head in front nearing the half-mile pole. Bentornato came a bit wide moving clear into the stretch, lugged in while still on his left lead leaving the furlong grounds, switched back to his right shortly thereafter and was not seriously threatened while kept under a strong hand ride to the wire. Mattingly, making his first start on dirt, advanced near the inside approaching the stretch, continuing willingly along the rail to best the highly regarded New York shipper Hurricane Nelson by a neck to be second-best.  A claim of foul by the rider of Squints, who finished a distant seventh, against the winner alleging interference in the opening furlong was quickly dismissed. Bentornato, by Valiant Minister, is trained by Jose D’Angelo for the Leon King Stable Corp.  His final time for seven furlongs of 1:23.50 was 1.85 seconds faster than R Harper Rose’s, who went the same distance in winning the Susan’s Girl an hour earlier. “We worked so hard with him, prepping him, not so much for this race but the next one because that is going to be the hardest,” D’Angelo said. “He didn’t look too desperate getting to the lead today, so going two turns, maybe he is going to get to the lead in easier fractions and he’s going to be better. He’s 4 for 4, but he’s still a little green, but we can improve that.”     Bentornato will attempt to sweep the open division of the Sire Series with a victory in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes here on December 2. R Harper Rose showed a bit of a new dimension in the Susan’s Girl after having quickly opened easy leads in each of her first two starts, both at 5 1/2 furlongs. With Edgard Zayas aboard again, R Harper Rose rated just off and outside the pacesetting Fields of Green before readily edging clear after the opening three furlongs. From that point, the issue was never seriously in doubt, the 1-5 favorite opening a commanding advantage when roused through midstretch before maintaining a comfortable lead to the end. Honey Dijon, making her local debut and first start against Florida-breds after breaking her maiden at Saratoga in August and finishing sixth in the grassy Untapable Stakes last month at Kentucky Downs, raced wide and rallied mildly to finish second, three parts of a length in front of Fields of Green who held on willingly upon relinquishing her early lead to the winner. R Harper Rose, a daughter of Khozan, is trained by Saffie Joseph for the partnership of Averill Racing and the Two Eight Racing Stable of former Major League Baseball all-star Jayson Werth. She covered the distance over a fast track in 1:25.35 seconds and paid $2.60. “Seven-eighths is a tricky distance going from two 5 1/2-furlong races. It tests their stamina even more than a one-turn mile because you have to run the whole way,” Joseph said. “To see her rate like that and get through it was good.” Joseph said in all likelihood R Harper Rose, who missed the first leg of the series, the six-furlong Desert Vixen, after contracting a minor temperature in the days leading up to the race, would move on to the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl on December 2. “I actually feel better about a mile and one sixteenth,” Joseph said. “She’s the best horse in the series who I think is going to move on from this series to be a top-quality horse. Where and at what distance we don’t know yet. I’ll talk it over with the owners but I don’t think we’ll change or get creative right now.”    :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.