HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tumbarumba, whose very good 2024 campaign is only a head bob or two away from being a great one, will close the year looking to punch his ticket into the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational when going postward as perhaps a tepid favorite Saturday in a competitive running of the $165,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes. The Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday and the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale are the main events on the 11-race Pegasus Preview Day program and serve as preps for two of the three marquee races of the local season, the Pegasus World Cup and $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, which will be decided Jan. 25. Tumbarumba has been worse than second but once in six starts in 2024, when finishing fourth after prompting a very fast pace in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. He began the year on a high note, outgaming Castle Chaos by a nose to capture the Grade 3 Fred Hooper here in January before embarking on a series of four straight second-place finishes, including near misses later in the meet in both the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile and Grade 3 Ghostzapper. “He’s certainly been very consistent all year, although I would have loved to have seen a head bob or two go the other way here and there,” said Brian Lynch, who trains Tumbarumba for Amerman Racing LLC. “I thought his effort in the Breeders’ Cup was terrific, he got involved in a very fast pace and was right there until the end. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “He got a little break after that race, has had a couple of nice works, and acts like he’s sitting on go. I’d have to say this might be a little bit of a class relief for him compared to his last start.” The Harlan’s Holiday will be just the second time Tumbarumba has competed at 1 1/16 miles. The first came in the Ghostzapper when he disputed the pace before succumbing by a neck in the final strides to Il Miracolo. “I’m not worried about the distance, he’s been a mile and one-eighth before, ran really well at a mile and one-sixteenth here, and I think he’s a lot better horse now than he was then,” said Lynch, who has tabbed Tyler Gaffalione to handle Tumbarumba in the absence of his regular rider, Luis Saez, who is named to ride at Fair Grounds on Saturday. Tumbarumba’s main competition figures to include his old nemesis Steal Sunshine, along with the lightly raced and very promising 3-year-old Tuscan Sky from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher. The field also includes a trio for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. – Cape Trafalgar, Digital Ops, and Super Corinto – plus Rocket Can and Vitality. Steal Sunshine was beaten less than a length by Tumbarumba when finishing a late-running third in the Fred Hooper, then avenged that setback by winning a nose bob from Tumbarumba five weeks later in the Gulfstream Park Mile. Although winless at the distance in five tries, Steal Sunshine has been graded stakes-placed twice going 1 1/16 miles and comes into the Harlan’s Holiday off a popular 3 1/4-length allowance win four weeks earlier. Tuscan Sky will take on older horses for the first time in a six-race career that includes a victory in Monmouth Park’s Pegasus Stakes, for which he earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure, and a game second-place effort last month in the nine-furlong Discovery at Aqueduct. Tuscan Sky is one of three horses Pletcher is currently pointing to the Pegasus World Cup, along with Locked and Crupi. “Going the mile and an eighth off a bit of a layoff, I thought it was a pretty gutsy effort,” Pletcher said of Tuscan Sky’s performance in the Discovery. “He’s run some really good races, he’s just been a little inconsistent. We’ve been pointing to this for a little while now hoping he runs well enough to earn his way into the Pegasus.” Sugar Swirl Joseph, in addition to his three starters in the Harlan’s Holiday, entered five of the seven fillies and mares in the $140,000 Sugar Swirl earlier on the card. He confirmed Thursday that only three of his horses, Mystic Lake, Intrepid Daydream, and R Harper Rose, will run, with both Spirit Wind and Haulin Ice entered at Oaklawn Park this weekend. The six furlong Sugar Swirl serves as a prep for the Grade 2 Inside Information on Jan. 25. The well-traveled Mystic Lake is by far the strongest of the Joseph trio, having posted one-sided victories earlier in the year in the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks and Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico. She turns back to a sprint Saturday off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing. :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now.  “We were going to the La Brea with Mystic Lake, but the shipping arrangements didn’t work out so it just made sense to keep her at home,” Joseph said. “She’s been training great since her last start.” Joseph said he feels Intrepid Daydream might be a race or two away from her best, having been idle since finishing a tiring fifth in the Regret on July 26 at Monmouth. R Harper Rose, winless since capturing the Grade 3 Forward Gal in her 2024 debut, figures to set the pace if away alertly from the rail. Launch, idle since finishing 11 1/2 lengths behind Mystic Lake in the Miss Preakness but training extremely well for her return, and Socially Selective, another in this field returning from an extended layoff, are the only two members of the Sugar Swirl lineup not from the potent Joseph stable. – additional reporting by David Grening :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.