HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Choose Joy, the onetime undisputed leader of the local filly and mare turf sprint division, will try to work her way back to the top again Friday at Gulfstream Park in the featured $58,000 allowance. Carded at five furlongs on the grass, race 9 has lured a field of eight that includes stakes-tested stablemates Beauty of the Sea and Etrurian from the barn of trainer Joe Orseno.
The 8-year-old veteran Choose Joy has not started since finishing third under similar conditions over the Tapeta course here more than 14 months ago and is winless since defeating this same kind over the synthetic track on Dec. 3, 2023. But it is the turf that has proven to be her preferred surface over the years, the daughter of Munnings having won five times and finishing first or second in 11 of her 12 career outings on grass.
Choose Joy was at her peak in 2021, winning 5 of 7 starts from February through October while totally dominating the filly and mare turf sprint division before suffering an injury that kept her out of action from that point through the winter of 2023. She won just two of her 13 starts during her first comeback, although she continued to show her consistency, finishing off the board just three times during that span before again being sidelined for an extended period.
“She had some small problems, we gave her time, and we thought about making her a broodmare,” said Steven Dwoskin, who has owned and trained Choose Joy throughout her career. “But the problems weren’t that serious, so we figured we’d give her one more shot. She’s training very well. Everything we’ve asked of her in the morning, she’s done. Miguel [jockey Miguel Vasquez] worked her from the gate last weekend and was very happy with her. Obviously, she’s been away over a year. She’s fit, but we’re not going to push her too much – although, at her best, I think she can definitely beat this kind.”
Beauty of the Sea is the more accomplished of the Orseno duo, though she too has been absent for an extended period. She’ll be starting for the first time since finishing fifth in Tampa Bay Downs’s Lightning City Stakes on Feb. 22. The well-traveled multiple stakes winner does run well fresh, having returned from a similar layoff to capture an overnight handicap over the local course during spring 2024.
Etrurian should be part of what projects to be an honest pace while making her first start since finishing a tiring fourth after being hard pressed on the lead through midstretch of Monmouth Park’s 5 1/2-furlong Incredible Revenge Stakes on Aug. 3. So Sophia and Bahamian Moon figure to be forwardly placed in a lineup that also includes Hot Cargo, Super Freaky Girl, and Musical Design.
Besides having been a fixture on the south Florida circuit for more than three decades, with 956 training victories on his résumé, Dwoskin also is noted for his philanthropic work throughout the local community. With the Sylvester Cancer Center at the University of Miami Hospital, he is spearheading a new project in conjunction with the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins to raise money for children’s cancer research called the Dolphins Cancer Challenge.
“We’re doing a 5K walk on February 28 and have already signed up 54 people to participate,” Dwoskin said. “I’m obligated to raise $100,000, every penny of which goes to children’s cancer research. All we are asking is for each participant to raise $250 apiece from donations over the next four months.”
Dwoskin, 82, has been at the forefront of cancer research in the local area for decades and said he plans to leave his entire estate to the Sylvester Foundation upon his passing.
“My father and brother died of cancer, and I just feel like I need to help make the world a better place, to do something for these people who have been less fortunate than I am – especially the kids dying with cancer,” Dwoskin said. “It just breaks my heart whenever I see or hear of something like that.”
Dwoskin said anyone wishing to join him in the fundraiser can do so at Dolphinscancerchallenge.com.
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