HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Josie Carroll figured she’d be catching a relatively cushy spot when entering her impressive maiden winner Cut the Dust against Florida-breds for the first time in Sunday’s co-featured ninth race. Her colleague Danny Gargan likely thought the same when putting his talented 3-year-old prospect Rookie Card in the same race.
Instead, Cut the Dust and Rookie Card will square off as the two heavy favorites in the seven-furlong dash on the main track. The race will share top billing with a high-priced optional claiming/allowance tilt for older fillies and mares. That race will be decided about an hour earlier going five furlongs on turf.
Cut the Dust was a 6 1/2-length winner when debuting against open company as the 7-5 favorite over Woodbine’s synthetic surface on July 19. For that effort, the colt earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure, a big number for 2-year-old maidens at that time of the season. The performance was further flattered after runner-up Scorching won a pair of stakes, including the prestigious Cup and Saucer, in his next two starts.
“He looked like a very promising horse from the time he came in and certainly validated that in his debut,” Carroll said Friday. “He got a little sick on us when prepping for his next race, so we decided that, being a baby, the right thing to do was to take him back to the farm and give him a break.”
Cut the Dust, who will race on dirt for the first time Sunday, ultimately joined Carroll’s South Florida-based winter stable at the Palm Meadows Training Center late in the fall. He’s worked six times there while preparing for his return, including a bullet five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Feb. 15. All of those drills came over the main track.
“Obviously, he’s been a long time between starts, and we certainly didn’t expect to catch a horse like Danny’s [Rookie Card] in there,” Carroll said. “But he’s worked very well on the dirt, his pedigree says he should handle it fine, and this race should give us a benchmark of where we are with him right now.”
Like many other trainers who entered for Sunday’s card a week earlier, Carroll had to seek out a new jockey for Cut the Dust after originally naming Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride. Ortiz is one of three prominent jockeys, along with Dylan Davis and Tyler Gaffalione, who were expected to be here when entries were drawn for Sunday’s 10-race program. Instead, the three riders are headed to Oaklawn Park, where a multi-graded stakes program drawn for Saturday was rescheduled for Sunday due to inclement weather.
Carroll said she has secured the services of Junior Alvarado to replace Ortiz on Cut the Dust.
Gargan is in a similar boat, having named Davis to ride Rookie Card on Sunday. Rookie Card began his career in New York, where he finished second in his first two starts before winning a maiden race by five lengths as the prohibitive favorite at Aqueduct in his 2-year-old finale on Oct. 26.
Rookie Card, who notched an 85 Beyer in his debut last summer at Saratoga, launched his 3-year-old campaign in the seven-furlong Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. There, he was eliminated after being bumped and shut off by Owen Almighty while contesting the pace entering the far turn. Owen Almighty crossed the wire first but was disqualified and placed fifth for his actions.
Like Cut the Dust, Rookie Card comes into the race off a black-letter work at Palm Meadows – four furlongs in 47.60 seconds – last Sunday morning.
Six last-out winners in co-feature
A full field of 10, plus two also-eligibles, have been entered for Sunday’s co-featured seventh race, a five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares. Six of these entrants are coming off victories in their most recent starts, including Miss Bodacious, who’ll make her U.S. debut for trainer Brian Lynch after capturing 3 of 8 tries in England.
Other last-out winners in the lineup include Ultimate Ready, who has been idle since capturing her debut with trainer Paulo Lobo over the synthetic track at Turfway Park nearly a year ago; Julie’s Legacy, who also will make her turf debut in this spot; Bel Pensiero; Dial Home; and Royally Blue.
Ultimate Ready was transferred to trainer Bill Mott by owner-breeder Besilu Stables after her promising debut. She figures to handle the switch to grass, as she’s a full sister to the multiple turf winner Ready Reward.
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