Photo: MEC
Sienna Farms LLC’s Dewey Square worked five furlongs in 1:00 4/5
over the Gulfstream Park turf course Sunday morning and Lothenbach
Stable’s Bambazonki was timed 1:01 flat for the same distance as both
promising 3-year-old prospects tune-up to meet next Sunday in the
$150,000 Palm Beach Stakes (G3) at 1 1/8 miles on turf.
“He’s breezed on turf several times now and I’m pretty confident he
likes it,” said trainer Dale Romans of Dewey Square, who will make his
turf debut in the Palm Beach. “He’s not off the ‘Derby Trail.’ If things
go well in the Palm Beach we’ll run in the Blue Grass at Keeneland,”
referring to the $750,000, Grade 1 test to be run over the Polytrack
surface at Keeneland on April 13.
A Kentucky homebred son of Bernardini, Dewey Square came to
Gulfstream this winter with high expectations as a Kentucky Derby (G1)
prospect after three starts as a 2-year-old. After winning his debut at
Hoosier Park in September by 11 lengths, he won an allowance race at
Churchill Downs in late October and finished a good third in the
Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) at Churchill on Nov. 24, beaten 1 ½
lengths.
However, Dewey Square threw in a bad race in his 3-year-old debut
when finishing a distant seventh behind Itsmyluckyday in the $400,000
Holy Bull Stakes (G3) here on Jan. 20, a performance that got Romans to
change his plans while not losing confidence that he was a good colt and
still a potential Derby prospect.
Bambazonki is already a proven stakes-class performer on turf for
trainer Chris Block, breaking his maiden over the Arlington Park course
in September last year after a runner-up debut on Polytrack. The son of
Hard Spun came to win a Keeneland allowance on turf and finished a game
second by a half-length behind odds-on favorite Charming Kitten in the
$100,000 Kittens Joy Stakes over the Gulfstream course on Jan. 20.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Kentucky homebred Charming Kitten, a son of
Kitten’s Joy, won the race named for his sire for trainer Todd Pletcher
after losing a half-length decision as the favorite in the Dania Beach
Stakes over the course on Dec. 15. He will likely be the favorite again
in Sunday’s Palm Beach.