Calder: Joshua's Comprise has been pointing for the In Reality Stakes

MIAMI – Joshua’s Comprise has kept a busy schedule since launching his career on April 22 and will have won just once in 11 starts entering Saturday’s In Reality Stakes. But the stretch-running homebred still figures to be among the favorites when he faces nine other 2-year-old colts and geldings in the final leg of the open division of the 2012 Florida Stallion Stakes.

Joshua's Comprise has not only been a war horse all summer long for owner-trainer Barry Rose, but he’s also been a pretty good earner despite not picking up his diploma until Sept. 30 under entry level allowance conditions. But win or lose that day, Joshua’s Comprise would have come right back in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality, a race Rose has had penciled in for him for several months.

“He was definitely running in the In Reality no matter what happened in his last start,” said Rose. “I was just hoping he could win it as insurance, in case the In Reality overfilled and we’d have a problem getting in as a maiden. Otherwise it was just a workout for him, a prep for the race on Saturday.”

Joshua’s Comprise is already a mainstay in the Stallion Series. He finished a distant fourth behind Two T’s at Two B’s in the six-furlong Dr. Fager and second, just a neck away from D’nied Permission, when stretching to seven-eighths for the Affirmed. He also finished second in the 5 1/2-furlong Frank Gomez Memorial and third going two turns for the first time in the one mile and 70-yard Foolish Pleasure.

Joshua’s Comprise earned his elusive diploma with a last-to-first, hard-fought nose decision over Dadz Laugh at a mile in his last start. He’ll bring earnings of more than $94,000 into the In Reality.

“We knew all along he was going to be a good horse at the distance,” said Rose, whose father, Harold, swept both divisions of the split In Reality in 1983 with My G. P. and Rexons’s Hope. “He’s just a slow starter with no speed who really doesn’t get going until he gets into the stretch. We had to change riders with him after Jonathan (Gonzalez) got hurt following the Affirmed. He really knew this horse well. But Carlos (Olivero) is doing a good job. He’s ridden him twice now and is starting to understand him better.”

Rose’s mother, Elsie, passed away at the age of 98 several hours after the conclusion of the Affirmed on Aug. 25. His father died in 2003.

An injury will prevent Rose from being represented on Saturday in the co-featured My Dear Girl Stakes.

“Anita’s Comprise was the only one of our 2-year-old fillies who had shown enough to compete in the My Dear Girl,” Rose said. “Unfortunately she broke down during the running of the Susan’s Girl.”

Two T’s at Two B’s, who finished a tiring third as the odds-on favorite in the Affirmed after cruising to an easy win in the Dr. Fager four weeks earlier, will attempt to stretch his abundant speed a distance of ground in the In Reality. The field will also include D’Nied Permission and Dr. Fager runner-up Dixie High.

Nine juvenile fillies will contest the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl, a group led by the winners of the first two legs of the series, Candy Coated Kisses and Putyourdreamsaway.