Actin Good to get turf tryout

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Robert Dibona had a lot of options for Actin Good's second start of the year, including Saturday's Grade 1 Donn Handicap. He finally opted for a spot few people might have expected - Thursday's $49,500 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, carded at a mile on the turf.

Actin Good has come a long way since finishing last in the 2007 Sunshine Millions Dash. A son of Yes It's True, he won the Grade 3 Pegasus at Monmouth Park on Breeders' Cup weekend and opened his 2008 campaign finishing third behind Chatain in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope here.

Thursday's race will be his turf debut.

"I've never had so much trouble deciding what to do with a horse," said Dibona. "But everybody in our camp, including me, thinks he'll love the turf, and at some point we have to try it once, and now is as good a time as any. He's got a condition left, and there are lots of big races down the road, so I can use this race as a stepping-stone win or lose."

Actin Good did not fare well at the post position draw, as he will break from the outside in the field of 10.

"He's got great speed, so hopefully he'll break out and won't have much trouble getting over," said Dibona. "He's such a game horse I find it hard to believe he won't do well on turf, and after watching horses like Buffalo Man and Nobiz Like Shobiz take to the grass, I'm looking forward to seeing just what he will do."

Even if he handles the going, Actin Good will face a tough assignment in a field that includes Grade 3 turf winner Drilling for Oil and the Grade 1 stakes-placed Silver Whistle.

Drilling for Oil will be making only his third start since winning the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap in May. A 5-year-old son of Giant's Causeway, he showed surprising speed in his last start, contesting the pace before finishing fourth under conditions similar to Thursday's headliner.

A Stronach Stable homebred, Silver Whistle is seeking to regain the form that saw him finish second in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer in 2006 and third in the Grade 2 Bowling Green last summer at Belmont. Trainer Bill Mott, who won 3 of the 8 Sunshine Millions races on Saturday, will turn Silver Whistle back to a mile looking to get him back to the winners circle for the first time since he captured the Grade 3 Pan American Handicap here in April of 2006.