Always Dreaming getting close to return

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Always Dreaming has made such steady progress in his daily training at Palm Beach Downs that the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner could surface in the Gulfstream Park entries before too long.

“We’re going to sit down and talk probably after his next work and zero in on his next race,” trainer Todd Pletcher said last weekend. “It’s getting to the point now where we really need to do that because he’s training lights out. He’s getting better every day.”

Always Dreaming is on schedule to breeze again toward the end of this week, which will mark his fifth workout since the 4-year-old colt returned from a layoff, during which he was treated for a serious ulcer problem. The son of Bodemeister won back-to-back races at the 2017 Gulfstream championship meet prior to the Kentucky Derby, ending with a five-length romp in the Florida Derby.

The Grade 2, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Mile is a plausible comeback spot, but that’s not for another month (on the March 31 Florida Derby undercard), and it’s a one-turn mile. Before then, there’s always a possibility that a two-turn allowance race could be made available by the Gulfstream racing office – and the race conditions wouldn’t even have to be custom-made, considering Always Dreaming has not won since the Derby last May.

“We’d certainly have to think about Gulfstream as one option, considering the success he’s had here,” said Pletcher.

Always Dreaming, owned by a partnership that includes Vinnie Viola and Anthony Bonomo, raced three times after the Derby, finishing eighth in the Preakness, third in the Jim Dandy, and ninth in the Travers.