Carpe Omnious looking to take next step for Pletcher

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher may not have a standout Kentucky Derby prospect just yet, but he does seem to have an ever-growing list of 3-year-old prospects to get excited about as the winter progresses. Among them is Carpe Omnious, who’ll look to take a big step forward when facing five rivals including stablemate Mystic Lancelot in Wednesday’s $51,000 optional-claiming feature at Gulfstream Park.

Carpe Omnious may have been a bit overlooked on the tote board prior to his career debut going six furlongs here Dec. 21, perhaps owing to some modest breeding on the dam’s side and the fact he was breaking from the rail, a post that can prove difficult for young horses, especially at first asking. But the son of multiple Grade 1 winner Carpe Diem definitely ran to some pretty impressive morning workouts when rallying from just off the pace to a half-length victory over the even-money, stakes-placed All Eyes West at a surprisingly generous price of 6-1 for a Pletcher-trained juvenile.

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Carpe Omnious earned a respectable 83 Beyer Speed Figure for his debut win and he’ll look to build on that effort when stretching out to seven furlongs at second asking. Carpe Omnious seems to be moving in the right direction coming out of his debut, having posted a pair of bullet works since his first start including five furlongs in 59.80 seconds on Jan. 26 at Palm Beach Downs in company with the more experienced Alpha Sixty Six, fifth-place finisher last fall in the Grade 1 Champagne.

Jockey Javier Castellano will have the return call on Carpe Omnious in Wednesday’s main event, which also serves as the penultimate leg of a Rainbow 6 sequence that will offer a $300,000-guaranteed jackpot.

Mystic Lancelot also should draw some attention switching to the main track for the first time while dropping into allowance company off a steady series of stakes tries on grass. Mystic Lancelot, whose sire Into Mischief was a Grade 1 winner on dirt, will put the blinkers back on coming off an even sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy in his 3-year-old debut on Jan. 4.

Smash Factor also gets some class relief after taking on the likes of Chance It, among the leading Kentucky Derby candidates based locally this winter, in two of his last three starts. Smash Factor, a homebred son of Khozan owned by Stonehedge LLC, finished a distant second after contesting the early pace with the more experienced Chance It in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes on Sept. 28. He fell well back after setting a lively pace and then lost his action briefly once overtaken by both Chance It and As Seen On Tv on the final turn of the one-mile Mucho Macho Man on Jan. 4, checking in sixth.

The key question regarding Smash Factor and his chances Wednesday is the fact he shows no published works on his résumé since the Mucho Macho Man 32 days earlier.

Conquest Day also figures to be a pace factor coming off a six-furlong debut win over a sloppy track on Jan. 4 at Tampa Bay Downs. He’ll have the services of leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. and rounds out the compact lineup along with a pair of stakes-tested 3-year-olds, Liveyourbeastlife and Small Reason.