Carrothers capable of keeping the Drexler train rolling

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For the second year in a row, trainer Martin Drexler proved a force to reckon with shipping down from Woodbine for the winter. His 20 wins put him sixth in the standings during the recently concluded Gulfstream Park Championship meet. And he’s not done yet.

Drexler will send out four horses on Sunday’s card, including the multiple graded stakes-placed Carrothers in the afternoon’s ninth and featured event, a $35,000 starter allowance and optional claimer that drew a very competitive field of nine, including key contenders Tatanka, Space Launch, Eyes On Target, and Runningwscissors to go 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Carrothers was claimed by Drexler for $35,000 out of a winning effort here in February 2023 and returned quick dividends by capturing his next two starts for his new connections. Each of those victories came over the Tapeta course at Gulfstream Park.

Drexler then took Carrothers back home to Woodbine for the summer, where he finished second in both the Grade 2 Eclipse and Grade 2 Seagram Cup before closing the year on a disappointing note when fifth as a 2-5 favorite in the Presque Isle Downs Mile on Sept. 19.

“He did well right off the bat for us down here and then had some good success for us up in Toronto as well,” Drexler recalled. “But he is a bit of a quirky horse and can be hard to ride, which was the case at Presque Isle.

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“We probably had pushed a little hard on him during the summer, he was maybe a little sour, and it all came to a head in that race, which was obviously a bit of a disaster. He tried to lug in the whole way and Irad [Ortiz Jr.] never could ride him. He came back apologizing after the race, but I told him that it was not his fault. This one was all on the horse.”

Drexler gave Carrothers the rest of the year and entire winter off. He observed that he has never seen him this sound at any point last season, while acknowledging that bringing him back in this spot and on the grass, which is not his preferred surface, might not be ideal.

“It’s a tough race with some horses in very good form and with a lot of recency compared to us,” Drexler said. “I really wanted to get a race into him down here, but I really don’t know what the grass is going to do for him.”

Drexler said although he personally will head back to Woodbine in a couple of weeks to get ready for the upcoming season, he plans to leave 10 to 15 horses behind locally until the end of May.

“This is my third year coming down here for the winter and I thought the last two were exceptional for us,” Drexler said. “I think we brought the right horses, and my owners let me run them fairly aggressively. You can always salvage the numbers putting a few in where they can win. That kind of picks everyone’s head up a little bit. And I feel like we’re also going home with some good new stock as well.”

Tatanka outlasted Space Launch by a head after setting all the pace in their previous meeting. Space Launch does figure to get some early help with Tatanka in the rematch as Smithwick’s Spice, winner of the Tampa Turf Dash in his last start, and Grand Davis both are capable of forcing the early issue.

Eyes On Target rallied from well back to defeat Smithwick’s Spice going 1 1/16 miles under similar starter conditions earlier this winter, while Runningwscissors has been freshened a bit since finishing a disappointing fifth as the 6-5 favorite behind Tatanka in his last start Jan. 13.

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