Choose Joy tries to add synthetic win to her record
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Choose Joy has been the queen of the filly and mare turf sprint division throughout much of the 2021 season in South Florida. The question now is whether she can transfer her amazingly consistent good form from the grass to the Tapeta course when she tries a synthetic surface for the first time as a solid favorite in Saturday’s $60,000 overnight handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs.
Choose Joy has won four of her six starts on turf while never finishing worse than second since owner-trainer Steve Dwoskin switched surfaces with her in January. She comes into Saturday’s headliner having won three of her last four outings – the Golden Beach Handicap on May 2 and a pair of overnight handicaps within a four-week span during the summer. She toted 124 and 125 pounds to her two latest victories and will pick up another pound for Saturday, conceding her seven rivals a whopping 9 to 10 pounds each.
Dwoskin sent Choose Joy out to gallop over the Tapeta strip on Wednesday morning with her regular rider Miguel Vasquez aboard before making his entry for the race.
“The decision on whether to enter or not was based on whether she’d like the track or not, and Miguel said she seemed to handle it fine, that he felt she liked it,” Dwoskin said. “Hopefully, he’s right. If not, I’ll probably just have to wait for the Championship meet, when turf racing returns here, to run her back again after this race.”
Dwoskin said the secret to keeping Choose Joy in such good form for so long is a simple one.
“She’s a sound filly, that makes it easy for us,” Dwoskin said. “I wish they were all like that. You just don’t get them like this too often.”
Choose Joy has raced five furlongs in all of her turf starts this year. Dwoskin said the added half-furlong of Saturday’s race should be a plus, and he sees the heavy burden she must tote as a non-issue with her stretch-running style.
“The way she runs, with her style, the extra half a furlong should be to her advantage and the extra pound she picks up doesn’t bother me,” he said. “She carried a lot of weight when she won her last two starts as well.”
Despite the surface switch, the field for the race will be a familiar one. Bernie’s Mistress and Cat’s Astray finished second and third behind Choose Joy on Aug. 29, and will try her again Saturday.
Bernie’s Mistress was beaten just a length by Choose Joy on Aug. 29, despite encountering traffic issues at the three-eighths pole. Cat’s Astray may prove the one to catch while likely pressed during the early stages by Colonial Downs ship-in Mudslide Wicked and Prairie Meadows invader Naughty Shirley, who has joined the stable of leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for her local debut.
Moon of Love, Awsum Roar, and Drop a Hint complete the lineup.