Dazzling Move runs down Grand Job to take Royal Delta
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dazzling Move, with a lot of heart and a little help from her friends, ran down the odds-on Grand Job in the closing strides to make her two-turn and graded stakes debut a winning one in Saturday’s $165,000 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park.
Dazzling Move was purchased privately by Miller Racing and turned over to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. less than three weeks before the Grade 3 Royal Delta. Dazzling Move turned in a brilliant four-furlong work in 46.40 seconds for her new connections just 13 days prior to the race.
With Dylan Davis taking the reins for the first time, Dazzling Move was able to sit a dream trip off a crisp early pace contested between her Joseph-trained and Miller-owned stablemate Intrepid Daydream, who was sent hard from the outset to contest the early running with the 4-5 favorite Grand Job. The pair posted a lively 22.81 opening quarter-mile split.
Grand Job, a winner of her first two U.S. starts by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, shook off her early challenger midway through the backstretch only to be engaged by Dazzling Move on the final bend. The favorite appeared to have repulsed that rival nearing the furlong marker only to have the latter re-assert herself in late stretch and ultimately win going away by three-quarters of a length. It was a similar margin back to Autumn Evening, who rallied belatedly to be third.
Dazzling Move, a 4-year-old daughter of Not This Time, completed the distance over a fast track in 1:45.08 and paid $9.20. The Royal Delta was the penultimate leg of a mandatory Rainbow 6 sequence that paid $164,292 for a 20 cent ticket.
“I thought we had the run of the race and then at the quarter pole, I thought we were done,” said Joseph. “Then she [Dazzling Move] dug in the last sixteenth. I thought we had a chance to run her [Grand Job] down then I saw Todd’s [Pletcher] horse [Autumn Evening] and was afraid she might run both of us down. Thank God she was able to hold on.”
Joseph was quick to praise Dazzling Move’s former trainer, Mike Trombetta, after the race.
“Give Trombetta credit, she had her before us,” said Joseph. “We’ve only had her like 19 days. I said if everything goes right we can go in the Royal Delta. But everything has to go right. We bought her to try to go two turns on the dirt. With horses you always like to try things that haven’t been done before, and it worked out.”
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