Dibona testing Sum of Success in In Summation
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For trainer Bobby Dibona, it’s hard not to get excited about the juvenile colt Sum of Success, who will make his second start in the $100,000 In Summation Stakes on Monday at Gulfstream Park. If the Florida-bred passes another test against statebred rivals, his trainer may be tempted to make a bold move.
“We’re looking to see if we just stay on that Florida-bred trail, but honestly, he may be a Breeders’ Cup horse,” Dibona said.
Named in honor of Sum of Success’s damsire, the six-furlong In Summation is the sixth race on the Monday card. It also is the third-to-last leg of the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which will offer a mandatory payout for the fifth of eight consecutive Monday programs. Last week, the Monday Rainbow 6 featured a pool of $362,000.
On July 20, Sum of Success went straight to the early lead in a statebred maiden special weight and dominated in the late stages, pulling clear by 7 1/2 lengths. He earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure, tied for the 14th highest earned by a 2-year-old this year.
“It was awesome,” Dibona said. “It was pretty much what I expected. I thought he was a special horse. He’d been showing brilliant speed, and if you watch the race, you saw him get banged around. He got annihilated there, then just opened up in the hands and was never asked to do anything.”
Dibona has been singing the colt’s praises since, and his workouts in the morning point to improvement in stakes company. On Aug. 1, he breezed through four furlongs in 46.20 seconds, more than a second faster than any of the other 40 horses who worked the distance that morning.
“I never even let him do anything,” Dibona said. “He outworked everybody by over a second and I didn’t even let him run. So I don’t know. We’re excited. You don’t know where it can take you, but at least we’re in the game.”
Despite showing so much early form on dirt, Dibona said he believes Sum of Success’s preferred surface could be turf. He will carry on with dirt for now.Sum of Success won his debut at five furlongs and will stretch out to six on Monday, but Dibona said he doesn’t see why a route distance would be outside the colt’s scope in the future. If he’s right, an outside path to the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile could become a little easier.
All six statebred juveniles in the In Summation will enter with a maiden victory, including Spicy Taco. In June, the Luiz Ramirez-trained colt overcame early trouble to close for a game victory in a statebred maiden special weight.
Ramirez said he was excited to run Spicy Taco in the $100,000 Proud Man on July 5, but the colt had to scratch after a bad response to fireworks celebrations the evening before the race.
“That night, he went crazy in the barn area from the [fireworks in the] neighborhood,“ Ramirez said. “He came up with a little sore feet. He was digging the stone all night in one corner of his stall.”
Boyhood Dream and Road to Midnight will both switch to dirt after winning races on synthetic and turf.
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