Dicey Mo Chara tries to climb ladder in allowance

Dicey Mo Chara is the sort of late-developing 3-year-old who could be a stakes runner in the next six months.

“That’s the goal,” trainer Leonard Powell said. “He’s put it together. His last couple of races have been decent.”

Dicey Mo Chara starts in an allowance race for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf on Sunday at Santa Anita on the strength of two solid turf races at the Del Mar summer meeting – a win in a maiden special weight race at a mile on July 24 and a second in an allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on Sept. 6.

In both races, Dicey Mo Chara was off the pace early, a position the gelding is likely to have in Sunday’s race, which drew a field of nine.

“Hopefully, we can get a good stalking trip,” Powell said. “There seems to be a bit of speed.”

Owned by Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal, Dicey Mo Chara has had five starts, beginning with a second on the synthetic track at Dundalk, Ireland, in January before joining Powell’s stable in the spring.

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The allowance race is the seventh race on a nine-race program that does not have a stakes. This is the only weekend program of the track’s five-week autumn meeting without a stakes. The season continues through Oct. 31.

Dicey Mo Chara, who will be ridden by Tyler Baze, drew post 2. The French import Rocket Song and stakes winner Big Fish start from the outside two post positions.

Rocket Song, trained by Neil Drysdale, won 2 of 5 starts in France in 2020, but has not raced since a fifth-place finish in a minor stakes at a mile in Toulouse, France, last November. Rocket Song has been gelded since that race. He will be fitted with blinkers and will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, his only mount on the program.

Rocket Song has a steady pattern of workouts in the last month.

“He appears to be coming around,” Drysdale said. “He’s been training well of late.”

Big Fish is a two-time stakes winner who was sidelined with an injury earlier this year. Trained by David Hofmans, Big Fish finished last of six in the E.B. Johnston Stakes against older California-breds at a mile on dirt on Sept. 10 at Los Alamitos in his first start since a win in the California Cup Derby for statebreds at Santa Anita in January.

“I think the grass will help him a lot,” Hofmans said. “It’s a good spot. It’s with 3-year-olds.”

Big Fish, owned by Legacy Ranch, is entered to be claimed for $100,000 through the race’s optional-claiming condition. Hofmans does not expect Big Fish to be leaving his stable.

“He’s won this condition, so I had to put him in for the claim,” Hofmans said. “He’s a gelding, he’s a Cal-bred, and he comes off a bad race.”