Dr Post returns from long layoff in allowance

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The four-time Grade 1-placed Dr Post will be the center of attention when he returns from a 13-month hiatus to take on eight seemingly outclassed foes going seven furlongs over the main track in Thursday’s $72,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race is the first of two allowance events on a card that also includes a five-furlong turf dash, which lured a full field of 10 vying for a $71,000 purse.

Dr Post has not started since finishing seventh in the 2021 Clark, a race in which he essentially lost his best chance after getting knocked around at the start. Dr Post entered the Clark off third-place finishes in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic and Woodward. A year earlier, the son of Quality Road posted back-to-back Grade 1 placings in the Belmont Stakes and Haskell.

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Although seemingly at his best at distances ranging from a mile to a mile and one-eighth, Dr Post has made one start going seven furlongs, winning his maiden by 1 1/4 lengths here during the spring of 2020.

Irad Ortiz Jr. will get the call from trainer Todd Pletcher aboard Dr Post, who has worked on a regular basis at both Palm Beach Downs and more recently over the local strip.

Those thinking Dr Post might need a race off the bench could turn to Endorsed as the most logical alternative. A classy sort in his own right, Endorsed is no stranger to local fans, having finished second, beaten less than a length by Officiating as the 9-5 favorite in the Grade 3, seven-furlong Mr. Prospector here a year ago. He then stretched out to a mile and one-eighth to run a very creditable fourth against the likes of Life Is Good and Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

The fact Endorsed has such stellar performances on his résumé makes it all the harder to believe the 6-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro will bring a 23-race losing streak into Thursday’s main event, dating all the way back to an allowance win at Oaklawn Park in May 2020. Endorsed nearly snapped that dubious skein in his most recent start when he rallied to finish second, beaten a half-length by Nakatomi, going 6 1/2 furlongs under allowance conditions six weeks ago at Keeneland.

Trainer Ralph Nicks has entered the stakes winners Cattin and Shivaree in the headliner. Cattin is one of five 3-year-olds in the lineup along with Legends Can’t Die, Paco’s Pico, likely pacesetter Hammer Lane, and Secret Alliance. Palace Kitten completes the field.

◗ There will be no shortage of speed, as one might expect, in the co-featured eighth race with Detroit City, King Cab, Always Hopeful, Meetmeinkingston, Roman Poet, Not Phar Now, and Full Disclosure all likely to make their presence felt during the early stages of the race.

An honest pace could play in favor of City Mischief, a late running maiden winner over the Fair Grounds turf last winter and more recently a rallying third under conditions similar to Thursday’s race over the Tapeta course when returning from a 10-month layoff here on Nov. 27.

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