Focus Group capable of ending long losing streak in Wednesday marathon

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – His glory days are in the rearview mirror, but the 7-year-old Focus Group may still be good enough to get back to the winner’s circle for the first time in two years when he takes on 10 long-winded rivals in Wednesday’s $52,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, carded at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Focus Group will be seeking his first victory since winning the Grade 2 Pan American here in March 2019 while trained by Chad Brown. That victory followed a third-place effort in the Grade 1 Canadian International in October 2018 at Woodbine.

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Focus Group went to the sidelines following a seventh-place finish in defense of his Pan American title here last March. He has made two starts on the comeback trail for his current trainer, Christophe Clement. In his most recent appearance, Focus Group finished a late-running fourth in a race similar to Wednesday’s headliner after dropping far back in a strung-out field during the early stages of the event. As was the case in that Feb. 11 race, Focus Group will be competing again under a $35,000 claiming tag on Wednesday.

Pillar Mountain, another member of the field with Grade 1 experience, finished fifth, a half-length behind Focus Group, when the pair met five weeks earlier. Pillar Mountain broke slowly and was caught wide throughout while making his first start in nearly six months, and figures to be able to save some ground breaking from the rail in his rematch with Focus Group. Pillar Mountain ran sixth in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer during summer 2019.

Pillar Mountain is one of two horses trainer Todd Pletcher will send out in the main event along with Cowtown, who finished third in the two-mile Allen Jerkens early in the meet.

Call Curt, who has made only seven starts, may be able to control the pace in a field lacking much early speed, although his ability to stay the distance is the question. Call Curt rallied from just off the leaders to capture a $50,000 starter allowance at 1 1/16 miles in his previous start, making him the only member of the field with a victory in 2021. He is by Sky Mesa out of a Maria’s Mon mare.

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Basha owns far and away the highest last-out Beyer Speed Figure in the lineup, a 91 earned for his seventh-place finish in the Grade 2, 1 3/8-mile Mac Diarmida on Feb. 27. Basha will bring a 24 race winless streak into the race that dates back to January 2019.

Counter Offer, a winner around three turns in a second-level allowance race last summer at Saratoga, and Prefecta, a ground-saving seventh not far behind Focus Group or Pillar Mountain in his last start, also are worthy of consideration. The remainder of the field comprises Trouble Coffee, Lake Nakuru, Go Poke the Bear, and Cibolian.