Gulfstream Park: Dullahan gets company in drill for Dubai

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Dale Romans stepped things up a little Tuesday for his Dubai-bound Dullahan, who worked a strong five furlongs in company in 1:00.62 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.38 with jockey John Velazquez aboard. Dullahan hooked in at the five-furlong pole with a member of trainer Allen Iwinski’s stable, then joined his own stablemate Conversationalist, who began at the half-mile pole, for the final quarter-mile of the drill and during the gallop-out around the clubhouse turn.

“At first, I was worried when we hooked up with the other two horses, but then I figured it might be a good idea to give him a target,” Velazquez said. “I chirped to him at the five-sixteenths pole, and he really took off. I was very impressed with his work.”

Velazquez also was super impressed with the performance of Point of Entry, whom he guided to victory over Animal Kingdom in Saturday’s Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Handicap. Trained by Shug McGaughey, Point of Entry won despite turning back to 1 1/8 miles off his runner-up finish in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Cup Turf.

“I told Shug before the race my strategy was to get the jump on Animal Kingdom, because I knew he could quicken a little better than my horse at that distance,” Velazquez said. “And when he made the early move like that, I think it probably played to our advantage. Either way, I knew going in what I had to do to beat him, and in the end, it took one really good horse to beat another really good horse in that race.”