Gulfstream Park notes: Top Billing moves forward as Kentucky Derby prospect

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Top Billing gave every indication that he will be a major player on the road to the Kentucky Derby this season when he rallied from last to a very impressive 2 3/4-length victory over the well-regarded Surfing U S A in Saturday’s fourth race at Gulfstream Park.

The victory was the second in three starts for Top Billing, a son of Curlin who suffered his only setback when beaten a neck by another leading Derby prospect, Commissioner, going 1 1/8 miles in a similar first-level allowance here earlier this month.

With jockey Joel Rosario aboard, Top Billing dropped about 10 lengths off the early pace of Surfing U S A before launching his rally leaving the backstretch. Top Billing was forced to race four wide while continuing his run into the stretch, overtook the leader at the head of the lane, and then gradually edged well clear. Top Billing’s final time of 1:42.66 was less than a second off the 1 1/16-mile track record set Dec. 22 by the older horse River Seven.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

“That was pretty impressive,” said Shug McGaughey, who also trains Derby contenders Honor Code and Mr Speaker. “I was watching the race on TV, and all I could see was his number, the 2, was a lot further back than I wanted him to be. He’s learning. I thought this was a powerful race today. He ate the dirt today even though Joel took him out away from them, but I told him in the future, if you make him, he’ll run up in there.”

McGaughey chuckled when asked what might be next for Top Billing while standing in the winner’s circle alongside co-owner Bill Farish.

“Obviously, there won’t be another allowance race for him, so somewhere along the line we’ll have to put our heads together and see what we want to do,” McGaughey said. “The one thing we’re not going to do is overcook him early. We’ll just have to wait and see how he comes out of this. I was a little nervous about running him back in three weeks, but he came out of his last race well and trained well. The one thing is this horse has a good mind, so if we do have to send him somewhere, it won’t be a problem.”

General a Rod preps for Fountain

Trainer Mike Maker opted to skip Saturday’s Grade 2 Holy Bull with his Gulfstream Park Derby winner, General a Rod, to await the Fountain of Youth here next month. So, instead of running Saturday afternoon, General a Rod breezed five furlongs in the morning, completing the distance in 1:01.06 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.61.

“He’s always been a great work horse, and he continues to train impressively,” Maker said when asked about Saturday’s work. “He had a semi-work last week, galloped out strong when seeing some horses in front of him, and did it in hand. I figured the Holy Bull would be trying to cram in too many races in too short a period of time, so we’ll just sit this one out and wait for the Fountain of Youth.”

Five-furlong breeze for Groupie Doll

Groupie Doll continued to progress toward what will be the last start of her racing career in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie here Feb. 9 when she breezed a solid five furlongs in 1:00.89 shortly after the first renovation break Saturday. Groupie Doll, a two-time Eclipse Award winner, completed the final quarter in 23.78 seconds without the need of urging before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.20.

“We wanted to have a little easier work this week, without pushing her,” trainer Buff Bradley said. “Last week, she saw some company in front of her and ran them down.”

[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]

Dreaming of Sophia in mile feature

Dreaming of Sophia, a stakes winner on both turf and dirt at 3, will make her 2014 debut going a mile on the main track in Wednesday’s featured fourth race. She put a punctuation mark on what has been a sharp series of works in preparation for her return by zipping a half-mile in 46.60 and galloping out five-eighths in 59.40 for trainer Kirk Ziadie.

Wednesday’s $58,500 race, a no-conditions allowance, drew a very strong field that also includes Centrique, the impressive winner of the Claiming Crown Glass Slipper in her 2013 finale, and the Todd Pletcher-trained pair of South American Group 2 winner Ana Luisa and Gamay Noir.