Juvenile debut winners clash in sprint

MIAMI – An optional-claiming race for 2-year-olds highlights Wednesday’s card at Gulfstream Park West, which also includes a $38,000 allowance test for statebred fillies and mares on turf.

Something will have to give when The Distractor, Worlds On High, and Drain the Clock – each victorious in his only start – match strides in the $43,000 sixth race, a six-furlong sprint that includes a $60,000 claiming option.

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The Distractor was an easy 7 1/4-length winner under a $50,000 tag on Oct. 11 at Gulfstream Park West, earning a 64 Beyer Speed Figure for trainer Kathleen O’Connell. Worlds On High debuted under a similar tag and ran off to a 2 1/2-length victory while posting a 65 Beyer on Sept. 18 at Gulfstream Park. He is one of two horses trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. saddles in the race, along with Drain the Clock, who cruised to a six length win Sept. 12 at Gulfstream in a race switched from the turf to a sloppy main track.

Trainer Juan Alvarado has two of his own in the headliner, Tiger and Hercules. Hercules is the only member of the field in for the $60,000 price tag. Hercules, a debut winner Aug. 29 at Gulfstream, returns to more suitable company after a respectable fifth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality.

Kicks On Sixty Six, another winner at first asking for a $50,000 price tag earlier this summer, drops in class off a sixth-place effort in the Armed Forces.