Kathy Ritvo running pair of Dean Reeves purchases in allowance feature

Double Crown beat Ournationonparade by a neck when both debuted at Laurel Park last September. In separate barns then, the two Maryland breds were purchased privately by Dean Reeves and on Sunday will line-up side by side for trainer Kathy Ritvo in a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up that serves as the feature on Gulfstream Park’s 11-race card.

For Double Crown, Sunday’s race will be the first since he ran down Ournationonparade in a six-furlong maiden race last Sept. 8. Lacey Gaudet, the original trainer of Double Crown, was pointing him to the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes on Oct. 19 before an injury sidelined the gelding by Bourbon Courage. (Note: Contrary to the past performances, Double Crown is not running Sunday as a first-time gelding. He competed as a gelding in his debut, Gaudet confirmed).

In his debut, Double Crown sat an inside stalking trip, tipped to the outside turning for home and was able to catch Ournationonparade in deep stretch. Reeves purchased both horses shortly thereafter and while Double Crown went to the sidelines, Ournationonparade, trained by Bernard Houghton, came back to win the Maryland Million Nursery from off the pace.

Double Crown returned to the worktab on Feb. 10 and shows eight breezes for his return, a race in which he should have plenty of pace to sit behind under apprentice Cristian Torres.

“In training you can put him behind horses, inside or outside he doesn’t mind,” Ritvo said. “He’s very smart for being a young horse, for being lightly raced. Some of them just know what to do, he’s very gutsy, very competitive.

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Ournationonparade, a gelding by Cal Nation, ran twice for Ritvo during the winter meet at Gulfstream. He was part of the pace and finished third, beaten a half-length, in the Hutcheson Stakes on Feb. 29.

Ournationonparade stretched out to a mile in an allowance race but faded to sixth, 7 1/2 lengths behind Money Moves on March 27.

“I think it was the distance at the time,” Ritvo said. “Which doesn’t mean I don’t think he can go long, I just think it’s going to take a little longer to get there.”

Ournationonparade is drawn toward the outside which should give jockey Luca Panici options to stalk some of the speed drawn inside of him.

“We’re going to give Luca the decision when he breaks from the gate,” Ritvo said. “The horse stays forward, he has nice natural speed, and I think he’s going to be able to carry it longer over time.”

Like Ournationonparade, Miles Ahead will be cutting back in distance after an ill-fated try going a mile. Two starts back, Miles Ahead was a front-running winner of a starter allowance going 5 1/2 furlongs for trainer Eddie Plesa.

Tomato Bill, runner-up in last summer’s Grade 3 Sanford Stakes on July 13, makes his first start in nearly seven months for trainer Christophe Clement. Tomato Bill hasn’t run since he finished sixth in the Grade 3 Futurity at Belmont on turf last October.

“I wanted to try the turf, which was a mistake,” Clement said. “We gave him some over the winter, he looks well, trains well.”

Tomato Bill showed good speed in his first two starts on dirt and Clement said he will let Luis Saez ride the race as he sees fit.

“He’s got plenty of speed, assuming he breaks well just let him run his race; doesn’t matter if he’s in front or not,” Clement said.

Hop Kat, an eight-length debut winner at Churchill last May, makes his first start since then. Hop Kat, trained by Eddie Kenneally, was scratched from a similar spot at Oaklawn Park on Friday.

Sarasota County, Absolute Grit, and Jake Rocks complete the field.