One Caroline deserves short odds

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - What's better than being an even-money favorite in a Grade 3 stakes, as One Caroline was in the Sabin earlier this season? How about being less than even money in a Grade 2 event, as One Caroline figures to be when she faces six rivals in Sunday's $150,000 Rampart at Gulfstream Park.

"That's what you want to be," said Rusty Arnold, who has guided One Caroline through four victories in as many starts, including her one-length triumph in the Sabin on Feb. 20.

One Caroline, a 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song, won both her starts as a 3-year-old before going to the sidelines for the remainder of the year due to an injury sustained last summer at Saratoga. She returned here earlier this season to win a second-level allowance race by nearly seven lengths before holding off a stretch-long bid from Swift Temper to capture her stakes debut going a mile in the Sabin.

One Caroline stretches out to 1 1/8 miles for the Rampart.

"She's a very talented horse and has done fabulous since coming back from her injury at Saratoga," said Arnold, who trains One Caroline for G. Watts Humphrey. "She won her first two starts around two turns and I think she'll love the extra distance on Sunday. It suits her style and pedigree. And it shouldn't matter whether she's in front or not. It's simply a matter of her getting comfortable with the pace."

Ginger Brew may have the best chance of upsetting One Caroline in the Rampart. A homebred daughter of Milwaukee Brew owned by Frank Stronach, Ginger Brew will run on dirt for only the second time in her career after making nine of her first 10 career starts on either turf or over the Polytrack at Woodbine.

Ginger Brew, who was beaten just a head by Not Bourbon when facing males in the 2008 Queen's Plate, has already won three stakes, including the Calder Oaks and Woodbine Oaks during the opening half of her 3-year-old campaign last year. She has been a beaten favorite in her only two starts this winter, finishing third in the Marshua's River at Gulfstream on Jan. 11 and a troubled fifth in the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs five weeks later.

African Violet, So Glitzy, Hamsa, Sea Chanter, and Striking Tomisue complete the Rampart field. African Violet was supplemented to the race for $6,000.