Recent win makes Carrothers one to beat in allowance
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Anyone who ascribes to the “what have you done for me lately” theory of handicapping will be singling Carrothers in Wednesday’s seventh race, the first of two allowance events to close out the card when racing returns at Gulfstream Park following the regular two-day hiatus.
Carrothers is not only the lone member of the eight-horse field in the $87,000 headliner with a victory this year, he’s the only one with a win since last July. And his one triumph this season not only came in his most recent start on Feb. 18, it was a career-best performance from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint. Carrothers outgamed Alley Oop Johnny by a nose to capture a first-level optional-claiming and allowance race going a mile and 70 yards on the Tapeta course while earning a 95 Beyer. The runner-up flattered that effort when he came back less than three weeks later to defeat slightly softer starter allowance company on the turf.
Carrothers and Alley Oop Johnny are now stablemates after Martin Drexler claimed Carrothers for $35,000 out of his most recent start in the interests of owner Mad Dog Racing Stable. Carrothers will be competing with a $62,500 price tag on his head in Wednesday’s feature while wheeling right back at a mile and 70 yards over the synthetic surface.
Only three of Carrothers’s seven foes on Wednesday won a race in 2022, with the most recent of those victories recorded by Grand David, who won the Bears Den Stakes here on July 30. Grand David has not started since finishing ninth following a troubled beginning in the Tropical Park Derby on Dec. 26. His trainer, Victor Barboza Jr., also entered Grade 2 winner Brooklyn Strong in this spot.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse will send out Mannix and Win for the Money, both of whom are returning from extended vacations. Mannix has been idle since his distant fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine on Oct. 23, and Win for the Money has been away since running fifth in Turfway Park’s Rushaway Stakes nearly a year ago.
Completing the lineup are Newsworthy, whose last victory came in December of 2021 at Tampa Bay Downs; Ever Dangerous, winless since November of 2020; and Glynn County, another making his 2023 debut.
Wednesday’s finale will also be decided under allowance and optional claiming conditions, at five furlongs on the turf for older fillies and mares. The nightcap attracted a well-matched field of 10 plus one also-eligible, with Miss Sakamoto and Designed by Kitten, who finished noses apart while third and fourth under similar conditions a month ago, perhaps vying for favoritism.
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