HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sedona, who fetched $2 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton sale of selected yearlings at Saratoga, made her long awaited debut here Sunday, rallying from a seemingly impossible position on the final turn to a promising half-length victory in the seven-furlong maiden special weight dash for 3-year-old fillies. With Jose Ortiz aboard, Sedona, a daughter of Curlin and full sister to the multiple Grade 3 winner First Captain, was hustled right from the outset but still dropped nearly a half-dozen lengths behind the leaders in the run down the backstretch. Ortiz had Sedona, the 8-5 favorite, under a drive on the final turn, but she still seemed to be spinning her wheels and not making up any ground until settling into the stretch. At that point, Sedona began to finally make some headway, ultimately finishing best of all down the center of the track to wear down the tiring leaders in the closing strides. “She’s kind of a one-paced filly, and Jose said it was kind of amazing she finished that way,” said Shug McGaughey, who trains Sedona for the partnership of Woodford Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, and Chris Larsen. “I like to see them run this way. When they go on to finish, so they learn, instead of being on the lead.” McGaughey said the path to finally getting Sedona into the starting gate on Sunday was a slow one and took time and patience on behalf of himself and the ownership team. “She got a little bit of a shin as a 2-year-old, so I gave her some time,” McGaughey explained. “I wasn’t really satisfied in her development earlier this winter, but she’s really come around in the last month or so. She worked really well up there [Payson Park] a few weeks ago. I think she has a good future and being by Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare she should certainly want to run two turns.” :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports As for the pressure of training a horse that cost $2 million, McGaughey said he didn’t really feel any whatsoever. “I don’t really let that kind of thing worry me, and these guys are easy to train for,” McGaughey said. “The way I look at it, no matter whether they cost $2 million or $10,000, either they can run or they can’t run.” As for what might be ahead, McGaughey said he’d like to gradually take his time stretching Sedona out in distance. “I’d like to run her a mile next, but it all depends on what Gulfstream has to say,” McGaughey said, referring to whether he can get a race to fill at that distance when he feels his promising filly is ready to run back again. Sedona capped off a pretty good 48 hours for the Hall of Fame horseman, who on Friday sent out his Kentucky Derby prospect Conquest Warrior to a convincing and very popular victory going 1 1/8 miles under entry-level allowance conditions. “I would think it makes the most sense to bring him back in the Florida Derby,” McGaughey confirmed. “He’s run well twice over this track, and he’s got to go only an hour and one-half on the van to get here while it’s all day to send him to New York [for the Wood] or 18 hours to get him to Kentucky [for the Blue Grass]. Right now, it’s still penciled in, but the Florida Derby is most likely where he’ll run next.” The Wine Steward behind schedule The Wine Steward, a 3-year-old whose connections also had Derby aspirations at one time, is back on the work tab but will not be quite ready to make it to the big dance. The Wine Steward, a New York-bred by Vino Rosso, won his first three starts at 2 before finishing a close second behind Locked in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. He was entered in but scratched out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the day before the race. Trained by Mike Maker, The Wine Steward has worked three times here this winter, the most recent breeze a half-mile in company in 48.60 seconds on Saturday. “He had a hard 2-year-old campaign, so we gave him a little freshening. Unfortunately, we had a few bumps in the road bringing him back,” Maker said. “We had hoped to have him back for a Derby run, but he had a reaction to something and came down with a skin disease. Right now, I’m hoping to make the Lexington with him. I think he definitely showed enough ability last year to be a Triple Crown kind of horse.” Turf sprinting 3-year-olds featured Racing resumes Wednesday with an eight-race program highlighted by a first-level allowance and high-priced optional-claiming dash for 3-year-olds carded for five furlongs on turf. The race drew a well-matched group of seven, including the exciting maiden winner And Uwish, who is cross-entered in a similarly conditioned event for Florida-breds on the Tapeta here Sunday. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  And Uwish is one of two horses entered in the lineup exiting a wire-to-wire debut victory, along with Refuel, who set a contested pace before edging away to a 1 1/2-length victory in his lone start over the turf here Feb. 2. Refuel earned a 78 Beyer Speed Figure, a point less than And Uwish. Even should And Uwish scratch, as expected, to await a softer spot on Sunday, the pace figures to be honest with Mackville, a gate-to-wire maiden winner at second asking in his 2-year-old finale, in the lineup. King of the Track, shortening up in distance after going two turns in his last start, figures to be coming on strong at the end, as should Banneker. Tampa Bay Downs invader A G Diamond, and Billy the Greek complete the lineup. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.