Smarmy swings by to take advantage of her Florida-bred status

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Smarmy, who won her maiden against open company at Churchill Downs in her 3-year-old finale, seems to have found the perfect spot to launch her 4-year-old campaign when she takes on Florida-breds for the first time in Friday’s $54,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race is carded at 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track and drew a field of seven, including key contenders Merseyside and Kozy Dreams.

Smarmy, who fetched $700,000 at the 2020 April OBS sale, has hit the board in all five starts, finally cracking the winner’s circle last November when she rallied to a 1 3/4-length victory over a solid field. The third-place finisher, Only Kidding, shipped locally to defeat open maiden special weight competition here earlier in the meet.

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Trained by Phil Bauer, Smarmy was given some time off following her maiden tally before shipping to Oaklawn Park, where she’s put in a string of good works, including bullet drills on Feb. 16 and March 6.

“She’s trained well and the timing worked out just right to bring her back in this spot,” said Bauer. “Obviously it’s a Florida-bred race, and if you don’t take advantage of your statebred conditions it’s almost pointless to have one, although we think she’s capable of winning against open allowance company as well. We figured it was a good time to do this while we’re kind of halfway down south.

“Hopefully we can go home with a ‘W’ here and still have her one-other-than condition available to us when she heads back north.”

Luis Saez will ride Smarmy, who figures to be a strong favorite in her local debut.

Merseyside is a three-time winner. She captured this same statebred allowance condition on the turf in 2020 and an open allowance race here last summer, but remains eligible for Friday’s feature because trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has entered her for the optional $20,000 claiming price.

Kozy Dreams has finished second and third against similar statebred allowance foes in her last two starts while returning quick dividends off a $6,250 claim. She is the winningest member of the field, with five victories.