Supercommittee just fine with Ginger Punch surface switch

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. wasn’t on hand Saturday to watch his up-and-coming Florida-bred filly Supercommittee dominate the $100,000 Ginger Punch Stakes in a race switched from the turf to a sloppy main track. But the young horseman was still excited when talking about the performance by phone from his Belmont Park headquarters on Monday.

Supercommittee rallied from mid-pack to a convincing five-length tally under a well-judged ride by jockey Victor Lebron. The win was her first in three starts on dirt and first since joining Falcone’s stable earlier this spring.

“I wasn’t too worried when I heard the race was being switched off the turf because she trains really well on dirt, although I was really looking forward to running her on the grass since her last work at Palm Meadows over the turf was as good and as easy as you’d want, five furlongs in 1:01 even with the dogs so far out,” said Falcone. “I expected her to run well and thought she had a good chance to win. The way she exploded down the stretch and did it so easily makes it a little extra special. And Victor put up a great ride. Exactly what we were looking for.”

Falcone has a dozen horses stabled at Palm Meadows, including Supercommittee, and 15 more in New York.

“I kept a few horses down here last winter after returning from California and wanted to have an even larger presence this summer,” Falcone said. “I have a mix of Florida-breds, some horses we claimed here, and some others that owners left behind when everyone went back to New York.”

Falcone said he’s uncertain what will be next for Supercommittee.

“I’ll talk to the owners and we’ll weigh all our options,” said Falcone. “I don’t think there’s much coming up here for Florida-breds so there is a chance she could head up north this summer.”

◗ Nominations for the Summit of Speed card on the 29th closed Sunday. Among the top names on the list for the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Stakes is Stormy Embrace, who won the race a year ago by six lengths for trainer Kathleen O’Connell. Stormy Embrace turned in her first work since capturing the Musical Romance in similarly one-sided fashion on May 18. She breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:03.40 over a sloppy track Sunday at Gulfstream Park West.

◗ The Rainbow 6 carryover will be over $2.54 million when racing resumes Thursday with a 10-race card topped by a $47,000 optional-claiming event scheduled for a mile on the turf. The headliner lured a full field of 11 statebred fillies and mares led by Lovely Luvy, who missed by a nose under similar conditions in her previous start.