With surface switch, Nicks and Baxter could hold an edge

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of optional claiming and allowance races worth $47,000 apiece highlight Friday’s nine-race program, although both are carded for the grass and therefore will be at the mercy of the weather, which does not look promising in the coming days as far as the turf course is concerned.

Two trainers with the foresight to enter horses for the main track-only, Ralph Nicks and Georgina Baxter, might find themselves well spotted in their respective races on Friday. This holds especially for Baxter, who’ll send out Trev as a heavy favorite, if he goes, in the afternoon’s eighth event, scheduled to be run at five furlongs on the grass.

Baxter is looking for history to repeat itself on Friday after sending out Trev to a popular and relatively easy two-length victory under similar conditions in a race switched from the turf to a sloppy main track on May 10. Trev prompted the pace from the outset, got to the lead on the final turn and gradually increased his advantage while wisely kept out in the better footing near the middle of the track that day. The win was the fifth in a row and 15th in 41 lifetime starts for the 10-year-old Trev, who just keeps getting better with age, and who is unbeaten since February of 2019.

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Should the race manage to go as scheduled on turf, What’s Inside could be the one to beat under the optional-claiming condition of the race, going postward under a $25,000 price tag in quest of his third win of the season. What’s Inside will be getting considerable class relief in this spot after chasing home the red-hot turf sprinter Tiger Blood in each of his last two starts.

Nicks will saddle the undefeated Grainger County should the sixth race, scheduled to be run at one mile for Florida-breds, be switched to the main track. Grainger County won his only previous start, surviving an early speed duel to register a 1 1/4-length decision debuting at six furlongs against statebreds here on May 7.

Grainger County will not be the stickout Trev figures to be if the co-feature is run on dirt with Azrael and Rhythmia in the lineup, both of whom having shown promise over the main track.

Azrael will feature a couple of noteworthy changes on Friday, adding blinkers for the occasion while having been transferred from Chad Brown to trainer Larry Rivelli’s barn since his previous start. Azrael won his turf debut against open maiden company earlier in the meet. He also finished second behind well-backed first-time starter Off the Record over a sloppy track going seven furlongs last summer at Saratoga.