It’s not easy to stop on a horse after she gives the best performance for her career the way Off Topic did last September at Belmont Park. But the connections of Off Topic are hoping their patience will result in a big 4-year-old campaign for the daughter of Street Sense, who gets back to the races Friday at Gulfstream Park. Off Topic, trained by Todd Pletcher for Paul Pompa Jr., heads a field of eight entered in a second-level allowance/optional $62,5000 claiming race going a mile, the feature of a nine-race card that begins at 1 p.m. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Off Topic was third in the Coaching Club Oaks and fourth in the Alabama, the two Grade 1 stakes for 3-year-old fillies run last summer at Saratoga. On Sept. 18, she dropped back into allowance company and ran away in the stretch to a good-looking three-length victory going 1 1/16 miles around one turn at Belmont, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. “She’d been in steady training for a while,” Pletcher said. “We felt like she’s the kind of filly that was going to get better as she got older and we made up our minds before that race that we were going to put her away after that. We had some second thoughts after she ran so well, but we decided to stick to our guns and gave her a brief freshening.” Pletcher said the original plan was to run her in a spot similar to this at Aqueduct, but that track’s spring meet has been canceled. Pletcher hopes Off Topic on Friday breaks the way she did at Belmont in her last start. “We just hope she gets away cleanly and can get involved,” said Pletcher, who has Luis Saez named to ride from post 4. “You don’t want to be too far off things the way this track’s playing right now.” Pletcher also has Takecharge Mirella in this spot. She has not raced since last August, when she was fourth in a $32,000 claimer when trained by Kiaran McLaughlin. Like Off Topic, Final Cut is returning from a layoff following her career-best effort, a 3 3/4-length victory in a 1 1/8-mile race around two turns on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. That was the third straight victory for Final Cut after she had lost her first 10 starts. Trainer Vicki Oliver said Final Cut is “a good-sized filly who needed time to fill out and grow up.” Oliver said she’s worried that a one-turn mile “might be a little too short for her, but we got to get started somewhere.” I’ll Take the Cake and W W Fitzy are both in for the optional $62,500 claiming price. I’ll Take the Cake is an 11-time winner, including a victory in the Lady Bird, a starter stakes here Feb. 17. That was her first start since being claimed by Saffie Joseph Jr. She has tactical speed to gain a forward position under Tyler Gaffalione. W W Fitzy won this condition when offered for the tag going six furlongs here Feb. 15. She finished sixth of nine in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes here on March 14. Midnight Soiree, So Cunning, and Bella Ciao complete the field.