Sienna Farms LLC’s Dewey Square worked five furlongs in
1:00 4/5 over Gulfstream Park’s firm turf course Sunday morning and Lothenbach
Stable’s Bambazonki was timed in 1:01 for the same distance as both promising
three-year-old prospects tune-up to meet next Sunday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Palm Beach
Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on turf.
“He’s breezed on turf several times now and I’m pretty
confident he likes it,” said trainer Dale Romans of Dewey Square, who will make
his turf debut in the Palm Beach. “He’s not off the ‘Derby Trail.’ If things go
well in the Palm Beach we’ll run in the (Grade 1) Blue Grass at Keeneland (on
April 13).”
A Kentucky homebred son of Bernardini, Dewey Square came to
Gulfstream this winter with expectations as a Kentucky Derby prospect
after three starts as a two-year-old. After winning his debut at Hoosier Park in
September by 11 3/4 lengths, he took an allowance at Churchill Downs in late
October by four lengths and finished a good third in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at
Churchill on November 24, beaten 1 1/2 lengths.
However, Dewey Square threw in a bad race in his three-year-old
debut when finishing a distant seventh behind Itsmyluckyday in the Grade 3 Holy
Bull on January 20, a performance that got Romans to change his
plans while not losing confidence that he was a good colt and still a potential
Derby prospect.
Bambazonki is already a proven stakes-class performer on
turf for trainer Chris Block, breaking his maiden over Arlington Park’s turf in September after a runner-up debut on
that venue’s Polytrack. The son of Hard
Spun came to win a Keeneland allowance on turf and finished a game second by a
half-length behind odds-on favorite Charming Kitten in the Kittens Joy
over the Gulfstream course on January 20.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Kentucky homebred Charming Kitten, a
son of Kitten’s Joy, won the race named for his sire for trainer Todd Pletcher
after losing a nose decision as the favorite in the Dania Beach over the course on December 15. He will likely be the favorite again in Sunday’s
Palm Beach.
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