Night Prowler up late in Dania Beach

Night Prowler (Leslie Martin/Coglianese Photography) Paul Pompa Jr.’s homebred Night Prowler arrived in time in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Dania Beach at Gulfstream Park, rallying to catch A Lot in deep stretch and register his first stakes victory. The chestnut son of Giant’s Causeway completed 7 1/2 furlongs in 1:30 2/5 over the firm turf. Javier Castellano guided the Chad Brown-trained gelding, who has raced exclusively on grass in four career starts, and Night Prowler paid $7 to win as the 5-2 second choice among 10 three-year-olds. “Thankfully, Javier navigated a really good trip considering his post (No. 9),” Brown said. When the rail is down to zero feet the turns are so tight, and I thought he really did an excellent job to save some ground on both turns, and timed it just right.” Night Prowler settled in ninth early as Kutuzov sped forward and completed the opening quarter-mile in :23 3/5. 9-5 favorite Smokem Kitten was up close forcing the action rounding the first turn and accelerated to take a clear lead along the backstretch, reaching a half-mile in :47 2/5 with a two-length advantage.

“He missed the break a little bit. I saved all the ground around the first
turn,” Castellano said. “I think that’s one of the keys, because if he would
have broken good, he might have been five or six wide on the first turn and it
could have cost me the race. Missing the break was a blessing for us and paid
off. I saved ground around the turn and the way the race developed, he just sat
back tracking the other horses.”

Night Prowler launched a wide move on the far turn turning for home,
advancing to a striking position in fourth turning for home, and continued to
close boldly down the middle of the course through the stretch. A Lot, who raced
up close in fifth during the early stages, seized the lead in midstretch and
looked strong with a sixteenth of a mile remaining, but he could not withstand
the late surge from Night Prowler, who edged away to a half-length decision.

“At the eighth pole, he took off and was very impressive,” Castellano said.

“He likes to have something to run at. He likes to have a little pace in
front of him,” Brown added. “I think he’s about a miler, I think that’s his
distance. We can run him a touch shorter and maybe just a shade longer but I
think a mile will prove to be his best trip.”

A Lot held second at 6-1 by three-quarters of a length and 9-1
Croninthebarbarian rallied belatedly for third. Smokem Kitten wound up fading to
sixth.

The Kentucky-bred winner is the first foal from the multiple graded
stakes-winning mare Mary’s Follies, a daughter of More Than Ready who captured
the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs in 2009.

Night Prowler broke his maiden the second-time out at Belmont Park on October
17. He experienced a rough trip when making his stakes debut in the November 29
Pulpit, traveling extremely wide before closing fast to record a neck third.

“I’m real proud of this horse,” Brown said. “He was real unlucky last time.
We ran two horses in that race and luckily the other barn mate of his won the
race for me. To be fair, this horse actually ran the better race.

“We thought with a cleaner trip against similar competition, he would be the
boss in here.”

With Saturday’s $58,900 payday, Night Prowler nearly doubled his earnings to
$118,375 from a 4-2-0-2 ledger.

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