All Dialed In

     The last-to-first, stakes-record setting performance by Dialed In marked him as a horse to be reckoned with on the Kentucky Derby trail in 2011 after a win in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The three-year-old colt by Mineshaft, a $475,000 Saratoga Select yearling sale, has a Dosage of 3.62 and a Center Distribution of 0.82.

     Owner Robert LaPenta and Trainer Nick Zito are no strangers to the Triple Crown scene, having brought War Pass into the 2008 season as reigning Horse of the Year and the early Derby favorite. They ended up on the sidelines due to an injury, but returned with Da' Tara in the Belmont Stakes in a race that derailed Big Brown's Crown hopes.


     Favorite Mucho Macho Man set the early fractions (23.96, 46.24, 1:10.33) and fought for the lead until giving way at the eighth-pole. Dialed In swung to the outside and kept advancing for 1 1/2-length win to move to a perfect two-for-two on his short, but now black-type laden resume.


     Bred by W.S. Farish, Madeleine Pickens and Skara Glen Stables in Kentucky, Dialed In will most likely make his next start in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream. With $240,000 in graded stakes earnings from this win, LaPenta and Zito have the option of taking Dialed In on a less aggressive path to Churchill Downs.


     Racing fans are still awaiting the 2011 debuts of Uncle Mo, Boys At Toscanova and To Honor and Serve. Horse of the Year Uncle Mo logged his first workout last week with a leisurely 3f leg-stretcher at Palm Meadows in Florida.