Night Prowler Sneaks Away in Dania Beach

Narrowly beaten following a troubled trip in his previous race, Night Prowler didn’t get off to the best of starts in his return on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The poor break turned into a fortunate one for the 3-year-old gelding, who rallied for a half-length victory over A Lot in the $100,000 Dania Beach (G3), a 7 ½-furlong sprint for sophomores on the grass.

A Paul Pompa homebred trained by Chad Brown, Night Prowler ($7) got a perfect trip under three-time defending Championship meet leading rider Javier Castellano, hitting the wire in 1:30.43 over the firm turf course.

“He missed the break a little bit and I saved all the ground on 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 it paid off.”

Breaking from post 9 in the 10-horse field, Night Prowler found himself near the back of the pack along the rail approaching the clubhouse turn and heading into the backstretch as long shot Kutuzov took the group through a quarter-mile in 23.60 seconds.

Smokem Kitten, the 9-5 favorite and one of three horses bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, took the first turn wide but was in front after a half in 47.59, yielding the lead to A Lot at the top of the stretch. Castellano, who had tucked in behind horses, swung wide to challenge A Lot and pulled clear in the final eighth of a mile.

“I’m really proud of his horse,” winning trainer Chad Brown said. Last time out, Night Prowler didn’t get running until late after being stuck behind horses and ran third, beaten a head by Chief Kitten, in the one-mile Pulpit Stakes on November 29 at Gulfstream Park West.

“He was real unlucky last time,” Brown said. “We ran two horses in that race and luckily the other barnmate of his won the race for me. To be fair, this horse actually ran the better race. It was a nightmare of a trip, just in traffic and really wide and didn’t go his way. He was really lucky to be third that day. We thought with a cleaner trip against similar competition, he would be the boss in here.

“Thankfully, Javier navigated a really good trip considering his post,” he added. “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.”

In winning his graded stakes debut, Night Prowler improved to 2-0 under Castellano who picked up his fifth stakes victory of the Championship Meet.

“[The distance] was a concern, along with the tight turns and the difficult post, given that he was going to have to give up some position early if he wanted to save some ground, take him back and tuck him in, and that’s what he did,” Brown said. “He was able to make up that position that he lost in the final moments of the race.”

Source: Gulfstream Park Communications