Jeff Siegel’s “What Your Need to Know”
Gulfstream Park – December 11, 2021

FOURTH RACE –This maiden special weight sprint for juvenile has at least two decent colts that almost certainly will receive the bulk of the play. Second-time starter Positive Review is listed as the 7/5 morning line favorite after producing a favorable impression when missing in a photo in his debut over this track and distance in mid-October. That race produced a better-than-par 70 Beyer speed figure and he’s done some solid a.m. work in a healthy series in the two month interim, so there’s every expectation that the son of Unified will produce a forward move for a barn that has very strong stats with the second-time starter angle. Worth pointing out is that even though ‘Review was worn down late to miss by a neck, he wound up more than 11 lengths clear of the rest and actually galloped out stronger than the winner. He will be hard to beat but is certain to leave at a short price.

We’ve watched and evaluated a couple of November Palm Beach Downs morning drills by the Todd Pletcher firster, Dean’s List, at xbtv.com and have concluded that this is an extremely talented colt, one that could easily win at first asking despite having to face a proven element such as Positive Review. In both workouts, the son of Speightstown was much the best without any need of urging before galloping out strongly and with plenty left. From his cozy outside draw under Luis Saez, the WinStar homebred should have every chance to show his best stuff right off the bat. While both should be included on your ticket, we suspect Dean’s List will leave at a better price and therefore deserves extra play in the win pool and in the various rolling exotics.

SEVENTH RACE – Touch Code probably isn’t a quick type, which explains why trainer Bill Mott has decided to start him off in a one-turn mile, but this son of Honor Code acts like a colt with quality. A half mile workout just three days ago over the local main track (4f, :49b, best of a team) was visually quite pleasing, so although the stable has just average stats with the first-time starter angle this juvenile is a good athlete with fluid action and could easily turn up a live item in a race in which the known element doesn’t particularly impress. With the barn’s “go to” rider Junior Alvarado taking the call, ‘Code is worth a gamble at or near his morning line of 8-1.