Palm Beach

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

DUKE OF HOMBERG (GB) (Dynaformer) and LIME RICKEY (Lemon Drop Kid), the
one-two finishers in the February 14 Hallandale Beach S., will renew their
rivalry in Saturday’s $150,000 Palm Beach S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park, and we’ll
give the advantage to the latter.

Trained by Frank Alexander, Lime Rickey has recorded two good runner-up
finishes this meet, missing by only a half-length in the Dania Beach S. two
starts back, and the bay colt has posted a pair of five-furlong works in the 28
days since his last outing. He needed five starts to break his maiden, but Lime
Rickey has improved steadily since then and looks
very capable of grabbing his first stakes win over a turf course he favors.
Cornelio Velasquez will pick up the mount on the stalker.

Duke of Homberg profited from being up on the steady pace in the Hallandale
Beach. If a similarly forward trip is envisioned Saturday, the Tom Albertrani
pupil will likely have more company through a faster early pace, and that
different scenario could work to his disadvantage. Chris DeCarlo picks up the
mount on Duke of Homberg, who is still a must-use in the exotics.

EL CRESPO (A.P. Indy) hails from a classy female family and broke his maiden
on the sod two starts back for Rusty Arnold. We won’t hold his last effort, a
ninth in the Holy Bull S. (G3), against him, and we expect to see much better in
his turf return. He’s earned promising BRIS numbers so far, and El Crespo looms
as an upset candidate in his second stakes appearance.

STORMALORY (Storm Cat) enters off an encouraging allowance score in his turf
debut. Trained by Bill Mott, the well-bred sophomore switched to turf after
opening his three-year-old season with a poor showing on dirt, and he rallied
strongly through the stretch to win last time, netting a 96 BRIS Late Pace
rating for the 1 3/4-length decision. We give him a fine chance at a minor
award.

CASEY’S ON CALL (Gimmeawink) dropped into a $75,000 claimer when making his
2009 debut and rolled to a 4 1/2-length decision in the six-furlong event on
the main track. He switches from Wesley Ward to John Alec Fehr’s barn off the
claim and will make his turf debut on Saturday. The bay colt owns some turf
breeding and appears to be doing well presently, so we can’t dismiss him from
exotics consideration, but we’re inclined to just watch his first attempt.

BEACON HILL ROAD (Forestry) just missed when third in the Dania Beach two
starts back and suffered traffic issues when fourth in the Hallandale Beach last time.
The Jason Servis trainee will stretch out to nine furlongs for the first time,
and we’ll take a stand against him at the longer distance. SWEETLANDOFLIBERTY (Anasheed)
was no factor in his last two attempts versus stakes rivals and is difficult to
recommend based upon his form.