Supercommittee starts for new barn

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While owner Ralph Evans decides on Diversify’s next trainer, the dispersal of the Rick Violette stable continues. Even as that process concludes, Violette’s many friends and admirers will continue to feel a twinge of sadness when spotting his name in past performances following his death last fall at age 65.

One former Violette trainee has surfaced in the nominal Thursday feature at Gulfstream Park, a $44,000, first-level allowance for Florida-bred fillies and mares. Supercommittee, whose lone victory came in late August over the Saratoga turf, figures as a major contender when making her first start since Klaravich Stables transferred her into the care of Chad Brown following Violette’s passing.

A 4-year-old filly by The Factor, Supercommittee has breezed seven times at the Palm Meadows training center since Brown sent her south from New York in late November. She’ll have Javier Castellano aboard when breaking from post 8 in a one-mile turf race carded as the fourth of 10 Thursday races.

“She’s been training steadily,” Brown said. “The mile seems like the right distance for her.”

Although a non-factor in two races following her maiden triumph, Supercommittee gets a sizable class break with this move into restricted company and should be a solid wagering choice in a field that will be no larger than eight. In all, nine are entered, but with ideal weather forecast throughout the week, Galileo’s Affair most likely will be scratched as a main track-only entrant.

If Supercommittee unexpectedly fails, this race could go to Reagan’s Odyssey or Anabella Queen, the respective secondand fourth-place finishers in a race run under these same conditions last month.

As for Diversify, the star New York-bred who is less than $11,000 away from the $2 million milestone in career earnings, he remains turned out in upstate New York while Evans mulls his choices for a new conditioner. The speedy 6-year-old gelding counts the 2017 Jockey Club Gold Cup, the 2018 Suburban, and the 2018 Whitney among his 10 wins from 16 career starts.

The Thursday card begins at 12:35 p.m. Eastern and has the 20-cent Rainbow 6 spanning races 5 through 10. It’s part of a six-day race week that ends with a special Monday card being offered because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.