Tweet Away Robin back in the mix

Initially, owner Robert Bone’s claim of Tweet Away Robin looked to be a home run. Not only did she win by 18 1/4 lengths the day Bone and trainer Fernando Abreu claimed her for $25,000 but shortly thereafter he sold half-interest in the 3-year-old Khozan filly to Mike Dubb and Mike Caruso’s Bethlehem Stable.

That’s where the good news ends. It has taken four months, but Tweet Away Robin finally makes it back to the races Friday in a starter/optionalclaiming race scheduled for five furlongs on the turf that serves as Gulfstream Park’s featured event on a 10-race card.

Tweet Away Robin’s openlengths victory on dirt on Jan. 24 came in a five-horse field where two of the horses were involved in a spill down the backside. The two remaining runners have gone a combined 0 for 6 since.

After the sale – in which Dubb assumed controlling interest – Tweet Away Robin was transferred to Jason Servis. In March, Servis was arrested and charged by federal authorities with allegedly administering illegal drugs to horses. That resulted in horses in Servis’s care having to be moved to other trainers, and there was a series of protocols they had to pass in order to run again. Tweet Away Robin is now with Mike Maker.

“In the end, a poor decision to sell because I think I could have run her four times on my own by now,” Bone, who earlier this year won his 1,000th race as an owner, said Wednesday.

Even acknowledging that her last race may have been a bit of an aberration, Bone says he’s excited to watch Tweet Away Robin run, given her previous performance and a series of strong workouts at Palm Meadows.

“With these kind you just don’t know, do you have a stakes horse or do you have a 25-claimer?” Bone said. “You really don’t know until you put them up against a different type of field.”

Dubb may have been interested in Tweet Away Robin because he had success when he claimed Muggsamatic, a half-brother to Brown Eyed Sue, the dam of Tweet Away Robin, for $25,000 last summer. Muggsamatic won the Claiming Crown Emerald and finished second in two other turf stakes.

Tweet Away Robin will break from post 6 under Paco Lopez.

Trainer Jose D’Angelo, who is 3 for 8 to start the Gulfstream spring/summer meet, would have contenders in this spot regardless of which surface it is run on. On turf, he sends out Swirling Candy, a daughter of Twirling Candy, whom he claimed for $20,000 out of a winning effort on April 5. D’Angelo is adding blinkers to the filly’s equipment.

“When I saw the filly gallop she was not very focused,” D’Angelo said. “When I put the blinkers on, she changed, very focused.

“I think she has a great chance to win the race,” D’Angelo added. “I think she’s the fastest horse in the race.”

On dirt, D’Angelo would run Bibiana, whom he claimed for $16,000 out of a 5 1/4-length win April 2.

All three of D’Angelo’s winners at the meet have come with horses making their first start for him, including Flora Fantasy, who won first off the claim.

Irad Ortiz Jr. is named to ride whichever filly D’Angelo runs.