Caramel Swirl makes return

Caramel Swirl has a license to develop into a leading older female sprinter, and her journey toward that summit begins in Friday’s second race at Belmont Park.

She will make her 4-year-old debut in the conditioned allowance for fillies and mares over seven furlongs. The race is one of three high-end offerings on the card, which includes a pair of conditioned allowances restricted to New York-breds. They go as the seventh and eighth races on Friday.

Caramel Swirl is part of a field of five that includes fellow stakes winners Letmetakethis-call, Piece of My Heart, and Just Read It. Caramel Swirl closed out her 3-year-old campaign with a victory in the Grade 2 Raven Run on Oct. 23 at Keeneland. She was a head winner over multiple stakes winners Joy’s Rocket and Cilla.

“It was great,” said Bill Mott, who trains Caramel Swirl for her breeder, Godolphin. “She showed a good effort, showed good speed. The fact that she won was the main thing.”

Caramel Swirl earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, equaling the career-high Beyer she was assigned for a July allowance win over older rivals at Saratoga. Both races were run at seven furlongs. The Beyers that Caramel Swirl earned ranked seventh among all numbers put up by 3-year-old fillies in dirt races up to a mile in distance in 2021.

For her return, Caramel Swirl has been working steadily for Mott. The Hall of Fame horseman wins at a strong 24 percent clip with runners coming off layoffs of more than 180 days. Mott is looking forward to getting Caramel Swirl back in action Friday.

“I just need to get her started,” he said. “She was doing well at the end of the season last year, needed a little time, and I just hope she regains some of that form. Hopefully, we get her started back on the right track.”

Caramel Swirl, a daughter of Union Rags, has registered all three of her career victories at seven furlongs. Her other win came in a maiden special weight in April 2021 at Keeneland. Caramel Swirl has made one start at Belmont Park, finishing second in a maiden special weight in her debut in October 2020. The seven-furlong race was won by eventual champion Malathaat.

Caramel Swirl on Friday will break from the rail under Jose Lezcano.

“I’d say sprinting she has tactical speed, I suppose,” Mott said. “She certainly doesn’t have to be on the lead.”

Caramel Swirl could get an ideal trip behind Letmetake-thiscall and Dealing Justice, both of whom are moving to seven furlongs off pacesetting efforts at six furlongs. Letme-takethiscall, who is looking for career win No. 14, registered her most significant win in the Xtra Heat Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs in March 2021 at Aqueduct. She will break from post 2, while Dealing Justice is set to start from post 3.

◗ In the eighth race for 3-yearolds and up over 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf, leading contenders Ruse and Hush of a Storm meet a capable comebacker in Graded On a Curve.