Dance to My Song in first stakes try

Dance to My Song established himself as one of the fastest 2-year-olds in the Southwest region in June, and he makes his first start since that flashy debut win Wednesday night in the $65,000 My Dandy division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Retama Park near San Antonio.

The six-furlong race restricted to the offspring of eligible stallions shares a card with the $65,000 Darby’s Daughter division of the Texas Stallion Stakes. The Darby’s Daughter drew seven fillies, including Cowgirls Like Us, a full sister to last year’s winner, Howboutthiscowgirl; and Silver Moon Rising, the probable favorite off a stakes placing last out at Lone Star Park.

Dance to My Song, who faces five others including Texas Thoroughbred Futurity runner-up E Rated, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 71 when he won a maiden special weight June 10 at Lone Star Park. The number remains the highest put up by a 2-year-old colt or gelding in races run in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico so far in 2018.

“He’s doing real good,” trainer George Bryant said Monday. “I’ve got him down here now in San Antonio, galloped him this morning. He’s ready to run.”

Bryant and owner HDT Allied Management have long targeted the My Dandy with Dance to My Song, electing to skip a division of the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity on July 15 at his Lone Star base.

“We decided to pass and let him mature a little bit there,” Bryant said of the colt, who stands 17 hands tall and is pushing 1,200 pounds. “Physically – and mentally – he just keeps growing.”

Dance to My Song, a son of My Golden Song and the multiple stakes-winning mare Daphne Angela, rallied from just off the pace for a length win in his debut, covering five furlongs in 58.71 seconds.

“He got away pretty decent for a big horse,” Bryant said. “Down the backside he was two, twoand-a-half lengths off the pace, and he took the dirt good – that old dirt was hitting him in the face. He did everything right.

“I think the distance is going to help, the six furlongs. It seems like the further the better for him. I think he’ll really like that three-quarters of a mile.”

Since the win, Dance to My Song has seen two horses he defeated return in their next starts to win maiden special weight races. One of them, The Gray Dehere, also won the $65,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile at Prairie Meadows by more than 14 lengths in July.

Dance to My Song will break from post 5 under Lindey Wade.