West Coast Cowboy starts over

West Coast Cowboy finished third in the Grade 3 Holy Bull in his stakes and 3-year-old debut this past winter but has been idle since finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 1. He will try to earn his way back into graded stakes company when taking on five rivals, including stablemate Centrodelantero, in the first of two allowance races to be decided Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

West Coast Cowboy outran his odds and then some in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, finishing just three lengths behind Rocket Can at odds of 58-1 after racing forwardly and getting within a length of the leader in early stretch. The performance punched his ticket into the Florida Derby, where he raced forwardly for six furlongs before finishing in midpack, 13 1/4 lengths behind the heavily favored Forte.

West Coast Cowboy has had six works since the Florida Derby, including four furlongs in 48.20 seconds last Sunday at Gulfstream.

“We ran him a little over his head in the Florida Derby, so we gave him a little freshening and this looks like a good place to bring him back,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “Hopefully, he’ll win this race and we can start looking at some of the smaller derbies around the country during the second half of the season. But he’s still going to need to improve a little bit to compete in those kind of races.”

Sunday’s main event will mark the first opportunity for Joseph to run West Coast Cowboy on Lasix. He was not permitted to use the medication in 2-year-old races last season or in either of his stakes starts this year.

Centrodelantero began his career in Peru, winning 2 of 5 starts while finishing second in a Group 1 stakes. He joined Joseph’s barn earlier this year and made his U.S. debut going a mile under allowance conditions May 11. He turned in an even effort while never a serious factor and was beaten nine lengths by the Belmont Stakesbound Il Miracolo.

“He was slow early on and never really got into the race the first time we ran him,” Joseph said. “He needs to show a little more speed this time. We’re just hoping he’ll be able to build on that first start here and move forward off the race.”

The Joseph-trained 3-yearolds will likely get their stiffest test from a former stablemate, Knox, who was transferred to trainer Juan Alvarado’s barn following his eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on April 8. Knox, who has had all three of his works since the Wood on the Ocala farm of his breeder, Arindel Stable, was stakesplaced at 2 but is winless in six tries since winning his maiden at first asking over a sloppy track here a year ago.

Midnight Trouble, Wine Empire, who will race in blinkers for the first time, and the improving Big Data complete the field.

◗ The multiple stakeswinning Florida-bred Noble Drama is a perfect fit for the conditions of the ninth race and meets the criteria of not having won a race since Dec. 4. Noble Drama’s most recent victory came just three weeks before that cutoff point in a similarly conditioned allowance race, also at a mile. He rallied from last to win that Nov. 12 race.

Stretch-running Noble Drama will be among the favorites in a field that also includes Cajun’s Magic, winless since capturing the Dr. Fager Stakes as a 2-year-old during the summer of 2021, plus Candy Tycoon and Laughing Boy, who dons blinkers and could hold a pace edge with the equipment change.