Ocala Dream Seeks Second NYSSS Victory in Cab Calloway

Thomas Albrecht, Vincent Fusaro, and James Klein's Ocala Dream  will try an extra eighth of a mile when targeting a second career stakes win in the $150,000 Cab Calloway division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series for 3-year-olds going one mile over the inner turf July 28 at Saratoga Race Course.

Ocala Dream arrives in the Cab Calloway off a victory in the NYSSS Spectacular Bid June 19 at Belmont Park going seven furlongs on the turf. The son of the late Effinex settled comfortably in third down the backstretch before angling out a path and establishing command in upper stretch to win by one length.

The Spectacular Bid followed a maiden special weight victory May 23 at 1 1/16 miles over Belmont's Widener Turf. In the maiden win he broke sharp, was taken back to third along the rail, and collared the pacesetter in the final furlong to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

After making his debut on the main track last June at Belmont, Ocala Dream moved to the grass and faced open company—finishing a good fourth to subsequent stakes-placed Zippy Baby  at 58-1 odds last July at Saratoga. He emerged off a nine-month layoff in April when third against his New York-bred counterparts at Belmont before breaking his maiden.

"He's always been a colt that we've thought a lot of," said trainer Tom Morley. "He ran extremely well in his second start last year going long on the turf in an open company maiden. He picked up a bit of a knock training for a maiden at the end of the meet, so being state-bred and a grass horse we put him away for the winter and brought him back earlier this year."

Morley said Ocala Dream was more poised second time off the layoff.

"I'm not big on tuning these horses up to win first time off the bench so I was pleased to see him finish third," Morley said. "He was very, very good in his maiden victory. I was a little concerned about cutting back to seven-eighths at Belmont, but (jockey) Junior (Alvarado) gave me all the confidence in the world that the horse would put himself in a good position and seven furlongs wouldn't be a problem."

Ocala Dream will see two turns for the first time since running at Saratoga last year.

"The nice thing about Wednesday is that we've already gone two turns and he's run well here going two turns before," Morley said. "He's a very cool customer. He'll put himself in a good position."

Alvarado, who has piloted Ocala Dream to both lifetime victories, retains the mount from post 4.

Trainer Barclay Tagg sends out Step Dancer , who bested open company in the Awad Stakes in October at Belmont. Owned by Hayward Pressman, Donna Pressman, and Diamond M Stable, the son of War Dancer   was a late-closing second in the Spectacular Bid last out after finishing a close third beaten a neck in a New York-bred allowance optional claimer May 13 at Belmont.

Step Dancer was a 24-1 winner on debut over Saratoga's Mellon Turf Course last September going 1 1/16 miles before finishing third in the Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) in October at Belmont. Jockey Dylan Davis has never finished off the board when riding Step Dancer and will retain the mount for Wednesday's engagement from post 6.

"He's a young horse and he's still learning a little bit," Tagg said. "Dylan rides him perfectly. He likes him and gets along with him and the owner likes him."