Two Seven O powers to Dade Park Dash Stakes victory

Two Seven O turned Ellis Park’s Dade Park Dash Stakes into a clean declaration on July 4, winning the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint by two lengths and extending his streak to five straight victories. The Dialed In gelding covered the firm turf in 1:01.03, held off 4/6 favorite Trouble Calling, and left Reb Five 1 1/4 lengths farther back in third.

That matters because this was not a cheap spot or a lucky collapse. Capovivo carved out the early pace in :21.18 and :43.82, and Two Seven O still finished with enough punch to separate in a race for 3-year-olds that carried a $175,000 purse at Ellis Park Racing & Gaming in Henderson, Kentucky. Equibase listed the winner at $12.28, while the race chart also showed exacta and trifecta payouts that reflected the upset of the market leader.

Francisco Arrieta rode the winner for trainer David Fawkes, whose name still carries weight in sprint circles because of Big Drama’s 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Aaron Haberman, Victoria Haberman and First Rodeo Racing got the payoff from a horse that has kept moving forward every time they have asked more of him. The Dade Park Dash was his fifth consecutive victory and his second stakes win, coming after the Bachelor Stakes on May 1 at Oaklawn Park, where he won a 6-furlong dirt race in 1:09.08.

That last detail is the one that changes the conversation. Two Seven O is not just a turf-sprint specialist on a hot run; he has now won stakes on dirt and turf, and he has done it without needing one perfect setup. He can sit off the pace, as he did here, or apply pressure and keep going. That kind of versatility is what makes a 3-year-old dangerous in midsummer, when the division starts to separate into horses who can merely fire and horses who can keep winning when the class rises.

His Equibase record now shows five wins from seven starts, with his earnings climbing sharply as he moved into stakes company. The Dade Park Dash also came on a course whose record, 59.75, stayed untouched, which is another clue that this was a professional stakes win rather than a wild speed-fueled outlier. Two Seven O looks like a horse who belongs in the summer turf-sprint conversation now, and the next graded sprint test on grass would tell whether he is simply in sharp form or genuinely joining the top tier.