Miss Mary Nell Popular Winner of Time Passage Handicap

$60,000 Carotari Handicap Goes to Mattingly in a Romp

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Four weeks after her rally on the turf encountered trouble and came up short, Palm Beach Racing V’s Miss Mary Nell uncorked a clear and steady run through the stretch for a neck victory in Saturday’s $60,000 Time Passage overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The one-mile, 70-yard Time Passage for fillies and mares 3 and up was the first of two $60,000 overnight handicaps on the all-weather Tapeta course followed by the Carotari for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs, won in impressive fashion by Mattingly.

Ridden for the third straight race by jockey Jonathan Ocasio for trainer Carlos David, Miss Mary Nell ($6.40) covered the distance in 1:40.97 for her eighth career win, seventh in 14 tries on the synthetic and third in a stakes.

“We had a plan to try to go to the lead and if somebody else goes then just sit behind them and make one run with her,” Ocasio said. “They tried to outrun me early but she kept fighting the whole time and in the stretch she gave me everything.”

Minty broke alertly from her rail post and set a pace of 23.29 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, with Lets Go Koko not far behind racing in the two path and Simply Striking and Grade 3 winner Candy Quest leading the second flight. Lets Go Koko took the lead away from Minty after a half in 47.02 while Miss Mary Nell found herself between Oshala to her inside and the comebacking Ashima on her outside.

Ocasio maneuvered between horses to gain a challenging position rounding the far turn after six furlongs in 1:11.40 to engage with new leader Candy Quest, dug in on her outside and edged clear in the final 50 yards. Fantasy Performer rallied up the rail to get past Candy Quest by a neck for second, followed by Oshala, Ashima, Lets Go Koko, Simply Striking and Minty.

Bred in Florida by Palm Beach Racing III, Miss Mary Nell pushed her career bankroll over $400,000 with the win. She captured the off-the-turf Ginger Punch at the course and distance by three-quarters of a length Sept. 12, and was beaten two lengths when third in the Daring Kathy overnight handicap going 1 1/16 miles on the grass Oct. 10.

“To be honest she’s been improving pretty good,” Ocasio said. “The first time I rode her she ran a huge race and she won pretty good. She surprised me that day. The next day was a tougher race, but she did great. We had a little traffic but in the end she finished pretty good. We just tried to attach those two races together for this one and she respond pretty well.”

Bred in Florida by Baoma Corp. and trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. for his wife, Laurie, and Karl Glassman, Time Passage made 18 of her 21 lifetime starts at Gulfstream Park. She was first or second 10 times with six wins including four in a row to end her 2023 campaign, a streak that included the Soaring Softly overnight handicap, Miss Gracie and Cellars Shiraz stakes. She was retired in 2024 with $374,302 in purse earnings.

$60,000 Carotari Handicap Goes to Mattingly in a Romp

Ironhorse Racing Stable and Harlow Stables’ 5-year-old multiple stakes winner Mattingly took the lead straightening for home and opened up through the stretch to an eye-catching 4 ¾-length victory in the $60,000 Carotari overnight handicap.

Sent off the narrow 2-1 favorite in a field of eight, Mattingly ($6) ran 5 ½ furlongs over the all-weather Tapeta course in 1:02.33 for his fourth win in six career synthetic starts. Two starts back, he rallied for a neck triumph in the five-furlong Bob Umphrey Sprint Sept. 12 on the Gulfstream synthetic.

“We gelded this horse [in August] and he’s changed, but I needed that breakout race for him and today we got it,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “In these [5 ½-furlong] races, the best horse doesn’t always win and that’s what he’s been plagued with for quite a while. He’s a Florida-bred, we’re here, he loves the Tapeta and he loves the grass. Where we go from here I don’t know, but today was the breakout race I was looking for.”

Jockey Diego Herrera, who won three races on Saturday’s card, positioned Mattingly in the clear three wide in fourth as Esperon led the way through a quarter-mile in 22.05 seconds with Wildncrazynight and Full Disclosure in closest pursuit. Herrera began to move on Mattingly midway around the far turn and the bay son of Bucchero responded with a bold move to take the lead following a 44.73 half. From there, Mattingly turned it into a personal showcase.

Louie the Sun King got up for second, two lengths ahead of Wildncrazynight, with another length back to Full Disclosure in fourth. Diciassette, Takecareofbusiness, Esperon and Wootun completed the order of finish.

“I liked that the speed was on the inside,” Orseno said. “I told [Herrera that] the two outside horses wouldn’t press him so just sit off of them, don’t rush him, see where he wants to lay and just let him kick in, and he did.”

Between 2018 and 2024, Carotari won 11 of 39 starts and $794,698 in purse earnings for owner William Branch. Trained later in his career by Brian Lynch, Carotari won six stakes including back-to-back editions of the Silks Run (2020-21) and 2021 Janus sprinting on the turf at Gulfstream Park, where he compiled four wins, three seconds and a third in 11 career tries.