HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park Championship meet is in full swing heading into the second month of the season with the quality of the racing beginning to improve on a daily basis. A case in point is Friday’s 10-race card that features a pair of allowance races, one for up-and-coming 3-year-olds around two turns on the main track that could produce a candidate or two for upcoming races on the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby trails along with a five-furlong dash on turf highlighted by the return of three-time stakes winner Carotari. A field of six 3-year-olds, four of whom won their maidens in their juvenile finales, will contest the seventh race at 1 1/16 miles. The group includes likely favorite Change of Command, who is coming off a sensational local debut when graduating by 6 1/2 lengths as a prohibitive favorite going seven furlongs here Dec. 17. The effort came seven weeks after the son of Into Mischief, a $1 million yearling purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September sale, finished second behind Sierra Leone, who flattered the race when beaten a nose by Dornoch in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct in his next start. “I think he’s maturing a lot as we go along. I was impressed with him the other day [in his maiden win], but I still think he’s got a ways to go to reach where he needs to be,” trainer Shug McGaughey told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening following his victory. “He’s going that way. He’s grown a lot, which I like seeing.” :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports Change of Command figures to be part of the early pace while stretching out from seven furlongs, along with the Todd Pletcher-trained Cardinale, who rallied from off the pace to a popular victory at six furlongs in his only previous start here Nov. 18. The added distance will be a key question for the son of Speightstown, who did hold his own with Grade 2 turf stakes winner Agate Road in his most recent work last weekend at Palm Beach Downs. Raguel, a game winner after contesting all the pace of a maiden special weight race switched from turf to dirt and run at 1 1/8 miles at Churchill Downs, also figures forwardly placed and a major player, as does Real Macho and Chisparrajos, both of whom will be trying two turns for the first time. Longshot Orb Alpha completes the lineup. Carotari will launch his 8-year-old campaign in the eighth race while making his first start since finishing third in the Van Clief Stakes on July 22 at Colonial Downs. The multiple stakes winner is eligible for the condition by virtue of the fact he has not won a race since capturing the Laurel Dash at Pimlico in September 2022. Carotari is certainly no stranger to local fans, having won four of his eight starts over the Gulfstream Park turf course while finishing second in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint and third in the Silks Run here last winter. Those looking to upset the likely favorite will have many options, including the multiple graded stakes-placed Run Curtis Run, hard-knocking Axthelm, and the idled turf stakes winner Oxymore, along with potential longshots Crispy Cat and Angel Glory. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.