HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Brad Cox’s decision to keep a division of his powerful stable at Payson Park during the winter for the first time this season has already proven to be a big success. It could pay additional dividends Thursday at Gulfstream Park when he sends out Dazzling Blue as the favorite and horse to beat in the eighth race, a high-priced optional-claiming/allowance race for fillies and mares going six furlongs on the main track. Last week, Cox won a pair of maiden special weight races, one at Fair Grounds and a second at Gulfstream, with a pair of very promising 2-year-olds, Gunmetal and Tappan Street, who had prepped for their debuts as workmates since the middle of November at Payson Park. Gunmetal earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure winning at first asking last Thursday in New Orleans, while Tappan Street posted an 84 Beyer after edging away to a workmanlike 1 3/4-length victory in his debut here Saturday. Dazzling Blue, likewise, has been working on a regular basis at the popular training center about 90 miles north of Gulfstream Park that also is the winter home for such prominent barns as Chad Brown, Christophe Clement, Bill Mott, and Shug McGaughey, to name just a few. Dazzling Blue has been preparing for her first start since her abbreviated 2024 campaign ended with a disappointing third as the 3-5 favorite in a June 16 allowance at Churchill Downs. :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now.  Dazzling Blue is certainly the class of the field in the headliner, having been graded stakes-placed four times in just nine career starts. The 5-year-old mare’s company lines include graded stakes performers Clearly Unhinged, Zeitlos, Vahva, Alva Starr, and Maple Leaf Mel. Dazzling Blue will take on just five rivals in her return, a group led by the recently stakes-placed Autumn Evening for trainer Todd Pletcher and the Jorge Delgado-trained duo of Unsolved Mystery and Pacific Rose. Autumn Evening contested the early pace with ultimate winner Kant Hurry Love before finishing third in the six-furlong Garland of Roses on Dec. 8 at Aqueduct, a solid effort that came on the heels of a game allowance win going a mile over the same course four weeks earlier. Unsolved Mystery was beaten a length by her Grade 2-winning stablemate Olivia Darling when second while posting a career-best 86 Beyer under similar conditions here last month. Pacific Rose has captured 2 of 4 starts since joining Delgado’s barn during the spring and will get some class relief after finishing a distant fifth in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom on Sept. 29 at Aqueduct. Cox stocked with sophomores Cox is obviously very high on both Tappan Street and Gunmetal, both of whom will continue to winter at Payson Park exiting their maiden wins. “They are both really nice colts and along with Patch Adams gives us an exciting trio of 3-year-olds coming into the New Year,” Cox said. Tappan Street, a son of Into Mischief, was purchased for $1 million as a yearling in 2023. He ran on gamely to win at first asking after appearing to be in trouble on the final turn of the seven-furlong maiden special weight dash here Saturday. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “On the turn, I was a bit concerned, [Tyler Gaffalione] was already starting to ride him,” Cox noted. “And he was also a little bit sluggish switching over to the right lead. So under the circumstances, I was very excited about what he was able to get done. And I think he showed us, considering the way he had to be asked to do what he did, that two turns is what he really wants. The other colt [Gunmetal], we’ll let him tell us if that’s the case.” Cox started out with 30 horses at Payson Park during the fall but has already increased that number to 50 heading into 2025. “I really like it up there, it seems like a really good surface,” Cox said of Payson Park. “We haven’t had a lot of runs out of there, but everything we have run has shown up. The dirt horses anyway. It was a little bit of an unknown when we first came in, but it’s been great and certainly well received up to this point.” The first major 3-year-old test of the Gulfstream Championship meet, the one-mile Mucho Macho Man, is on tap Saturday, having drawn a well-matched field of nine led by trainer Chad Brown’s recently acquired and undefeated Septarian; the versatile multiple stakes winner Naughty Rascal; up-and-coming Cool Intentions; and recent maiden winners Guns Loaded and Treaty of Rome. The Mucho Macho Man is the feature event on a card that concludes with the $165,000 Ginger Brew for 3-year-old fillies on the grass. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.