HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dirt races have been few and far between during much of the 2024-25 Championship meet. But that will not be the case Sunday, with half of the 10-race program to be contested over the main track, including both $96,000 allowance co-features and a maiden special weight dash for older horses highlighted by the much-awaited return of the promising Victory Avenue. The afternoon’s eighth race is a first-level allowance/optional claimer going seven furlongs for fillies and mares that lured a field of 10. Trainer Bill Mott’s multiple graded stakes-placed Big Pond is likely to go postward the heavy favorite despite having been idle since finishing far back in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses late last spring at Aqueduct. Big Pond began her career with trainer Tim Yakteen in California, where she finished second, beaten a nose, in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita in her 3-year-old finale. She was transferred to Mott’s barn the following spring and was an immediate hit when second best again, beaten less a length by Leave No Trace, as the even-money favorite in the Grade 3 Vagrancy. However, she would start just once more, in the Bed o’ Roses, before being sent to the sidelines for an extended vacation. Big Pond has worked steadily and forwardly for her return this winter at Payson Park, posting three consecutive bullet works in preparation for her comeback. She will race without blinkers for the first time Sunday and is one of two fillies Mott entered in the race along with Come as You Are. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day. Leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will counter the Mott pair with a duo of his own, Wailua and Stormy Mitole. Wailua has captured 3 of 6 starts but finished a non-threatening fifth competing under similar conditions last month. Stormy Mitole exits a wire-to-wire, 3 1/2-length conditioned claiming victory in her 2024 debut but while earning only a modest 62 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort. Adios Babe figures to garner plenty of mutuel support coming off a pair of second-place finishes, one at Tampa Bay Downs, the second locally in allowance company. She posted a career-high 86 Beyer making her first start for current trainer Carlos Narvaez after chasing Joseph’s speedy 3-2 favorite R Disaster to no avail kicking off her 2025 campaign going six furlongs Jan. 18. Joseph, along with colleagues Todd Pletcher and Amador Sanchez, will take advantage of having a 1 1/16-mile allowance race fill over the main track when sending out two starters apiece in the ninth race. Joseph’s duo is topped by the Grade 1-placed Catalytic, who finished a distant second behind Fierceness almost a year ago in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Catalytic has made two starts since beating just one horse in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. He finished second while beaten a neck in both the Carry Back Stakes here last summer and in an allowance race here to close his 3-year-old campaign as the 8-5 favorite on Dec. 15. Pletcher sends out the lightly raced but promising Born Noble, who makes just his second start off a lengthy hiatus while making his two-turn debut Sunday, and the vastly more experienced Macallan. The latter is a proven router but also has been on an extended vacation having been sidelined since finishing a game second following a race-long pace duel against first-level allowance runners going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct 11 months earlier. Sanchez’s Centrodelantero exits a career-best Beyer effort, earning an 86 for his second-place finish against mid-level starter-allowance runners at six furlongs just 16 days earlier. He figures to be forwardly placed breaking from the rail while his stablemate The Thor must overcome the outside post after a promising U.S. debut, outrunning his 29-1 odds while beaten just a half-length going a flat mile here Jan. 16. Runaway maiden winner Wistucky and Navy Cross complete the field. Victory Avenue returns Victory Avenue returns for the first time since posting a 97 Beyer Speed Figure when finishing second to Pletcher’s Speak Easy in a seven-furlong maiden special weight dash on the 2024 Pegasus undercard. Victory Avenue, who was bet to 3-2 favoritism and contested the pace nearly the entire trip with the ultimate winner, returned to training here late last fall and has worked six times preparing for his return. Trained by Gustavo Delgado Sr., the New York-bred son of Arrogate will be ridden by Javier Castellano. :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. “The horse is doing well, but it’s always hard when they’ve been away that long. You never know what to expect until you put them back out there,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., assistant to his father and also a part owner of Victory Avenue. “He seems more mature and relaxed now that he’s a year older, and regardless of the outcome Sunday, it’s very satisfying to finally have him back again.” The maiden special weight will be run at six furlongs and is the fourth race on the card. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.