Rolando Rodriguez is disappointed his Florida-bred horse Finallymadeit wasn’t invited to Dubai for the running of the Dubai World Cup (G1) later this month, despite finishing a close second to Dubai-bound Albertus Maximus in the Donn Handicap (G1), but for now his attention is fixed on his horse’s chances in today’s $300,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2).

Not surprisingly, Rodriguez, who races under the Rolbea Thoroughbred Racing moniker, thinks his horse will win. More often than not, however, the 5-year-old son of Concerto comes up with strong performances.

“He’s ready. He’s been training better than he’s ever trained. If he switches leads in this race, which sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t, no one will beat him,” he said.

“There’s a lot of speed in this race. Two of the faster ones are Cool Coal Man and Formidable. I think they will challenge each other early and will burn out by the end. Finallymadeit breaks from the sixth position, so if he can stay out of the early battle for the lead and angle in, he’ll have a good shot at the end,” he said.

As he speaks, his thoughts go back to Dubai and what he thinks was a slight toward his horse.

“Albertus Maximus’s owners didn’t want any piece of my little guy going against him again. I want a rematch with Albertus Maximus, Dubai should have been the place for that, but we can do it anyplace else,” Rodriguez said.

Finallymadeit, ran in the Donn on Jan. 31 on only a weeks rest after the Sunshine Millions Classic. He came within a half length of beating heavy favorite Albertus Maximus. 

“My shorty deserves to try him again on a couple of weeks rest,” he said.

The horse, which is out of the Gold Alert mare Gold for My Gal, finished well behind the pack in his last start in the Mac Diarmida (G2) on Feb. 21, but that race was an experiment to see if the horse would take to the turf.

“I told the jockey if he wasn’t going to win not to push him. He started fine, but he wasn’t taking to it so the jockey didn’t press him. I didn’t want him to be used up, he has such heart that if you let him he’ll give it his all and I didn’t want him to do that in that race,” Rodriguez said.

In addition to his runner-up win in the Donn, Finallymadeit won the Fred Hooper Handicap (G3) and the Carl G. Rose Classic Handicap both at Calder Race Course. He has also won eight other stakes races in his career and stands at career earnings of $811,265.

The race also features recent Richter Scale (G2) winner and fellow Florida-bred How’s Your Halo.

The 6-year-old son of Halo’s Image, out of the Little Current mare, Say How You Feel, is owned and trained by Brian Prichard. The horse was bred by White Cross Farm and has earned just under a half million dollars in his career.

He will step up in distance for the mile-long race. He hasn’t raced over seven furlongs since late 2007 when he finished last in the mile and a sixteenth Spend a Buck Handicap (G3). He did break his maiden at a mile back in December 2005 and did well in his two other attempts at the distance in early 2006.

Last year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Smooth Air and his trainer Bennie Stutts are hoping to build on his last start in the mile-long Tallahassee Stakes on Feb. 7. Despite the race being on turf, he finished a close second to Vanquisher. The 4-year-old son of Smooth Jazz is out of the French Deputy mare Air France. The Florida-bred colt was bred by Mount Joy Stables, which also races him.

Smooth Air won the Hutcheson Stakes (G2) last year at Gulfstream and finished second in the Florida Derby (G1) behind last year’s sensation Big Brown. He also won the Ohio Derby (G2) in May.

Also in the running is French-bred Bribon, who won his last start, a mile-long $100,000 optional claiming race at Gulfstream, by more than six lengths on Feb. 12. He scored a Beyer Speed Figure of 106. 

Cool Coal Man comes into the race in similar fashion, winning a 6 ½ length $100,000 optional claiming race on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream. He scored a Beyer of 107 in that effort.

Formidable has been just that in his last two starts. The 4-year-old broke his maiden by 4 ½ lengths in January and followed that up with an allowance win in February. Both wins were at Gulfstream. He is jumping to graded stakes company in this race.