BY BROCK SHERIDAN

Jockey Jonathan Ocasio took Diciassette off the rail coming out of the turn, then jumped to the left of leader Wine Candy passing the eighth pole before shooting to the front using an inside trip to win the $75,000 Proud Man by a length at Gulfstream Park Saturday. 

Breaking from post two among the eight 2-year-olds in the six-furlong test, Diciassette raced in fourth on the rail early as Street Player jumped out to a length-and-a-half advantage on Copernium in second. Ocasio placed Diciassette into a joint second to the inside of a three-wide Florida-bred Wine Candy with Copernium between horses around the bend as Street Player maintained a clear margin on the trio. 

Diciassette went to the outside of Street Player with two furlongs to the finish, following Wine Candy, who turned for home in front. Diciassette then ducked inside to challenge Wine Candy in the final furlong before accelerating to the front back in the one path the last 100 yards. 

Diciassette won by a length ahead of a late running Khon Han in second with Wine Candy another length farther back in third. Florida-bred Trelawny was fourth followed by Florda-breds Fourth and Central and I’m Tuff Enough with Street Player and Copernium completing the order of finish. Florida-bred Squire, the Royal Palm Juvenile runner-up and 9-5 program favorite was scratched.

Diciassette paid $4.60 to win as the 6-5 favorite.

 

Trained by Patrick Biancone for Green With MV Stable, Diciassette remained unbeaten in two starts after winning a five-furlong maiden special weight for Florida-breds by a half-length at Gulfstream on July 20.

“I told Jonathan to ride [Diciassette] like last time. There was no need to rush. Everyone was going to rush because people believe when it’s sloppy you need to be in front,” Biancone said. “I said with our horse to lay him on the inside where there will be no kickback and relax and try to come. He was a little bit stuck coming out at the quarter pole, but when you have a lot of horse you find a way to come out.”

Diciassette is by Mitole and is the first stakes winner for the Henny Hughes mare Im a Dixie Diva. The bay colt was bred in Florida by Dominique Damico. Im a Dixie Diva has four winners from five starters and six foals including stakes-placed Florida-bred Global Legend, by Global Campaign. Im a Dixie Diva is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1-winner Mor Spirit. She was bred to Ocala Stud stallion Roadster in 2025.

Biancone confided with his daughter and assistant Andie Biancone for some advice on the decision to run Diciassette on an off track. Andie also works as an analyst for FanDuel TV.

“We were confident because he had been working very well and everything was perfect. His health was perfect. But when you’ve just won first time out and you come back the second time in a stakes, it’s questionable. Plus, we had the slop,” Patrick Biancone said. “I called Andie and I asked her if she knew if Mitoles go in the slop. She said she talked to Steve Asmussen and he said Mitoles go in the slop so I said, ‘okay, we’re in good shape.’”

Baincone purchased Diciassette for $100,000 out of Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Meanwhile, Biancone will continue to point Squire, who he co-owns with Amy Dunne, to the Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-olds by nominated Florida stallions which begins with the $100,000 Dr. Fager Sept. 6.

“Squire is good. He had been at the farm and we gelded him, so he was a little bit short in training,” Biancone said. “We decided to run him to get him a little bit more forward, but it’s not a good experience when you run into this kind of track and you cannot win. So, we decided to wait. Our plan is the three races [in the Florida Sire Stakes] that start next month. So we don’t need to hurt him at the moment. We have plenty of time to work with. We’ll be ready for the sixth.”

Diciassette is the fourth Florida-bred winner of the Proud Man following Naughty Rascal last year, future graded stakes-winning millionaire Bentornato in 2023 and Hot Blooded in 2020.

Diciassette is the 51st Florida-bred winner of an open black type stakes this year in North America.

–Portions of this story were taken directly from a Gulfstream Park press release

Return to the August 9 issue of Wire to Wire