Mike Brunker Horse racing editor • Profile • E-mail

Garrett Gomez’s cross-country trip on Thursday may prove to be one of the most profitable jaunts of his career if Dunkirk continues to act like the second coming of Barbaro.

Dunkirk brought to mind that late, great colt on Thursday as he overcame an extremely wide trip around the first turn in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race, then kept on going to record a 4 ¾-length victory.

The running time of 1:50.15 and the :13.09 final fraction weren’t scintillating, but that was a mighty professional performance from a colt making just the second start of his career, and there were some other highly regarded 3-year-olds in the field. I guess you couldn’t call it a terrible surprise, though, as he went off as the 6-5 favorite and his owners -- Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith of Coolmore fame – shelled out $3.7 million for the son of Unbridled’s Song out of an A.P. Indy mare as a yearling.

Gulfstream race caller Larry Collmus called Dunkirk five wide on the first turn, but it appeared to me that Edgar Prado aboard second favorite Alma d’Oro floated him at least seven wide. Under a confident Gomez, Dunkirk then stalked Alma d’Oro to the stretch before powering on by and cruising out to the wire, receiving  only a single crack of the whip from his rider. Warrior’s Reward and Sincero filled out the trifecta.

“He got shoved out in the middle of the racetrack, he settled like a good horse and he accelerated like a good horse,” Gomez told HRTV this weekend.

The fact that Gomez traveled all that way to ride Dunkirk suggests he will keep the mount for the Todd Pletcher-trained colt in his next race, which is expected to be the Florida Derby (Gr. 1) on March 21.

If Dunkirk were to win there, the Eclipse Award winning rider would face a very interesting choice heading to the Kentucky Derby, as he also has been riding leading West Coast contender Pioneerof the Nile for Bob Baffert.

But that’s all just speculation at this point, as Dunkirk will first have to prove he can handle the tougher competition he’ll encounter in the Florida Derby.

And should he makes it to Louisville, he’ll have to overcome one of the most daunting historical obstacles if he is to visit the Churchill Downs winner’s circle on the first Saturday in May: Dunkirk did not race as a 2-year-old, and the only horse to ever win the Kentucky Derby without having run at 2 was Apollo, who did it in 1882. Many have tried since then, including the exceptional Curlin, and all have been found wanting.

Which brings me to the question of the week: Some handicappers have moved Dunkirk to the top of their list of Derby prospects off last week’s race, but does he really deserve it? Click here to share your thoughts on Dunkirk and I’ll publish some of the best responses in next week’s column.

Phoenix rising
In the other Triple Crown prep this past week, the Baffert-trained Mayor Marv dispatched six overmatched foes to win the 1 1/16-mile Turf Paradise Derby in Arizona.

Local hero Hidden Bounty made Mayor Marv work, but the outcome was never in doubt once the even-money favorite spurted away from that one at the top of the stretch and cruised to a 4 ½ length victory under David Flores. Running time was a respectable 1:43.23.

You’d have to think that Mayor Marv, a son of Distorted Humor bred and owned by Mike Pegram, is a notch or two below Pioneerof the Nile at this point, but he seems to be developing nicely and will at least have run on the dirt if he makes it to Churchill Downs for the Derby. We might be able to get a better gauge on him by seeing how The Pamplemousse does this weekend in the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, as Mayor Marv ran second to that one in a maiden race in December.

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