Wesley Ward has been heralded as the king of the early 2-year-old racing season for many years, getting his youngsters ready to roll when racing secretaries at Keeneland, Gulfstream and Aqueduct card rich maiden specials that anyone can take advantage of. Ward took advantage of three of them at Keeneland last week, and now Carlos Munoz and his trainer, Javier Negrete, has done likewise at Gulfstream.

  In Gulfstream's first 2-year-old event on Wednesday, with a purse of $50,000, Munoz entered a pair of runners and got a little lucky when only five others joined the fray. He won the race with DiMaria, a Kentucky-bred filly by Data Line who paid $31.60 to win and collected a check for $24,000. DiMaria drew away from the others late and was clocked in :51.50, not far off the track record of :51.07 for the 4 1/2 furlongs.

    The other Munoz-Negrete entry was La Chica Ripool, a Florida-bred filly who became the first starter for freshman sire Soldat, who stands at Woodford Thoroughbreds. La Chica Ripool set the pace, putting up fractions of :22.16 and :45.12 before tiring to finish third, 6 1/4 lengths behind her stablemate, and Munoz picked up another $4,400.

    On Thursday, another owner/breeder who likes to pick up some of that early money, Fred Brei, sent out Slacks of Course to win the second 2-year-old event at Gulfstream. The colt is by Brei's stallion, Awesome of Course, who now stands at Ocala Stud Farm and has been responsible for some major paydays for his owner in the past several years. Slacks of Course paid $2.80 under Tyler Gaffalione and earned a check for $34,000 for Brei's Jacks or Better Farm. He was caught in :52.03. 

    The reason for the difference in checks for the two winners is that DiMaria is a Kentucky-bred, and didn't get to take advantage of the two $5,000 bonuses for Floridians that Brei received for Slacks of Course. 

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