A few decades ago, the late Red Buttons got a great deal of mileage out of a recurring TV schtick; he'd put his hand over his ear and declare, "Strange things are happening."

    Red would have loved the 2-year-old race at Gulfstream Park last Friday - a bunch of first-timers plus one who had started, appropriately named Rocky Strange, and he was the 6/5 favorite based on a lone third-place finish. 

    One of the first-timers was Uncle Runt, a gelding by First Dude owned and bred by Rory and Gay Miller's Flying Finish Farm in Ocala. First Dude has been a remarkable sire since arriving at Double Diamond Farm in time for the 2012 breeding season. His $5.5 million in earnings leads all the sires from the same year, and he's not only Florida's leading third-crop sire this season, he's second on the general sire list behind deceased Wildcat Heir. In short, he's been terrific.  

    That's why it's hard to understand how the bettors allowed Uncle Runt to go off at $104.10-1 in his debut. The gelding had three listed workouts, a 49.80 breezing from the gate for four furlongs on April 9 (best of 8 works), a 51 breezing on April 29 (second of 8), and a 38.40 breezing on May 6 (first of 3), six days before his first race. All the works came at the Ocala Horse Complex and a sharp handicapper would have noted that two of the works were bullets. 

    So the combination of First Dude and Uncle Runt's works weren't enough to get people to jump on board and they paid for it. With Jose Garcia aboard, the gelding rushed into the lead and just kept going, reaching the wire 1 1/4 lengths in front and paying $210.20, $31.40 and $14.20. Assuming that 99 percent of owners bet on their horses, especially the first time out, the Millers no doubt enjoyed a great trip to Hallandale Beach. The winner's check was $34,000 and the breeder's award is still to come.

    Runner-up in the race was Bal Harbour, named after the glitzy shopping area located not far from Gulfstream and owned by Hialeah Park's John J. Brunetti. Bal Harbour collected $8,400 for second. 

    First Dude already has piled up more than $1.3 million in progeny earnings in 2017, with 41 winners, and it's only May. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Dude 2-year-olds receive a warmer welcome at the windows.  

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