“But I wouldn’t mind if it came off the turf,” O’Dwyer said with a laugh Thursday.

That’s because Doubleoseven, a three-year-old gelding by Hard Spun, has never tried the green stuff. On the other hand, he’s run very well on wet tracks, finishing first and second in two such tries. Last time out, in the slop at Pimlico May 29, Doubleoseven and Dream Big Dreams dueled for most of the stretch, leaving their rivals far behind in a race in which Doubleoseven eventually prevailed.

That strong effort helped point O’Dwyer in the direction of the Kent.

So did this: “There aren’t many opportunities out there for him right now,” O’Dwyer said.

He’s won three of nine career starts and already won both an a-other-than allowance and a Maryland-bred allowance. For a trainer hoping to keep his three-year-old against other sophomores, that pretty much leaves only stakes company.

Doubleoseven has made two stakes starts to date, and while his first, in last December’s Maryland Juvenile Futurity, was nondescript, his most recent was much better than it looks on the page.

Two starts ago, he ran third in Belmont Park’s Gold Fever Stakes behind Beren and Candy Man Rocket. The former has obliterated the field in two subsequent stakes wins and has the look of a budding graded stakes winner, while the latter already is a graded winner, having scored in Tampa’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes.

“We were very pleased,” O’Dwyer said. “The only part of the race we were a little disappointed in was the early part, when he couldn’t seem to get into the race, which surprised me. But then he came home, and he galloped out pretty good, so it was nice to see that.”

Doubleoseven’s win last time out came going two turns at Pimlico, so he’s already aced the two-turn test. That leaves only the pesky question of surface.

That said, there’s reason for O’Dwyer to believe his gelding, owned by David McCarty’s McCarty Racing LLC, might take to the lawn.

For one thing, a number of Hard Spun’s offspring have been successful turfers. That includes the multiple Grade 1-winning turf mare Hard Not to Like and Grade 1 Arlington Million winner Hardest Core, who previewed his Million win with a score in the Cape Henlopen at Delaware Park.

For another, Doubleoseven is out of the Great Notion mare Great Hostess. While her progeny haven’t run much on the turf, one of them, Greatbullsoffire, won at first asking on the lawn back in 2016 and two starts later ran third in the grassy Laurel Futurity behind subsequent multiple graded stakes winner Caribou Club.

Finally, O’Dwyer says his charge “moves like” he’ll take to the turf. In fact, he’d been planning all along to try the grass, but because Doubleoseven had been running so well, and showing such improvement, on the dirt, it became difficult to make the switch.

Regular pilot John Rosado has the mount aboard Doubleoseven.

The morning line 8-5 favorite in the Kent, a nine-furlong test with a purse of $150,000, is the Wesley Ward-trained Like the King. He won the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on the synthetic at Turfway, was 12^th in the Kentucky Derby, and also owns a win over the grass. In fact, he might go favored on either surface.

Other logical contenders on the lawn include last-out stakes winner Yes This Time (7-2), trained by Kelly Breen, and the Graham Motion trainee Wootton Asset (6-1).

And if it – as O’Dwyer hopes – comes off the grass, other players would include last out Penn Oaks winner Gershwin (8-1) for Michael Stidham and main-track-only entrant Shackled Love for Gary Capuano.