Factorofwon Set for East Coast Debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Stormy Blues
Factorofwon Set for East Coast Debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Stormy Blues
Jockey Hamilton Remains Sidelined Indefinitely with Back Pain
Migliore, Courtney Join Salter, Tullock for Saturday Program
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
LAUREL, MD – Several weeks after welcoming stakes winner Factorofwon into his barn, trainer Phil Schoenthal will send the 3-year-old filly out for her East Coast debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes at Laurel Park.
The 5 ½-furlong Stormy Blues, contested over Laurel’s world-class turf course, is the richest stakes of the 40-day summer meet. It is carded 10th on an 11-race program that includes the $75,000 Concern Stakes for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs on the main track in Race 8.
Red Baron’s Barn and Rancho Temescal’s Factorofwon has raced exclusively in southern California since her debut last summer at Del Mar, owning two wins and two thirds from eight starts. Each of her last six have come on the grass, the most recent a victory in the 6 ½-furlong Black Pearl Stakes May 27 at Santa Anita.
“From what I understand there are no real opportunities for 3-year-old fillies sprinting on the turf in southern California the rest of the season. The owners felt like there were more opportunities on the East Coast for a horse like her than there were on the West Coast. They were referred to me by some mutual friends and called me up to see if I would take her and point for this race,” Schoenthal said. “I’ve never had a horse for them before. This is the first one and they’re real nice people. They’ve got a lot of nice horses out in California.”
Under jockey Sheldon Russell, who will ride Factorofwon from Post 4 of 12 in the Stormy Blues, the gray or roan daughter of The Factor went a half-mile in 50 seconds on Laurel’s turf course July 1. She shares topweight of 122 pounds with the other four stakes winners in the field – Almond Roca, Limited View, Miz Mayhem, Smokinpaddylassie and Wise Gal.
“I’ve had her for about a month. She shipped in and we gave her a little bit of time,” Schoenthal said. “I was going to breeze her two weeks ago but we had a bunch of rain that weekend so we held off. We breezed her over the grass this past Sunday. She came in fit and ready to go; it’s just a matter of keeping her happy and healthy and getting her to the race.”
Previously trained by Mark Glatt, five of Factorofwon’s grass starts, including the Black Pearl and a front-running maiden special weight romp last fall, have come over Santa Anita’s unique downhill course. Schoenthal is eager to see how the filly adjusts to the more traditional Fort Marcy turf course layout Saturday.
“I’ve never run a horse on the downhill course and don’t know anything about it. To me, watching those races, it looks like a very different race than five or 5 ½ [furlongs] here on the East Coast,” Schoenthal said. “The owner and the trainer out in California don’t seem to think that there’s any real difference because it’s down the hill. It kind of acts the same as a five or 5 ½-furlong race. That’s what they say, so we’ll see.
“They spent a lot of time and energy out in California trying to teach her to rate and relax and they’ve been successful doing that. It obviously paid dividends with the stakes win last time,” he added. “I think the plan is getting her to relax and try and sit off the pace a little ways and try and make one run. That’s kind of the idea, and we breezed her that way. We sat her off of another horse and let her relax. Sheldon breezed her and thought that she did that very well, so we’re excited to see her.”
Purchased for $150,000 as a 2-year-old in training last April in Ocala, Factorofwon is entered as Hip No. 440 in Fasig-Tipton’s Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age sale Monday, July 9 in Lexington, Ky.
“The plan is to run her in this race and if she runs well they’re going to haul her down to Kentucky for the horse sale,” Schoenthal said. “We’re happy to have her and we’re happy to take our shot. We feel like we’re going to see her good race. I think [Miz Mayhem] is going to be the horse to beat, but we’ll see. I wouldn’t trade horses with anybody.”
Schoenthal said Everest Stables’ homebred V.I.P. Code, 36-1 upset winner of the Private Terms Stakes for 3-year-olds March 17 at Laurel, is getting the summer off before gearing up for the fall season.
V.I.P. Code was last seen finishing seventh in the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio Stakes, Maryland’s local prep for the Preakness Stakes (G1), April 21 at Laurel. He has a record of 3-2-2 from 10 starts with purse earnings topping $171,000.
“He’s OK. He had a little bit of a setback after the Tesio. He’s just going to get a few months off and he’ll be back here for a fall campaign,” Schoenthal said. “He just had a very minor thing that just needed a little bit of time, and he needed that time anyway because he’s been in training since the fall of his yearling year. It’ll work out good for him.”
Jockey Hamilton Remains Sidelined Indefinitely with Back Pain
Nearly a month since his last mount, journeyman rider Steve ‘Cowboy’ Hamilton remains sidelined with back pain according to his agent, Ben Feliciano Sr.
Hamilton, 44, last rode June 10 at Laurel, finishing second on Team Tim and third on Bo Vuk in a pair of allowance events. He had five wins from 22 mounts at the current summer meet, which opened June 1.
“He hurt his back a while back, so he went to the doctor and they found three spots on the bottom of his spine, three small tumors,” Feliciano said. “He just thought he hurt his back from falling and old injuries, things like that, but he was in a lot of pain.
“They’re trying to dissolve them without operating. He got his first shot about two weeks ago and I think he gets another one at the end of the week,” he added. “They’re spacing them out to see if it’s working.”
A native of Oklahoma whose youngest son, 19-year-old apprentice Wes Hamilton, has ranked among Maryland’s top riders this year, Steve Hamilton was third with $1.03 million in purse earnings and tied for sixth with 25 wins during Laurel’s winter-spring meet to open 2018.
Hamilton, a winner of 1,374 career races, is in the third phase of his riding career, which began in 1990. He retired in 2000 to help raise his two young boys, returning in 2004. He stepped aside again in 2006 following a serious automobile accident, embarking on his latest comeback in August 2016.
Last year, Hamilton ranked fourth overall in Maryland with 94 wins to go along with nearly $2.9 million in purse earnings, topping $1 million at each of Laurel’s meets to open and close the calendar year. His top 2018 horse has been 3-year-old filly Goodonehoney, winner of the April 21 Weber City Miss Stakes.
“He’s going to be off a little while. It’s not going to be overnight,” Feliciano said. “He was doing really good and had a lot of nice horses to ride. It’s never a good time, especially when you’re doing well.”
Migliore, Courtney Join Salter, Tullock for Saturday Program
Retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey and current XBTV racing analyst Richard Migliore and Acacia Courtney, racing analyst for The Stronach Group, will add to the coverage of Laurel’s 11-race program Saturday with live trackside and paddock reports.
Regular hosts Stanton Salter and Tim Tullock will provide race-by-race analysis starting with the opener, which has a post time of 1:10 p.m. Salter and Maryland Jockey Club oddsmaker Keith Feustle will offer a preview of the day’s card during the morning show, starting at noon.
Salter will also conduct on-air interviews from the winner’s circle with winning connections following each of Saturday’s stakes, the $100,000 Stormy Blues (Race 10) and $75,000 Concern (Race 8).
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
Live racing returns to Laurel Park with a 10-race program Friday, July 6 that includes carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers.
The Rainbow 6 (Races 5-10) will have a carryover of $3,156.72 and includes three races scheduled over the world-class turf course which drew a total of 38 entries, an average of 12.7 starters per race.
Both of Friday’s features are part of the Rainbow 6 sequence – a $42,000 entry-level allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up going 5 ½ furlongs over the Kelso turf course (Race 7), and a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares traveling one mile on the main track (Race 9).
Friday’s opener, 1 1/16-mile waiver claiming event for 3-year-olds and up on the Fort Marcy turf course, will have a carryover of $1,426.18 in the Super Hi-5. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
