G2 Winner Still Having Fun Gets Back to Work Saturday at Laurel
G2 Winner Still Having Fun Gets Back to Work Saturday at Laurel
Sophomore Colt Pointing to G1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga Aug. 25
Maryland-Connected Horses Enjoy Big Day at Saratoga
Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Sunday Program
LAUREL, MD – For the first time since his come-from-behind victory in the June 9 Woody Stephens (G2), Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Terp Racing’s Still Having Fun was back on the work tab with an easy half-mile breeze Saturday morning at Laurel Park.
Still Having Fun was clocked going four furlongs in 49.20 seconds under jockey Sheldon Russell, ranking 23rd of 43 horses at the distance, and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02 trainer Tim Keefe said.
“My horses, typically I don’t hang them on the fence to see how fast they can go. I know this horse is a fast horse. I don’t need him to show it to me in the morning,” Keefe said. “He’s doing well and I just wanted something nice and simple just to give him a little blow to start off with.
“He went super,” he added. “We gave him a little easy time, just some light training. Today was a good, easy work for him. He’s back and starting to get geared up for the race at Saratoga.”
Keefe is pointing Still Having Fun to the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) Saturday, Aug. 25 at Saratoga Race Course. The Maryland-bred son of Old Fashioned rallied from next-to-last to post a 13-1 upset in the Woody Stephens – also run at seven-eighths – and give he and his trainer their first career graded-stakes victory.
Still Having Fun opened his 3-year-old season with wins in the Frank Whiteley Jr. and Miracle Wood Stakes over the winter at Laurel. After two unsuccessful tries at stretching out, he returned to run second behind Mitole in the Chick Lang May 19 at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
Keefe is confident Still Having Fun will benefit from having 11 weeks between the Woody Stephens and Allen Jerkens, which is run on the undercard of the Travers Stakes (G1).
“He’s still plenty fit. He’s been training six days a week. It’s not like I took him out of training or anything,” Keefe said. “He’ll work a few more times, but whether it’s every seven days I don’t know. I’ll just kind of let him tell me. He’s doing super.”
Maryland-Connected Horses Enjoy Big Day at Saratoga
Horses with Maryland connections enjoyed a big day with graded-stakes wins at Saratoga Race Course Saturday.
Raymond Mamone’s millionaire Imperial Hint, winner of the General George (G3) and Fire Plug Stakes in 2017 at Laurel Park, cruised by 3 ¾ lengths under a hand ride from Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano in the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) for sprinters 3 and older.
It was the 11th win from 17 career starts for Imperial Hint, who pushed his bankroll past $1.2 million. Eight of his wins have come in stakes, four graded. The Vanderbilt was his first Grade 1.
Matt Schera’s Irish-bred Glorious Empire, based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., dead-heated for victory in the 1 3/8-mile Bowling Green (G2) on the grass. Sixth in the Henry S. Clark Stakes in April at Laurel, the 7-year-old gelding has now won his last two races.
The win was the first in graded company for Glorious Empire and the third for trainer James “Chuck” Lawrence II, whose last graded-stakes victory came in the 1999 Temple Gwathmey Hurdle Handicap (G2). Lawrence’s only previous graded win on the flat came in the 1996 Lawrence Realization Handicap (G2).
Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Sunday Program
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, 50-cent Late Pick 5 and $1 Super Hi-5 for Sunday’s nine-race program that begins at 1:10 p.m.
No single bettor solved the Rainbow 6 on Saturday, growing the jackpot carryover to $22,259.90 for Sunday’s sequence which spans Races 4-9. Multiple tickets with all six winners were worth $2,263.26.
The Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9), offering an industry low 12 percent takeout, will have a carryover of $6,638.79. Tickets with four of five winners Saturday returned $65.05.
A carryover of $6,187.75 will be available in the Super Hi-5 for Sunday’s opener, a maiden claiming event for 3-year-olds and up going seven furlongs.
Notes: Jockey Victor Carrasco and trainer Hamilton Smith – who registered a four-win day July 22 – teamed up for a pair of victories Saturday with Spicy Girl Red ($35.20) in the second race and Quick Witted ($13.20) in the fourth. Jockey Horacio Karamanos visited the winner’s circle twice, aboard Dangerous Woman ($15) in the eighth and Reign Supreme ($15.20) in the 11th.
