Multiple Stakes Winner Always Sunshine Targeting G3 De Francis Dash
Multiple Stakes Winner Always Sunshine Targeting G3 De Francis Dash
6-Year-Old Sprinter Earned Fourth Career Stakes Win Friday at Saratoga
Glory Stars Upsets Graded-Stakes Placed Zulu in Saturday Feature
Double Carryovers, $100,000 Polynesian Highlight Sunday Card
LAUREL, MD – Stonehedge’s Grade 3 winner Always Sunshine, who earned his second straight stakes victory in Saratoga’s Tale of the Cat on Friday, will bring that momentum to Laurel Park for his next planned start in the $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Sept 15.
Trainer Edward ‘Ned’ Allard said Saturday Always Sunshine exited his two-length victory in the six-furlong Tale of the Cat in good shape and both horse and trainer were in good spirits upon returning to their base at Parx Racing.
“He got in early this morning and dove into his feed tub and seemed to come out of his race great. The trainer did, too,” Allard said. “I went to sleep with a grin on my face, and woke up with it this morning.”
The 27th running of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up highlights a card of seven stakes worth $900,000 in purses, marking the first of several Super Saturday programs during Laurel’s calendar year-ending fall meet which opens Sept. 7.
Named for the late president and chairman of Laurel and legendary Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis was moved up from its mid-November spot on the Maryland racing calendar in 2017. Past winners include Hall of Famer Housebuster and fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor’s Echo and Benny the Bull.
“That’ll probably be his next start. It’s a prestigious race, it’s close to home and he’s already won at Laurel, too, so it’s a good spot,” Allard said. “And if you do all that fine, then you can dream a little bit. I’m not going to even have the words pass my lips, but you know what I mean.”
The De Francis could serve as a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs, where another prominent Parx-based sprinter – Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint – is being pointed. Trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said following a victory in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) July 28 at Saratoga that the De Francis was also a possibility for Imperial Hint.
Always Sunshine and Imperial Hint met in the True North (G2) June 8 at Belmont Park. Imperial Hint won by a neck while Always Sunshine ran fourth after he and jockey Kendrick Carmouche were carried out on the far turn by Westwood, who was ultimately eased and vanned off the track.
“Carmouche told me the horse was just getting in gear when that happened, and it’s a shame. I don’t know if we were going to catch the winner, but he was just getting ready to kick and that eliminated him that day,” Allard said. “The Delaware race was a monster race and he did it very nicely against some very nice horses. I felt that he deserved a little bit better shot [and] I thought the race at Saratoga fit him very well. I liked his post and everything, and it all worked out very nicely.”
Always Sunshine came running late to snap My Boy Tate’s five-race win streak in the Tale of the Cat, giving jockey Frankie Pennington his first career win at Saratoga and Allard his first since the 1988 Seneca Handicap with Fuller’s Folly. The victory also came 33 years to the day when Allard-trained Hall of Fame mare Mom’s Command won the Alabama (G1).
“It was exciting. It’s been a long time. I really haven’t run that many horses there lately or in the last number of years. I think our last major win up there was with Mom’s Command, so that was quite a while ago,” he said. “Yesterday was a lot of fun. The horse went into it super, and just ran terrific.”
Always Sunshine, a 6-year-old son of West Acre out of the Awesome Again mare Sunny Again, has a record of 8-5-3 from 23 starts with purse earnings of $517,650. Two of his four career stakes wins have come in Maryland, in the 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico and 2015 Dave’s Friend at Laurel.
“He’s a horse with a lot of talent and it seems like if you time him right, he’s kind of a dangerous racehorse,” Allard said. “It’s fun to dream a little bit. These kinds of horses make the game worthwhile. The good ones give you goosebumps.”
Glory Stars Upsets Graded-Stakes Placed Zulu in Saturday Feature
James A. Shannon Jr.’s Glory Stars came with a steady drive along the rail to catch front-running Tour de Force approaching the wire and forge a neck victory in Saturday’s featured third race, a $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up.
It was 1 ½ lengths back to 6-5 favorite Zulu in third. Purchased for $900,000 as a 2-year-old in training in 2015, Zulu was making his first start off a $20,000 claim for Monmouth Park-based trainer Jorge Navarro. The Bernardini gelding, second in the Fountain of Youth (G2) prior to winning the Tamarac Stakes in 2016 at Gulfstream Park, bobbled at the break and chased throughout but never threatened the winner.
Glory Stars ($27), ridden by Feargal Lynch for trainer Michael Moore, ran seven furlongs in 1:22.14 over a fast main track for his fourth career win and first since last July at Parx.
“He’s a nice horse,” Lynch said. “Mike said he would make one run today. They’d been putting him pretty forward the last few times and he wanted me to just take him off the speed. There was a lot of speed in the race. We saved as much ground as we could and when the horse saw the gap inside and there was no kickback, he really accelerated. It was a good field today. He’s a lovely moving horse and I’m sure there’s plenty more races to be won with him.”
In Saturday’s two $42,000 entry-level allowance events, Shane’s Jewel ($12.20) was a two-length winner of Race 8 in 1:09.71 for six furlongs, while More Abundance ($13.40) ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:02.47 over the yielding All Along layout to earn his first turf victory in Race 9.
Double Carryovers, $100,000 Polynesian Highlight Sunday Card
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers for Sunday’s 10-race card that is highlighted by the $100,000 Polynesian Stakes for sprinters 3 and up. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
Carded as Race 8, the seven-furlong Polynesian is part of the Rainbow 6 sequence which spans Races 5-10 and offers a jackpot carryover of $10,137.79. Multiple tickets with all six winners Saturday returned $1,476.32.
A carryover of $2,084.84 will be available in Sunday’s opener, a 1 1/16-mile maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for the All Along turf course.
Notes: In addition to Glory Stars, jockey Feargal Lynch also visited the winner’s circle in the fifth race with Unexpected Visit ($4.80). Jockey Victor Carrasco scored back-to-back winners on Lil Habit of Mine ($6.60) in the sixth and I Ain’t Never ($5.60) in the seventh, while Edwin Gonzalez was first aboard Carolina Ice ($30.40) in the second and Proudly ($10) in the 10th.
