Never Gone South Stretching Out for Federico Tesio
Never Gone South Stretching Out for Federico Tesio
Monster Sleeping Not Slowing Down with Age
Upcoming Laurel Park Stakes Draw 65 Nominations
LAUREL, MD - M M G Stables’ consistent multiple stakes winner Never Gone South, never worse than third in six lifetime starts, will try two turns for the first time in Saturday’s $100,000 Federico Tesio at Laurel Park.
Each of Never Gone South’s last four races have come at Laurel including his most recent in the one-mile Miracle Wood Stakes Feb. 15, where he set the early pace before tiring to third as the favorite, beaten 2 ¼ lengths by Tesio rival Marengo Road.
Trainer Cal Lynch cross-entered Never Gone South in Saturday’s seven-furlong Bay Shore (G2) at Aqueduct, where he drew post three of eight. Never Gone South will break from outside post seven in the Tesio at 116 pounds, six fewer than co-highweights Awesome Speed and Governor Malibu.
“We like to support the home track. We’re stabled in Maryland here at Laurel and we obviously want to support The Stronach Group and run here if we can. He likes it here and there’s no reason not to,” Lynch said. “The last race we were kind of expecting him to run a little better. We ran him back a little quick and that’s why we skipped the stake here three weeks ago to wait for the Tesio. The reason we cross-entered in the seven-eighths [race] is that’s the distance we were thinking. We didn’t think it was going to come up as tough as it did.”
Winner of the Strike Your Colors Stakes last summer at Delaware Park, Never Gone South was second to Awesome Speed in the James F. Lewis III Stakes and Vorticity in the Marylander Stakes to cap his juvenile season.
He opened this year with a front-running 7 ¼-length victory over Marengo Road in the Frank Whiteley Stakes Jan. 16 prior to the Miracle Wood but passed on the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms, where Tesio entrants Flash McCaul and Marengo Road ran second and fourth, respectively.
“The race that he ran here when he ran in the Whiteley was a very good race, probably numbers-wise was the best race of his life,” Lynch said. “He’s never gone around two turns so we wanted to give him that chance even though it didn’t look like he stayed last time when we went a mile. But we got a better post this time, an outside draw, so we’ll give him this chance to run two turns before we decide whether to go back sprinting with him or not.”
In addition to the test of distance, the 36th running of the 1 1/8-mile Tesio offers Triple Crown-nominated horses an automatic ‘Win and You’re In’ berth to the 141st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 21 at Pimlico Race Course.
Never Gone South, a sophomore son of multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Munnings, was among the 368 original Triple Crown nominees in January.
“The chance to run in the Preakness would be very exciting for anybody. It’s always an added bonus and the owners would be delighted,” trainer Cal Lynch said. “We’ll know more after the [Tesio]. It’s going to be his first time around two turns. I know his last race was a mile but it wasn’t around two turns and we just want to give him that chance to prove he can or can’t go the distance, so the mile and three-sixteenths wouldn’t be a big jump up for the Preakness though the competition might be a little stiffer. When you get the opportunity to run in a Triple Crown race you always want to do that. The owners are very excited and are putting a lot of money into the game.”
Monster Sleeping Not Slowing Down with Age
Maryland-bred multiple stakes winner Monster Sleeping has yet to show her age after kicking off her 7-year-old season with a gutsy optional claiming allowance victory April 3 at Laurel Park.
Charles J. Reed’s Monster Sleeping emerged from a four-horse photo to win the five-furlong turf sprint by a head as the favorite. It was her first race since running third in a one-mile allowance optional Nov. 26 at Aqueduct.
“She’s doing well,” trainer Dale Capuano said. “She came back from the race just fine. We were very proud of her. She was very game, that’s for sure. You could see she was determined to win, so it was nice to see at her age.”
Capuano nominated the Oratory mare to the $75,000 Dahlia Stakes going one mile on the Laurel turf April 16, but said he is likely to keep her going short for another start before stretching her back out in a stakes.
The $150,000 Gallorette Handicap (G3), run at 1 1/16 miles on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1) May 21 at Pimlico Race Course, is a possibility according to the trainer. It would be the graded stakes debut for Monster Sleeping, a four-time black-type winner at Laurel including the 2015 and 2013 Maryland Million Ladies Stakes.
“The Dahlia is next Saturday, but that might be a little close 13 days after [her last] race. I think there’s a four-other-than allowance on the first of [May]. If it were to fill, that would be nice,” Capuano said. “We’ll probably sprint her one more time and then stretch her out, maybe for the Gallorette or something like that. We’ll see. I’ll just kind of let her tell me. She’s got to really be touting herself big-time for me to [try the Dahlia]. Preakness is a big week and the Gallorette is a good race. It would be a very tough race, so we’ll see.”
Monster Sleeping now has 10 wins and $516,707 in purse earnings from 48 lifetime starts, finishing in the top three 29 times. Since being claimed for $30,000 by Capuano out of a third-place finish at Laurel March 21, 2013, she has a record of 8-7-4 and a bankroll of $430,337.
“She’s definitely been durable and consistent. She’s just been terrific since we claimed her. We’re thrilled,” Capuano said. “I think she had had one turf race and I think it was a pretty good race sprinting and I thought that she liked the turf. To that point I don’t think she’d ever run long, and I thought with her breeding she might be able to go long. If she could, she would be worth the money and if not she’d be worth half the money we paid for her. That’s exactly what I told Chip and they said ‘Let’s take a shot at it,’ and it’s worked out. It worked out pretty well.”
Upcoming Laurel Park Stakes Draw 65 Nominations
A total of 65 horses were nominated to a pair of upcoming stakes at Laurel Park, the $75,000 Dahlia for fillies and mares 3 and up on April 16 and the $75,000 Henry S. Clark for 3-year-olds and up April 23.
Grade 2 winner Miss Ella, trained by Fair Hill-based Graham Motion, leads the 34 nominees to the Dahilia, run at one mile on the grass. The 4-year-old Exchange Rate filly won the Beaumont (G2) and Christicat Stakes last fall and has not raced since finishing off the board in the Raven Run (G2) Oct. 17 at Keeneland. Motion also nominated German Group 3 winner La Saldana and Irish Group 3 winner Nakuti.
Also nominated are Carla Bianca, a multiple group stakes winner in Ireland looking to make her U.S. debut for trainer Christophe Clement; multiple New York-bred stakes winner Freudie Anne; Grade 3-placed Hope Cross; four-time Laurel stakes winner Monster Sleeping; and stakes winners Notte d’Oro and Sea Shadow.
Phlash Phelps, Maryland’s champion turf horse after going 4-0 in 2015 including the Find Stakes and Maryland Millions Turf; and multiple stakes-winning millionaire Page McKenney top the 31 horses nominated to the one-mile Henry S. Clark on the turf. Phlash Phelps, 5, and Page McKenney, 6, will each take a four-race win streak into their next start.
Among the other nominees are 2015 Laurel Turf Cup winner St. Albans Boy; multiple graded stakes winner Reporting Star; Grade 3 winners Golden Sabre, Legendary, Lubash and Middleburg; 2013 With Anticipation (G3) runner-up River Dancer; Grade 3-placed Cage Fighter, Shatak, Special Envoy and Under Control; and Chamois, second in the 2014 Dixie (G2) at Pimlico.
