Multiple Stakes Winner Clubman Ends Layoff in Friday Feature
Eight-Race Program Starts at 12:25 P.M., Includes Weekly Stronach 5

LAUREL, MD – Fifteen years ago, the chestnut Thoroughbred colt Hemingway’s Key was keeping some impressive company.

Racing under the silks of Kinsman Stable and trained by Hall of Fame horseman Nick Zito, Hemingway’s Key spent the winter of 2006 on the Triple Crown trail competing against the top 3-year-olds in the country, such as Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro, Preakness (G1) winner Bernardini, Belmont (G1) winner Jazil and Grade I winners Corinthian, Flashy Bull and First Samurai.

After finishing third in the Preakness and that summer’s Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga, Hemingway’s Key raced into his 5-year-old season before retiring to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) in Lowell, FL in August of 2008. Hemingway’s Key has been a favorite at the TRF’s Second Chances Program at the Lowell Correctional Facility.

But now the 18-year-old son of Notebook is taking on another role by being selected as one of four horses to work on the just-announced TRF initiative with Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice aimed at using retired Thoroughbreds to help at-risk youths.

The TRF’s Second Chances Juvenile Program will give at-risk juveniles a chance to learn hands-on training in animal skills and life skills that they can use once released.

Hemingway’s Key has been a favorite with the women at the Lowell Correctional Institution.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s probably the horse my students ride the most,” said John Evans, farm manager at Lowell. “He’s really sound and is a great saddle horse.”

For more information on the TRF click here.

For information on Beyond the Wire, an industry initiative between the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland jockeys, go to beyondthewire.org.

Multiple Stakes Winner Clubman Ends Layoff in Friday Feature

J R Sanchez Racing Stable’s multiple stakes winner Clubman, unraced since a troubled trip in the historic Pimlico Special (G3) last fall, returns to action looking to rediscover his winning form in Friday’s feature at Laurel Park.

The third-level optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs is carded sixth on an eight-race program as Laurel begins the final month of its winter meet. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Clubman, a 7-year-old gelding trained by Laurel-based Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, was nominated to make his comeback in the $75,000 Not For Love. The six-furlong sprint for Maryland-bred/sired horses, named for his sire, is among five stakes worth $450,000 in purses March 13.

Instead, Sanchez-Salomon opted to bring Clubman back in Friday’s race where he drew Post 5 in a field of eight that includes 2020 Fire Plug winner Honor the Fleet; Oxide, a winner of three of his last four starts; third to Harpers First Ride and Cordmaker in the 2020 Deputed Testamony; and Hanalei’s Houdini, racing first off the claim for Maryland’s leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

“I just wanted to give him the chance to run in an easier spot. The stake is really, really tough and I don’t want to push him yet,” Sanchez-Salomon. “He’s really, really happy right now. I hope he comes back the way he used to be before.”

Clubman is a 10-time winner from 44 career starts, going five-for-13 in 2019 including stakes wins in the Maryland Coalition at Timonium and Russell Road at Charles Town. He went winless in 2020 with two thirds, both in stakes, one of them behind fellow multiple stakes winners Alwaysmining and John Jones in the Jennings at Laurel.

In his most recent start, Clubman was forced to steady early in the Pimlico Special at Pimlico Race Course, rescheduled from mid-May to Oct. 2 amid the coronavirus pandemic. After the race, Sanchez-Salomon gave the lifetime earner of $464,682 some time off.

“He’s a very sound horse. He was just sour before I sent him to the farm. I sent him to the farm for three months,” he said. “He’s going to be tough in that race. If he runs the way he’s been doing right now, he’s going to be tough. Hopefully he runs good and comes out sound, which is more important to me.”

Clubman has breezed six times since mid-January for his return, his most recent a five-furlong bullet in 1:02 Feb. 21, the fastest of 19 horses. Xavier Perez is named to ride.

“He’s going to let me know after this race. His last couple races he wasn’t kicking at the end. He was like, ‘I want to do it, but I don’t want to do it.’ Hopefully he comes back to himself,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “I think he’s going to be all right. I think he’s going to be a better horse, more mature and everything. He’s a really, really happy horse and very sharp right now.”

Laurel will kick off the weekly national Stronach 5 wager with its eighth-race finale, an open, entry-level allowance for 4-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs that attracted a field of 13 led by lukewarm 4-1 program favorite Kingston Pike. Post time for Race 8 is 3:55 p.m.

The Stronach 5 continues with Race 7 from Gulfstream Park (4:12 p.m.), Race 3 from Santa Anita Park (4:35 p.m.) and Race 3 from Golden Gate Fields (4:53 p.m.), and wraps up with Gulfstream’s Race 9 (5:16 p.m.).