Team Tim Steps Up In City Of Laurel
Team Tim Steps Up In City Of Laurel
LAUREL, MD - Gary Hacker’s Team Tim will try to win his third consecutive start at Laurel Park Saturday when the Maryland-bred steps up to face stakes company for the first time in the City Of Laurel Stakes on the Fall Festival of Racing Program.
The 3-year-old son of Sharp Humor hasn’t been off the board since last February In August, when winning a state-bred entry-level allowance race going seven furlongs on Maryland Pride Day, he beat Admirals War Chest, who went on to win an allowance race at Parx, followed by a win in the Maryland Million Classic.
After his victory on Maryland Pride Day, Team Tim came back Sept. 19 with another impressive performance in an entry-level allowance race against open company. Team Tim is 15-1 and will break from the No. 8 post in The City Of Laurel. The gelding will be saddled by leading trainer Tim Keefe and leading jockey Jevian Toledo.
“The horse is doing well and I’m giving him plenty of time between races,” Keefe said. “He’s coming off a couple of good wins, he likes Laurel, and he seems like he is improving. He’s run a better race each time I’ve sent him out there."
Sheldon Russell was aboard Team Tim for the last two wins, but Russell won't be riding the next two months due to a shoulder injury. Toledo has worked Team Tim in the morning.
“I’m disappointed Sheldon is hurt, but certainly having Toledo on him is not a negative, it’s a positive. He’s worked the horse in the morning, so he knows him,” Keefe said.
The morning-line favorite for The City Of Laurel is the New York-shipper El Kabeir, who is 2-1 for trainer John Terranova II and will break from post two. After he won the Kentucky Jockey Club (Gr. II) as a 2-year-old, El Kabeir won two Grade three’s last winter at Aqueduct, the Jerome and Gotham.
After his win in the Gotham, the 3-year-old son of Scat Daddy was third in The Wood Memorial (Gr. I), and then didn’t race again until recently, when he finished fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Bold Ruler Handicap (Gr. III) going seven furlongs.
The second choice is the Todd Pletcher-trained Savoy Stomp, who will break from the rail. The 3-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro is coming into the race off an impressive win against older horses in an entry-level allowance race at Belmont Park going six and a half furlongs following an eight-month layoff.
Keefe, who is also president of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, realizes that the early pace of The City Of Laurel will be key to how his horse runs.
“He is a come from behind type of sprinter and it should set up well for us. There is enough speed in there and we’ll be sitting off of it and hopefully we’ll get a good trip and I know he’ll give us his all,” Keefe said.
Currently, Keefe is tied with Mike Trombetta for leading trainer of the meet with 12 wins. Even though he is no stranger to winning stakes races, Keefe admits this is his best meet so far at Laurel Park.
“I’ve never had this kind of meet before, so I’m kind of in unchartered territory," he said. "But you always want to keep getting better and better. We’ve had a good early part of the meet and hopefully we can stay strong in the later part of the meet."
Along with his horses staying strong, Keefe is strong outside of the race track as well. In 2011 and 2013, he competed in Ironman Triathlons to raise money for horse-related charities.
