Trainer Rodriguez Brings String of Horses to Maryland, Possible for Preakness Week Stakes
Trainer Rodriguez Brings String of Horses to Maryland, Possible for Preakness Week Stakes
Undefeated Bobcat Targeting Preakness Day Stakes
Live Racing Returns Friday with Multiple Carryovers
Large Fields Continue On Penultimate Weekend at Laurel
Jockeys Pimentel, Hole Named to Return on Friday
LAUREL, MD – New York-based trainer Rudy Rodriguez plans to keep a large string of horses in Maryland this summer and visited Laurel Park this week to check out his new surroundings.
Rodriguez said he shipped a dozen horses to Laurel on Tuesday and plans to send another dozen or so this weekend, with more to come next week.
“I’m going to ship another 12 on Saturday or Sunday and maybe Tuesday or Wednesday ship another 12 or 20. That’s the way we’re moving,” Rodriguez said. “Now we just have to do good. We’re looking to bring 35, maybe 40 horses over there this summer. Hopefully we can get lucky and win some races.”
So far this year, Rodriguez was the leading trainer at Aqueduct’s winter meet that ran Jan. 1 to March 27 in both wins (36) and purses earned ($1,669,359). He was second in purses ($663,847) and fifth in wins (six) from 37 starters at the track’s spring meet that concluded April 24.
“We don’t complain. The winter was very, very good to us,” he said. “Right now we’ve got to regroup but hopefully we can do some good and then we can stay in Maryland year-round.”
Rodriguez said he is considering All Star Red for the $150,000 Maryland Sprint Championship (G3) for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on dirt on the Preakness undercard May 21. The 4-year-old colt has five wins from nine lifetime starts, most recently rallying for an impressive second-level allowance win April 13 at Aqueduct. He has yet to try stakes company.
In 2013, Rodriguez shipped in from New York to win the Maryland Sprint Championship with Sage Valley.
“We are thinking of the sprint. We’re going to see if we can take a chance in that race. I have to see what the race looks like and then take it from there,” he said. “He really surprised me [last time]. The race was much, much better than I expected and the owners want to take a chance in the stake so we might as well do it. We’ll see what he shows us and if anything we can go back to non-winners-of-three. I won that race before so hopefully we can get lucky again, you know?”
There is also a chance that Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stables and Michael Imperio’s Katniss the Victor may show up in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) for 3-year-old fillies on Preakness Eve, May 20, Rodriguez said.
Also coming off an allowance win March 24 at Aqueduct, the daughter of 2007 champion sprinter Midnight Lute was second by a nose in the Maddie May Stakes for New York-breds and third in the open Busher Stakes this year.
“The owners, sometimes they want to do something, so I’m going to check it out and see how the Black-Eyed Susan comes up and we’ll take it from there,” he said. “She won her maiden going long and she won the non-winners of one long. I don’t know if she’s that type of horse but I think she’s a stakes horse with New York-breds.”
Rodriguez joins Marcus Vitali in shipping a stable of horses to Laurel. Vitali, the third-leading trainer during Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet with 25 wins, moved 36 horses to Laurel three weeks ago.
Undefeated Bobcat Targeting Preakness Day Stakes
Rich Dalone Stable’s undefeated 3-year-old gelding Bobcat emerged from his second straight victory in good shape and will be pointed a trio of stakes on Preakness Day, May 21, at Pimlico Race Course.
Laurel Park-based trainer Dale Capuano said any of the $100,000 Sir Barton at 1 1/16 miles, $100,000 Chick Lang at six furlongs or $100,000 James W. Murphy at one mile on the grass are possible for the dark bay son of 2002 champion sprinter Orientate.
“With a 3-year-old, there’s not that many choices. Either you go in a stake or you run a two-other-than against older horses and you might as well be in a stake. I’ll nominate him to those races at Pimlico,” Capuano said. “There’s a race going long, because I’m thinking about stretching him out long. We’ll see how he does in his training. Then there’s a sprint stake and there’s a race on the turf and he’s actually bred really well for the turf. I’ll just kind of play it by ear and we’ll see. Right now my plan is to run him Preakness Day in one of those races if he’s doing well and I think he fits in one of them. It’s great to have options. He’ll tell me.”
Unraced at 2, Bobcat debuted March 19 at Laurel with a 10-length romp over stablemate and workmate Tough Teddy going six furlongs in 1:12.56 over a good, sealed main track. Capuano purchased the horse for $15,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale in September 2014.
“He’s so laid back in his training and around the barn. He doesn’t tout you, he just does what he has to do. He’s done nothing wrong, but he’s not flashy in any of his workouts,” Capuano said. “He just kind of did what he had to do when he was working so when he won the first time like that I was a bit surprised. I knew he was fit but I didn’t know he would run that well.
“He’d actually been working with Tough Teddy, who was second in the race. They worked together a few times and they just stayed right together and then he went and beat him by 10 lengths,” he added. “I didn’t expect that to happen by the workouts. It seems like he’s saving it for the afternoon, which is perfect.”
Bobcat returned April 22 in a matchup against another impressive debut winner, Blu Moon Ace, in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance. Bobcat took the lead to the eighth pole, lost it, but fought back to beat Blu Moon Ace by a half-length in 1:11.98 over a fast track.
“He came out of his last race very well. I thought he was pretty game. It looked like they could have gone by him at anytime around the turn and down the stretch but he dug in pretty well,” Capuano said. “I am a little more impressed with the fact that he fought hard. The other horse, going by the charts, was a head in front at the eighth pole and he came back and beat him. It’s a lot tougher to do that than it is to go out there and be on the outside like he did his first start and kind of open up. The second start was a little more impressive, I thought.”
Live Racing Returns Friday with Multiple Carryovers
There will be multiple carryovers available to bettors when live racing returns to Laurel Park with a 10-race program on Friday.
The 50-cent Pick 5, offering an industry-low 12 percent takeout, will have a carryover of $4,026.44. The sequence begins in Race 6 and includes a $47,000 optional claiming allowance at about 1 1/16 miles on the main track in Race 8, and a $45,000 optional claiming allowance going one mile on the grass in Race 9, featuring the return of Grade 3 winner Metaboss.
There will be a $1 Super Hi-5 carryover of $2,708.25 for Friday’s opener, a 5 ½-furlong claiming turf sprint, as well as a carryover of $662.43 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 which kicks off in Race 5.
First race post time Friday is 1:10 p.m.
Large Fields Continue to Open Weekend at Laurel
Large, competitive fields will once again be the rule at Laurel Park for the first two days of its penultimate weekend of racing before live action shifts to Pimlico Race Course.
A total of 120 horses were entered in Friday’s 10-race program, an average of 12 horses per race. Seven races drew fields of 10 or more, led by 16 in both Race 7, a $40,000 maiden event going 5 ½ furlongs on the Fort Marcy Turf Course, and Race 9, a $45,000 optional claiming allowance at one mile on the Kelso Turf Course.
Saturday’s program saw 128 horses in 11 races, an average of 11.6 per race. All but three races have double-digit entries including 16 in the Race 4, a 5 ½-furlong maiden claimer on turf; Race 6, a six-furlong maiden claimer on the main track; and Race 9, a $40,000 maiden event at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Last weekend, Laurel had 127 horses in 10 races on Friday (12.7 average), 130 horses in 11 races on Saturday (11.8 average) and 116 horses in 10 races on Sunday (11.6 average).
Laurel’s winter meet, which opened Jan. 1, concludes May 8. Action picks up again May 13 with the Preakness Meet at Pimlico, highlighted by the 141st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 21.
Jockeys Pimentel, Hole Named to Return Friday
Jockey Julian Pimentel is expected to make his second return from a broken foot on Friday, named in two of the day’s 10 races.
Regular rider for Maryland-bred multiple Grade 3-winning multi-millionaire Ben’s Cat, Pimentel has mounts on Thissongisaboutyou for trainer Mike Trombetta in Race 4, and is named on also-eligible Two Notch Road for trainer Glenn Thompson in Race 9.
On Saturday, Pimentel is named in two of 11 races including English Minister in featured Race 10, a $47,000 optional claiming allowance on the grass. Pimentel ranks sixth in earnings ($594,411) and seventh in wins (15) at the current meet.
Pimentel has his foot broken in two places when stepped on by a horse in February, and returned from a month away to finish off the board on I’m In April 15. He has not ridden since but has resumed exercising horses in the morning without complication, said agent Ronnie Gerardo.
Hole suffered a bruised elbow when his mount, L G Crash, banged the side of the starting gate in Race 4 April 23. He took off his remaining mounts that day and another two Sunday. He is named in four of 10 races Friday and six of 11 races on Saturday.
At the current meet, Hole ranks eighth in purses ($428,354) and 10th in wins (12).
