Undefeated Our Braintrust Pointing to G3 Sanford Stakes July 21
Undefeated Our Braintrust Pointing to G3 Sanford Stakes July 21
Graded Winner Something Awesome Continues Recuperation on Farm
Rainbow 6 Carryover for Saturday’s 11-Race Program
LAUREL, MD – Undefeated Laurel Park-based 2-year-old Our Braintrust, upset winner of the Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park last time out, is likely headed back to New York to make his graded debut next month.
Trainer Cal Lynch said between Friday’s races that Our Braintrust, a Maryland-bred son of Freud he co-owns with Stanton Smith Jr., is being pointed to the six-furlong Sanford Stakes (G3) July 21 at Saratoga Race Course.
“The plan right now is the Sanford,” Lynch said.
Our Braintrust returned to the work tab with a half-mile breeze Wednesday at Laurel under Lynch’s son and assistant, Charlie, ranking fourth of 21 horses with a time of 48.40 seconds.
It was the first work for Our Braintrust since rallying boldly up the rail to take the 5 ½-furlong Tremont by three-quarters of a length in 1:04.41 June 8 at odds of 10-1. Our Braintrust won by the same margin in his debut, a 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight May 3 at Laurel.
“He came out of the work pretty good,” Lynch said. “He worked great, very easy … and he came back bucking and squealing and all systems are go. He’ll work again this week Wednesday or Thursday and we’ll backtrack from there.”
Lynch purchased Our Braintrust for $25,000 during Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic fall yearling sale last October at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Ridden by Jorge Vargas Jr. in debut and Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in the Tremont, he has earned $116,640 in purses.
Graded Winner Something Awesome Continues Recuperation on Farm
Stronach Stables’ multiple graded-stakes winning homebred Something Awesome continues to recuperate at Adena Springs North in Aurora, Ontario, Canada following his eighth-place finish in the Pimlico Special (G3) May 18 at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
“He went to the farm and he’s doing pretty good over there,” trainer Jose Corrales said following his win in Friday’s first race with another Stronach homebred, 3-year-old Macho Uno gelding Uno Dancer ($18.80). “I just got an update today. Everything looks good so far.”
The Pimlico Special was just the second loss in seven starts for the 7-year-old Awesome Again gelding since being transferred to Laurel-based Corrales last fall. He had won three straight, all in stakes – the General George (G3), Harrison E. Johnson Memorial and Charles Town Classic (G2) – to put him over $1 million in career purses.
“He had run some hard races before that. Maybe we should have gave him a rest before the Pimlico Special, but it was an important race to run … and we did,” Corrales said. “I think he’s going to come back and still be a nice horse.”
If all goes well, Corrales hopes to get Something Awesome back in his Laurel barn during the second half of the current summer meet, which ends Aug. 19.
“It’ll probably be another month before he comes back to me,” he said.
Notes: Jockey Daniel Centeno visited the winner’s circle twice Friday aboard Sir Brahms ($6.60) in the third race and Surprise Twist ($8.40) in the seventh … There will be a jackpot carryover of $1,292.39 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Saturday (Races 6-11) with a first-race post time of 1:10 p.m. Multiple tickets were sold with all six winners Friday worth $969.28.
