Rockinn On Bye Ends Drought in Laurel Feature Saturday
Rockinn On Bye Ends Drought in Laurel Feature Saturday
Apprentice Jockey Hamilton Enjoys Four-Win Afternoon
Still Having Fun Breezes Saturday at Laurel for Woody Stephens (G2)
LAUREL, MD – Stephen R. Ferguson’s multiple graded-stakes placed gelding Rockinn On Bye snapped a 31-month losing streak with a thrilling last-to-first head victory over favored Showalter in Saturday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.
It was the first win in 28 races for 8-year-old Maryland-bred Rockinn On Bye ($6), who ran six furlongs in 1:10.77 over a fast main track in the $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up.
Trained by Stephen Casey, Rockinn On Bye’s previous victory came Nov. 1, 2015 in a starter allowance at Laurel. Since then, he placed in 14 stakes including a second in the 2017 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and a third in the 2016 Maryland Sprint Handicap (G3).
Rockinn On Bye earned $34,827 for the win, pushing his career bankroll to $529,530 with a record of 7-19-10 from 56 starts.
“I was just saying that I sat on this horse three years ago for the first time on the grass at Pimlico and I said, ‘This is one of the nicest horses I’ve ever sat on.’ I like him a lot,” winning jockey Taylor Hole said. “He’s the richest horse I’ve ever ridden as a jockey.”
Rockinn On Bye trailed the field for a half-mile as Showalter led the way through fractions of 23.28 and 46.88 seconds with mild pressure from River Deep. Showalter was still going strong after straightening for home and opened up on his rivals but was unable to hold off the winner’s late drive on the far outside.
“Halfway on the turn I was like, ‘I’ve got no horse. We’re going to run last.’ He just makes that elbow, pins his ears and runs that last quarter of a mile in [:22 2/5], [:22 1/5] almost every time,” Hole said. “He fools you as a rider. He ignores you. He just wants to make the elbow, drift so the dirt doesn’t hit him in his face and runs them down. He’s a cool horse.”
Showalter, with apprentice Wes Hamilton bidding for his fifth win of the day, was a clear second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Noteworthy Peach. Hickory Hill and River Deep completed the order of finish.
“Oh man, I thought we had him,” Hamilton said. “At the head of the lane we were running pretty good and I started getting after him. I looked back and I knew Taylor was going to be running because he’s coming from behind. We just got beat.”
Apprentice Jockey Hamilton Enjoys Four-Win Afternoon
Apprentice rider Wes Hamilton, unseated from his final mount of the day on Friday, bounced back with three consecutive victories Saturday as part of a four-win afternoon.
The 19-year-old Hamilton was uninjured after being dumped when 4-year-old gelding Tennessee Wildcat ducked in leaving the mile chute during Friday’s ninth race, a $42,000 allowance that was moved from the grass to the main track.
Youngest son of Steve ‘Cowboy’ Hamilton, a member of Maryland’s jockey colony where he is a two-time riding titlist, Wes Hamilton began his big day with Slewzer ($23.60) in Saturday’s third race. He followed up with Tiz Surprised ($6) in the fourth and Whyyouask ($7.20) in the fifth. Both Slewzer and Whyyouask are trained by Dale Capuano.
Hamilton picked up win No. 4 with Glory Hound ($5) in the seventh race. Glory Hound was the second win for trainer Damon Dilodovico, who also scored with Sudden Hope ($4.20) in Saturday’s opener.
“It’s real exciting. It was a real good day,” Hamilton said. “Yesterday I hit the ground pretty hard and it took me a minute to get up. But I jumped right back up and I was ready to ride. I’ve just been riding as hard as I can all day today. I rode just about the whole card and it’s all going good.”
The Hamiltons accounted for six wins from 11 races Saturday. Steve Hamilton visited the winner’s circle with both Sudden Hope and Cobh ($18.20) in the 10th.
Still Having Fun Breezes Saturday at Laurel for Woody Stephens (G2)
Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Terp Racing’s multiple stakes winner Still Having Fun breezed Saturday morning at Laurel ahead of his next anticipated start in the Woody Stephens (G2) Saturday, June 9 at Belmont Park.
Jockey Sheldon Russell was aboard for the half-mile work in 47.60 seconds over a fast main track, ranking sixth of 77 horses at the distance. In his most recent start, Still Having Fun rallied to be second in the six-furlong Chick Lang Stakes May 19 on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1) at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
“It was just a good maintenance work. He didn’t really need a whole lot. He’s gotten a lot out of his past couple of races,” trainer Tim Keefe said. “He’s very fit, he’s very fresh. Sheldon just took him out and stretched his legs a little bit. He did it nice and easy, just like he’s been doing. He’s coming into the race well.”
The seven-furlong Woody Stephens for 3-year-olds will mark the graded-stakes debut for Still Having Fun, a bay son of Old Fashioned that began his sophomore season with victories in the seven-furlong Frank Whiteley Jr. Jan. 27 and the one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 17, both at Laurel.
In two tries around two turns, Still Having Fun was fourth following a troubled trip in the Private Terms and a non-threatening sixth in the Federico Tesio, the latter April 21. He cut back to a sprint for the first time since his seasonal debut for the Chick Lang.
The Woody Stephens will be run on the undercard of the Belmont Stakes (G1), where Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Justify will attempt to become the 13th Triple Crown champion in racing history.
“Obviously it’s a tough spot. There will be some really nice horses up there and we have to ship, but he handled the ship to Pimlico well last time,” Keefe said. “I was very pleased with how he handled Preakness Day. All the commotion and noise didn’t bother him. That’s kind of his mentality; nothing really seems to get under his skin. So, we decided to give him a shot up there. Everything’s looking good, knock on wood. We’ve got a couple more days of training to get through and we’ll ship him up on Thursday [June 6].”
Notes: Hugh McMahon was one of three trainers with two wins Saturday, finishing first with Readytotapit ($2.60) in a 4 ½-furlong maiden claiming sprint for 2-year-olds in Race 2, and Henry the King ($11.20) in Race 6 … There will be a jackpot carryover of $2,347.76 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Sunday. Tickets with four of six winners Saturday were worth $169.82. Sunday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 5-10 with a first-race post time of 1:10 p.m.
