Yesterday and today: April 22 racing highlights
Monster Sleeping won an allowance at Laurel Park on April 3. Photo by The Racing Biz.
From Staff Reports
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: RENAISSANCE ROSIE IMPRESSES IN MAIDEN SCORE
Renaissance Rosie’s debut was promising. She ran second to stable mate High Dive while six clear of the show horse.
She delivered her first win yesterday, in her second career start, and it’s starting to look like trainer Jeff Runco has a barnful of talented youngsters.
Last night, in a 4 1/2 furlong maiden special weight test at Charles Town, Renaissance Rosie left the maiden ranks with style, fashioning a 5 1/2 length win. Under Jose Montano, who won two on the evening, Renaissance Rosie prompted the pace of Rhapsody in Red for the opening quarter mile, took over near the quarter pole, and widened in the lane to the final margin.
Rhapsody in Red held second, while firster Crazy Bernice was third. Running time for the 4 1/2 furlongs was 52.06 seconds. In the next race, allowance fillies took 52.54 seconds to navigate the same distance.
Renaissance Rosie now has a win and a second from two career starts, with earnings of $18,260. Renaissance Rosie, a Maryland-bred daughter of Jump Start, was a $35,000 auction purchase at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Eastern Fall Yearlings Sale.
ALSO…
- Another Runco runner, T Rex Express, took a 6 1/2 furlong WV-bred allowance test Thursday night. The 4-5 favorite cruised home three clear in 1:18.99, with Ollie Figgins trainee Tribal Heat in second, as she had been at every call. It was the second straight win for T Rex Express, who’s now won three of six career starts.
- Kisses for Love has been a busy runner in 2016, and a productive one. She made her seventh start of the season last night — she’s been in the money six times — and made it her third win when taking a Pennsylvania-bred allowance at Penn National. The six-year-old A.P. Warrior mare, trained by Brandon Kulp, opened a long lead under Angel Rodriguez in the one-mile contest before holding off the late-running Sweetest Yet in 1:41.41. It was the second win of the evening for Rodriguez, who also scored with Winter’s Child in the first.
LOOKING AHEAD: TODAY’S RACING
- Today’s fifth from Laurel, a first allowance/optional claimer for three-year-olds, brings together a pair of impressive first out winners. Blu Moon Ace is the 2-1 favorite off a nearly five-length win against maiden special weight rivals, earning a 70 Beyer. The Larry Murray-trained son of Malibu Moon will have Trevor McCarthy in the irons. Among the rivals he’ll have to contend with, however, is the Dale Capuano-trained Bobcat (7-2), who won by 10 in his debut; the Orientate gelding will have Alex Cintron in the irons. The race also includes Picadilly Roadster (12-1) — the first Marcus Vitali-trainee to run locally from the trainer’s new Laurel operation.
- Gwendolyn (5-2), a consistent Great Notion filly, is the lukewarm favorite in tonight’s Penn National feature, a second-level allowance/optional claimer. The Rodrigo Madrigal trainee, who’ll have Andrew Wolfsont up, has finished in the money in eight straight, including back-to-back seconds at this level — and the horse who won both of those isn’t here today. The show horse from those two runner-up efforts, Sick Love (4-1), had a bit of a troubled trip last out and will hope a cleaner trip gives her a chance to turn the tables.
- Only six runners are signed up for tonight’s seventh from Charles Town, an allowance/optional claimer going 6 1/2 furlongs, but it’s an intriguing group. Jeff Runco trainee Queen of the Hill (2-1) is the morning line favorite; the Cal-bred Salt Lake mare has been in the money in 11 straight and enters off an easy win against lesser. His other horse in here, Waterside Dream (5-1), is a little light in the speed figs department but has three wins from five starts and still plenty of upside. And Wayne Potts’s Line of Best Fit (5-2) hasn’t done much wrong lately, either, having finished first and third against better at Laurel in her last two starts.
