Yesterday and today: May 13 racing highlights
Monster Sleeping won an allowance at Laurel Park on April 3. Photo by The Racing Biz.
From Staff Reports
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: COLONEL SHARP REPEATS
Colonel Sharp showed talent when he galloped to a 13-length win in his debut at Penn National April 22.
Yesterday at Pimlico, he showed heart.
Tested for the first time in his brief career, the three-year-old Bob and John gelding dueled heads-apart with Zen Papa for the last quarter-mile of the six-furlong, $42,000 allowance test, finally prevailing by a head in 1:11.09. It was another four lengths back to Joy Drive in third.
Trained by Todd Beattie, Colonel Sharp was bet down to 1-5 in his debut off a 4-1 morning line. That day, with William Otero up, he broke well, led by a length after a quarter-mile, and widened his advantage with each subsequent stride.
Though bettors sent him off at 1-2 today, it didn’t figure to be such an easy day — and it wasn’t. He found himself on the outside of a three-horse shuffle after an opening quarter in 22.89 seconds. Legend Keeper fell away during the second quarter, and that left Colonel Sharp and Zen Papa to slug it out to the wire.
Colonel Sharp, who was again ridden by Otero, has now won both of his career starts and has earned $41,040. He was an $11,000 auction purchase as a yearling and is owned by D A S L Stable LLC.
ALSO
- Lemme See kicked off the Pimlico meeting with a 1 1/2 length, maiden-breaking score. The Jason McCutchen-trained two-year-old Divine Park colt dueled two wide before going on to win in 53.88 for 4 1/2 furlongs, paying $14 to win. Full Quest was second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Boys From Boston, who rallied from last while shaving 10 lengths off his deficit in the final furlong.
- Dark Nile delivered the goods Thursday evening, romping to a 4 3/4 length win in a first allowance for Pennsylvania-bred distaffers. The sophomore Pioneerof the Nile filly, trained by Arnaud Delacour, grabbed the early lead, guided the field through the early running while setting solid fractions of 47.82 seconds for the half-mile and 1:12.62 for three-quarters, and widened to the finish while under a hand ride from jockey Carol Cedeno. The 7-10 favorite, Dark Nile completed the 1 mile 70 yards in a solid 1:42.42 and now has won two of three career starts.
LOOK AHEAD: TODAY’S RACING
- Some awfully pricey maidens will be in the house for the sixth at Pimlico, a maiden special weight going six furlongs on the main track, headed (financially) by Souper Awesome (15-1), a $400,000 auction purchase last year as a two-year-old. The son of Awesome Again, trained by Mike Trombetta, finished seventh in his debut at Churchill Downs last November but has not raced since. He’s joined in the big-ticket area by Magician Man (6-1), a $300,000 Drosselmeyer colt; favored Driving Me Crazy (2-1), a Linda Rice-trained son of Bob and John who ran second on debut; and Nate’s Tizzy (5-2), a Tiz Wonderful colt who fetched $120,000 at auction and was second last out, in October ’15, at Santa Anita.
- A pair of runners dropping out of stakes company headline Pimlico’s featured eighth race, a $47,000 allowance contest going six furlongs. La Madrina (9-5), trained by Shug McGaughey, ships in as the favorite after having made two of her prior three starts in graded company. The Tapit mare won three of her first four starts but has lost eight straight since and will have Edgar Prado in the irons. Her top competition may come from Mom’z Laugh (2-1), a Marcus Vitali trainee who won the Sunshine Millions Distaff two back but will make her first start in almost three months here; Nik Juarez will ride.
- Five Cents (8-5) won a $20,000 claiming race last out at Penn National on April 23. The Tim Kreiser trainee returns tonight, dropped into a $5,000 starter allowance (race 3) going six furlongs and is a solid favorite here. The seven-time winner will have Francisco Garcia up. His major competitors look to be Pacific Ridge (9-2), who’s won three straight, including a six-length win against similar last out; and No More Strippers (7-2), who’s won twice this year but was thrashed by allowance foes last out.
- Check out our Triple Crown Trail page to follow the list of possible Preakness runners.
