Weekend roundup: Racing around the Mid-Atlantic

Raging Smoke grabbed the lead early en route to 2016 Sugar Maple win at Charles Town. Photo by The Racing Biz.

At Charles Town…

• It got late for the favorite in Saturday’s featured Shenandoah Handicap, but the wire arrived just in time. Renaissance Rosie, off at 4-5, held a five-length lead after a sharp opening quarter-mile — in 22.97 seconds — in the seven-furlong event. The co-highweight at 124 pounds, Renaissance Rosie and jockey Arnaldo Bocachica had just enough left to hold off the late charge of CT lover Lake Ponchatrain, who closed to within a half-length at the wire. Renaissance Rosie won for the 10th time in 17 career starts; she’s trained by Kevin Patterson for Robert L. Cole, Jr. and was bred in Maryland by the Estate of Cary Jackson.
• O’Sullivan Farms LLC enjoyed a productive Saturday evening, sending out a pair of runners who made promising debuts. Molokai, a three-year-old Orientate gelding, wore down favored Pagan Smart  to win a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight sprint in 53.46 seconds with Fredy Peltroche up. Molokai is trained by Javier Contreras. Two races later, in a 6 1/2 furlong maiden special weight, Atreyu, a three-year-old Limehouse gelding, missed by a neck to be second with Arnaldo Bocachica in the irons. Atreyu is trained by Jeff Runco.
• Christian Hiraldo leads all riders with six wins at the meet through the weekend’s action, while trainers Ronney Brown and James Casey are tied atop the trainer standings with five wins apiece.

At Laurel Park…

• Dialed back to 5 1/2 furlongs, Deep Red swept up outside and to victory in Sunday’s featured eighth race, an allowance test for three-year-old fillies. With Steve Hamilton up, Deep Red rallied from fifth to overtake favored Pikachu Princess in the final furlong and edge away to win by three parts of a length. Trainer Damon Dilodovico claimed Deep Red for $25,000 out of her maiden victory for Stormy Stable, LLC, and she has registered two wins, two seconds, and a third in six starts for her new connections.
• Jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr. had a big weekend, winning with four of 12 mounts, one of those being a facile score with Ms Locust Point in the $100,000 What A Summer Stakes. Vargas currently leads all riders with nine wins at the meet, three more than Steve Hamilton, who is second. Trainer Kenny Decker won with three of four mounts during the weekend, with his trainee Awesome Banner winning the $100,000 Fire Plug. Decker, with four wins at the meet, trails only Kieron Magee, who has five.

Elsewhere…

• Trainer Tim Kreiser enjoyed a productive week at Penn National. The conditioner sent out 11 runners, and five of them emerged victorious; two others finished second. For the season, Kreiser has eight wins from 21 starters in Grantville, four more than second-place Kimberly Graci.
• Three-year-old On the Hassle began her career in top trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn, finishing second and fourth — both times at odds-on — in two tries. Switched over to Kathleen DeMasi’s Parx Racing barn and outfitted with blinkers, the daughter of Orb, a $150,000 auction purchase, responded with a five-length win against maiden special weight foes at Penn National on Saturday. Running time for the six furlongs — 1:12.62 — was half-a-second faster than three-year-old Pennsylvania-bred allowance runners managed it in the next race (1:13.13).
• Trainers John Servis and Edward Coletti are off to fast starts at Parx Racing this year. Servis leads all trainers with five wins from 10 starters to date, and his $138,640 in earnings are more than $50,000 higher than any other trainer. Coletti has four wins thus far, and those have come from just six starters.