Two Notch Road, 11, gunning for White Oak Farm win

by | Jun 20, 2018 | Breaking, Maryland, MD Racing, Racing, Virginia, Virginia Breeding

Two Notch Road. Photo by Laurie Asseo.

From a Maryland Jockey Club release

Two Notch Road, a stakes winner in five of his seven racing seasons, looks to carry that streak into his 11-year-old year in the $75,000 White Oak Farm Stakes for three-year-olds and up bred or sired in Virginia.

The White Oak Farm will be the 41st career start and third this year for Two Notch Road, bred by James Hackman, who co-owns the Partner’s Hero gelding with trainer Glenn Thompson. Four of his seven lifetime victories have come in Virginia-bred stakes, all run in Maryland, most recently in the Meadow Stable Stakes last August, also his latest win.

“I feel good about the race. There are some tough horses in there,” Thompson said. “I feel good about the way he’s coming into the race. I’m happy with him.”

Two Notch Road, a winner of $522,163 in purse earnings during his career, began this year in a pair of optional claiming allowances, finishing sixth in his 11-year-old debut April 29 at Laurel and fourth in race taken off the turf May 28 at Monmouth Park. It was only the fourth time he had raced on dirt and first since his 2-year-old season.

“When they took it off the turf, he had had some decent breezes on the dirt so I wasn’t really concerned about him running on it. Normally I would have scratched him, but because of the way it fit in with the Virginia-bred races I went ahead and let him go out there and run a little bit,” Thompson said. “I felt good about his performance. He was climbing; I think he was in shock. He was like, ‘What the hell is this?’ But, I think it was a decent performance and I think it will tighten him up so I think we’ll be in good shape.”

Wildcard Stable’s Lime House Louie, third in last year’s White Oak Farm and Meadow Stable, is among eight rivals set to line up against Two Notch Road, along with 2016 Punch Line Stakes runner-up Available; Charles Town-based Braxton, a winner of five of nine lifetime starts including three of five this year; Determined Vision, Fly E Dubai, Hatteras Bound and Tiz Unbeatable.