Turf News

With just one victory to show for 26 starts in South Florida for owner/breeder Joel W. Sainer and trainer Dave Braddy, Took a Cab took a van ride north to Parx Racing for new owners DDEH Stable and John M. Rodriguez. The move proved to be just what the 3-year-old son of Handsome Mike needed, making his initial effort a winning one in Pennsylvania yesterday.

Luis Rivera contributed a picture-perfect ride aboard the gelding, settling in on the rail just behind the leaders racing up the backstretch, and making a strong three-wide move on the turn after a half in :45.3. From there, Took a Cab cruised to his second victory by 2 1/2 lengths, clocked in 1:11.08 for six furlongs. He paid $12, matched by a $12,000 check for his new owners.

Took a Cab is now 2-4-8 in 27 tries with earnings of $60,700 and is Handsome Mike’s 15th winner this year.

Sharp handicappers must have been paying close attention to the morning trials of Where U B, because the 3-year-old gelding by Ride On Curlin was bet down to 2-1 favoritism in his career debut yesterday at Parx Racing.

Ruben Silvera was aboard Where U B, who was purchased for a bargain $5,000 by current owner Joseph Besecker at the OBS July sale in 2020. Silvera put the gelding on the lead at the break and Where U B never gave it up, repelling all challenges and going on to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:04.83 for the 4 1/2 furlongs. He paid $6 and earned $11,400.

Where U B is the fifth winner from just 10 starters this year for Ride On Curlin.

In her first start away from Florida, Jeanie’s Angel scored her second career victory yesterday, a sharp wire-to-wire performance at Pimlico Race Course.

The 5-year-old daughter of Handsome Mike had been able to win just once in 11 tries at Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream West, but after a five-month layoff, made it look easy in Baltimore. With Jorge Ruiz in the irons, the mare bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon shot to the front from the No. 6 post, received one minor challenge while passing the furlong markers in :23.68 and :47.59, and coasted to the wire four lengths in front with six furlongs in 1:13.13.

Jeanie’s Angel, a $13,000 OBS June 2-year-old in 2018, paid $5 as favorite and earned a check for $8,550, becoming Handsome Mike’s 14th winner of the year.

The 4-year-old colt Complex System has more than emulated his name – his eight-race career can be rated as somewhat complex.

Breeder Beth Bayer sold the son of Amira’s Prince for $25,000 at the 2018 OBS October sale. Six months later, high-profile Klaravich Stable purchased him for $210,000 at the OBS April sale. Racing in the Klaravich colors for his first five starts, Complex System finished second four times and third once and never went off at odds higher than 7/2 – twice he was odds-on.

The Klaravich group apparently soured on the colt and in his fifth race, when he was 5/2, he was claimed by Joe Sharp at Belmont Park for $40,000, for owner/trainer Louis Roussel III.

Roussel shipped Complex System to Fair Grounds and in his sixth start, the colt broke his maiden at odds of 50 cents to a dollar. An eventful seventh start produced his first off-the-board finish, but yesterday he made amends for that one, going wire-to-wire in a $47,000 allowance optional claimer over the Gulfstream Park grass course and winning by 2 1/4 lengths without ever being tested, getting his highest Equibase “E” rating, a 96. He paid $11, raised his record to a solid 2-4-1 and the $28,700 winner’s check lifted his earnings to $104,500.

Complex System looks like a colt who has not yet reached his potential.

Indy Princess Koko raced in the colors of her breeder, Jeannine Strauss McGinn, for her first four races at Tampa Bay Downs with only a lone third to show for her efforts. Now in the barn of a new owner, the 4-year-old filly by Amira’s Prince broke her maiden in style yesterday in her second start for Andy Vasquez at Belterra Park; she had finished third in her first start in Ohio.

Sonny Leon handled the filly to perfection, getting her off second in the five-furlong race, stalking the leader down the backstretch, then letting her roll at the eighth pole. After fractions of :22.92 and :47.47, Indy Princess Koko left the field behind and won by seven widening lengths, with Leon hand riding for the final sixteenth.

Indy Princess Koko was clocked in 1:00.37, paid $6.80 as second choice, and earned a check for $4,920. She became the third winner this year for Amira’s Prince.

Following a 2 1/2-month layoff after being claimed out of a winning race at Mahoning Valley in Austintown, Ohio, And I Know knew just what to do in her next try about 300 miles across the state at Belterra Park in Cincinnati.

With veteran Perry Ouzts aboard, the 5-year-old daughter of Handsome Mike made it two victories in a row, and three for her career, winning at first asking for new owner Dalma Lozado. And I Know raced a flat mile over the main track in 1:40.29, earning the highest Equibase “E” speed figure – 73 – of her 31-race career.

At odds of 5-1, And I Know was second early, but she cruised into the lead down the backstretch, opened up by two lengths on the turn, and held on to win by half a length, collecting a check for $5,100 and raising her total to $44,528. She paid $12.

On another sparse Tuesday with all the major tracks shuttered, Handsome Mike had three starters at various venues around the country and struck for two winners and a third. The pair of winners gave him 13 for the year.

In a $29,700 maiden special at Finger Lakes, Striking Mike broke his maiden in his fifth start under Emanuel De Diego, who put the 3-year-old on the lead from the rail and fought off Ganondagan through early fractions of :23.16 and :47.10. He then pulled away in the stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths while the 6/5 shot faded to third. The gelding owned and bred by Kathryn Wright and Samantha Vitalone was clocked in :53.61 for the 4 1/2 furlongs on a track labeled ‘good,’ paid $18.80, and collected a check for $14,520.

Last night, Don’t Spin Me spun her sixth career victory over a sloppy track at Mountaineer Park with Noel Vigil riding, earning a check for $4,350. The 5-year-old mare was bred by the highly successful quartet of Ed Seltzer, Beverly Anderson, and Joe and Helen Barbazon and was sent off at 7/2 in the race at 5 1/2 furlongs. Don’t Spin Me went to the front in a :22.86 quarter and proved to be easily best, battling back after briefly losing the lead at the top of the stretch and winning by 4 1/4 lengths. The $1,700 OBS October yearling has earned $59,963 and is 6-3-0 in 27 starts.

After 14 starts at other tracks produced just one victory, Mike Is Ready showed yesterday he was more than ready for his first effort at Indiana Grand. The son of Handsome Mike proved to be a ton the best in a one-mile race with Fernando De La Cruz in the saddle.

Racing’s major problem of short fields didn’t hurt the chances of the 4-year-old gelding after three late scratches reduced the field to five. But it no doubt wouldn’t have mattered how many left the starting gate as De La Cruz nursed Mike Is Ready within hailing distance of the lead down the backstretch, went after the pace-setter three wide on the turn, and easily cruised to a two-length victory.

Mike Is Ready earned a check of $6,600 for breeder Ruben Sierra’s Just For Fun Stable and paid $26 as the longest price on the tote board. He became Handsome Mike’s 11th winner of 2021.

It was an odd race turned in by Alabama Slammer at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday, and in the end, the 3-year-old gelding wound up in a dead heat for the victory, giving Handsome Mike his 10th winner of 2021, and pushing his seasonal earnings past $307,000. The son of Scat Daddy recently went over the $3 million mark lifetime, but is already approaching $3.1 million.

Alabama Slammer broke on top with Alonso Quinonez and opened up by two lengths in the 7-furlong race, but was quickly joined by three rivals as they hit the quarter in :22.20. He raced on the inside head-and-head for the lead into the turn, then lost it approaching the stretch. But Quinonez used the rail smartly and suddenly the gelding was in front again and drawing off.

Midway down the stretch, Light Us Up came flying down the outside and closed the gap, and the two hit the wire together in 1:24.48, with the judges unable to separate them. Alabama Slammer’s share of the purse was $14,153, and he’s now 2-1-0 in four starts with earnings of $33,130.

The first 2-year-old race in Florida this season produced an eye-opening performance by Laki Lio, a Ride On Curlin colt who went wire-to-wire for owner/breeder Bella Inizio Farm at Gulfstream Park in near track-record time.

Angel Arroyo was aboard Laki Lio in the $65,000 maiden special, facing six others by such former Pleasant Acres stallions as Brethren and Long Island Sound, and another by Florida’s leading sire, Khozan.

Laki Lio was off like a shot, opening up daylight on the way to a sizzling quarter in :21.83 and a half in :45.67. He cruised into the stretch without being tested, and crossed the finish line in :52.16 for the 4 1/2 furlongs, 3 1/2 lengths in front, and just one second off the track record set nearly seven years ago.

The victory was worth $40,000, and installed Laki Lio as the leading money-earner in North America among the 13 other juveniles who have won a race.