Sole Volante To Wheel Back In 10 Days For Belmont Stakes

Following a strong performance in an allowance race last Wednesday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., Sole Volante will run back in just 10 days to start in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, reports the Daily Racing Form. To be run this Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., the Belmont will be the first leg of the 2020 Triple Crown due to sweeping schedule changes caused by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

Sole Volante, a 3-year-old son of Karakontie trained by Patrick Biancone, won the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes back in February before finishing second to King Guillermo in the G2 Tampa Bay Derby. The late-running colt is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Andie Biancone.

Wednesday's allowance race saw Sole Volante fall back to the rear of the field, as much as 10 lengths off the pace, then close around the outside with a sustained bid and cross the wire a comfortable 3/4-length winner.

“His energy level is very high, very good,” Biancone said. “We gave him a prep for the Belmont, and he came out of it the way I was expecting. The only way you cannot win a race is if you don't run.”

Sole Volante will ship to New York on a Tuesday flight out of South Florida.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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‘Very Competitive’: Two Highest-Earning Minnesota-Breds Meet Again In Wednesday’s 10,000 Lakes

The two Minnesota-bred Thoroughbreds with the highest career earnings, Mr. Jagermeister and Hot Shot Kid, will face off in the 10,000 Lakes Stakes Wednesday at Canterbury Park, racing six furlongs for a purse of $50,000. The 5-year-old Mr. Jagermeister, winner of 11 of 23 starts and $578,627 in purses, and 6-year-old Hot Shot Kid, who won five stakes, including the 10,000 Lakes, at the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack in 2019 and has amassed $545,404 in purses from 29 career starts, meet for the first time since the 2018 running of this same stake race.

That year Mr. Jagermeister got the best of it finishing 8 1/2 lengths in front of second-place Hot Shot Kid. He then went on to win three additional stakes that summer before being named the Canterbury horse of the meet, an honor bestowed on Hot Shot Kid last year.

“This is going to be a very exciting race; a very competitive race,” Mr. Jagermeister's trainer and co-owner Valorie Lund said. Leandro Goncalves has the mount. “[Mr. Jagermeister] is ready,” Lund said, but questions the prohibitively favored 2 to 5 morning line hung on her horse. “I've watched Hot Shot Kid training both here and at Oaklawn. He looks great,” she said.

Mac Robertson, perennial leading trainer at Canterbury Park and conditioner of Hot Shot Kid, is also quick to acknowledge the competition.

“Mr. Jagermeister is very good,” Robertson said, speaking Sunday from Delaware Park where he is preparing his East Coast string. He intended to run Hot Shot Kid at Keeneland but when that meet was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he changed plans and entered at Oaklawn where Hot Shot Kid ran a distant tenth in a sprint. Robertson has named last year's leading jockey Francisco Arietta to ride. He also entered Cinco Star in the five-horse field.

The 10,000 Lakes is the second race on an 11-race program that begins at 4:30 p.m., while the co-featured $50,000 Lady Slipper Stakes is the sixth. Robertson and Lund are also represented in the Lady Slipper. Robertson will run 7-year-old Honey's Sox Appeal and Ready to Runaway. Lund has entered Firstmate, a 5-year-old mare previously trained by Joe Sharp, for owners Barry and Joni Butzow of Eden Prairie, Minn. They must beat Lady Slipper defending champion Ari Gia and trainer Jose Silva, Jr.

“I'm tickled to have her,” Lund said of Firstmate. “There is a ton of speed in the race. I like the outside [post position] draw.” Firstmate recorded the fastest four furlong workout of the morning on June 10 in preparation. “She did it so easy,” Lund said.

Robertson has a very strong hand in the Lady Slipper. “I wouldn't trade my two for any of them,” he said. Honey's Sox Appeal is a multiple stakes winner who Robertson said “was in a brutally tough race at Oaklawn and she didn't run that bad.”

Ready to Runaway, claimed for $25,000, subsequently won three consecutive stakes last year at Canterbury. She raced three times at Oaklawn this spring with two third-place and one second-place finish, earning speed figures better than last year.

“She's never run a bad race really,” Robertson said. Not one to be without a plan, he considered potential strategy for Wednesday while examining the field. “We'll probably send one and take one back. This is a really good race.” He also entered Clickbait, but she will be a scratch and is reentered for Thursday. The field includes 2017 Minnesota Oaks winner Double Bee Sting and Pinup Girl, winner of the 2018 Lady Slipper.

Racing resumes Tuesday and runs through Thursday with first post at 4:30 p.m. each afternoon. More information is available at www.canterburypark.com .

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Monmouth To Honor Leonard Green With Virgil ‘Buddy’ Raines Distinguished Achievement Award

Long-time owner, breeder and racing consultant Leonard Green, whose D.J. Stable has been a fixture at Monmouth Park for nearly four decades, has been named the recipient of the Virgil “Buddy” Raines Distinguished Achievement Award, the track announced Monday.

The Raines Award, celebrating its 25th year, is traditionally presented during Monmouth Park's opening day press conference. With an altered schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Monmouth Park's 75th season will now get underway on Friday, July 3.

Green joins a notable list of past recipients whose exemplary conduct has earned them the reward for their professionalism, integrity and service to Thoroughbred racing.

“Monmouth Park has always been home to me. It represents one of the finest racing establishments in the country,” Green said. “I am deeply honored to be recognized for this distinguished award and am proud to be a member of its impressive roster of recipients. I personally want to thank Dennis Drazin for this award, and for all his hard work in keeping horse racing viable in New Jersey.”

Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development, operator of Monmouth Park, said Green “exemplifies everything that is good about Thoroughbred racing.”

“The Raines Award honors the very best in our sport and Leonard Green has represented that for many years now,” Drazin added.

Leonard and Lois Green co-own D.J. Stable, which was Monmouth Park's leading owner three times. D.J. Stable has won almost 500 races at the “Oceanport Oval,” ranging from claiming races to Graded Stakes. Over the years the Greens have campaigned almost 30 graded stakes winners, including 2018 Eclipse Award-winner Jaywalk, A Thread of Blue, Another Miracle, Diamond King, Do It With Style, Mo' Green, Shooter, Songandaprayer and Sower.

The Greens have also bred the graded stakes-winning Central Banker, Hoppertunity, November Snow and Senate Appointee among dozens of other notable stakes winners.

“We have been fortunate to win races at tracks around the world, but standing in the winner's circle at Monmouth Park is still my greatest thrill,” Green said. “Of course we could not have won all those races at Monmouth without the assistance of talented trainers like Walter Reese, John Servis, Joe Orseno and Gary Contessa and Hall of Fame jockeys Julie Krone, Craig Perret, Chris Antley and Joe Bravo. They all should be recognized for their respective efforts as well.”

Green, a New Jersey Certified Public Accountant, is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Owner/President Management Program. He holds a master's degree in Taxation, with Honors, from New York University and an undergraduate degree in Accounting from Rutgers University. For almost 20 years, Green has taught Entrepreneurship and Family Business courses at Babson College.

Green is also Founder and Chairman of New Jersey-based accounting and advisory firm “The Green Group.” The firm specializes in the thoroughbred industry and has over 700 equine-related clients, including many of the top-rated partnerships and syndications, as well as alliances with fellow owners and breeders, trainers and jockeys.

Green has also been featured on CNBC “Business to Business” for stories focusing on making money in the horse breeding and racing industries and is a regular columnist for the Thoroughbred Daily News.

In 2017 Green released a top selling business book, The Entrepreneur's Playbook.

Monmouth Park's 37-day meet will again be highlighted by the Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes, which will be renewed for the 53rd time on Saturday, July 18. In a first for the Haskell, the top four finishers will earn points (100-40-20-10) for the Kentucky Derby, which is set for Sept. 5.

Five other stakes will be contested on Haskell Day, including the Grade 1 United Nations, the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup, the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher and the Grade 3 WinStar Matchmaker Stakes.

The racing schedule will go from Friday, July 3, through Sunday, Sept. 27. Post time on Fridays will be 5 p.m. (except Sept. 4 when it will be 12:50 p.m.). Saturday and Sunday post will be 12:50, except Haskell Day when the first race goes at noon.

For more information visit www.monmouthpark.com or follow the racetrack on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The list of previous Raines Award winners:

1996: J. Willard Thompson

1997: Danny Perlsweig

1998: Warren A. “Jimmy” Croll

1999: Joe Pierce Jr.

2000: Peter Shannon

2001: Dennis Drazin

2002: Sam Fieramosca

2003: Charles and Marianne Hesse

2004: Janet Laszlo

2005: Richard Malouf

2006: John Forbes

2007: Ben Perkins Sr.

2008: Gerald and Carolyn Sleeter

2009: Joel Kligman

2010: John Tammaro III

2011: Frank Costa

2012: John Mazza

2013: Ebby Novak

2014: Chuck Spina

2015: Bob Baffert

2016: Ed Barney

2017: Bob Kulina

2018: Mike Musto

2019: Tim Hills

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