J R Sanchez Racing Stable's Shake Em Loose, a 59-1 upset stakes winner in his first race off the claim three starts back, proved the effort was no fluke by turning back even-money favorite Joe through the stretch to capture the $100,000 Private Terms by 1 ¾ lengths Saturday at Laurel Park.
The 33rd running of the Private Terms anchored five stakes worth $450,000 in purses on the St. Patrick's Day weekend program, co-headlined by the $100,000 Beyond the Wire for 3-year-old fillies, won by Luna Belle.
Contested around two turns at about 1 1/16 miles, the Private Terms is the penultimate race in Laurel's series of stakes for 3-year-olds, followed by the $125,000 Federico Tesio going 1 1/8 miles April 16, a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the 147th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 21 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Ridden by Charlie Marquez for owner-trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, Shake Em Loose completed the distance in 1:46.80 over a fast main track and returned $12.
Joe, recently named as Maryland's champion 2-year-old male of 2021, had his three-race win streak snapped but was a decisive second.
“You never really expect much of a horse until you get them in your hands. Then you have to go day by day and look at the horses,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “At the beginning, I thought he was just going to be a regular horse. I never thought he was going to be something like this. Day by day he's improving. He's showed me a lot.”
Joe's Michael Trombetta-trained stablemate Conclusive, sixth behind Local Motive in the one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 19, broke running from his inside post and went the first quarter-mile in :23.73 and the half in 47.59 tracked closest by Local Motive. Shake Em Loose, breaking from the far outside, raced in the clear around the first turn as Joe dropped down to the rail in fourth.
Marquez, Maryland's teenage sensation and a finalist for the 2021 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice that won his first career stakes in last year's Private Terms with Shackled Love, launched his bid leaving the backstretch. Shake Em Loose swept into second midway around the far turn and moved to even terms with Conclusive after six furlongs in 1:12.80.
Shake Em Loose straightened for home with the lead and was set down for a drive as Joe, who had been tipped outside on the turn by jockey Victor Carrasco, greenly gave chase through the lane and had to settle for second, six lengths ahead of Local Motive, followed by Majestic Frontier, Conclusive, Micro Star and Eagle in Love. Maximum Impact was scratched.
“He's such a straightforward horse. I knew (Joe) was the horse to beat, so getting the jump on him was probably the most important part of the race,” Marquez said. “Once I asked him to run he really kicked on, and I just didn't want to get in his way from there.”
Sanchez-Salomon claimed Shake Em Loose for $16,000 out of a 3 ¾-length win last November at Laurel. In his subsequent start, he came from way back to win the seven-furlong Heft and began 2022 finishing a troubled seventh in the Spectacular Bid, where he broke in the air. He came into the Private Terms off a 3 ¾-length optional claiming allowance win Feb. 27 at Laurel, and the trainer said he would be pointed to the Tesio.
“That's our next step, if God permits us to get there and have a sound horse by then,” he said. “It's fun to have a horse like this, especially when you own him and train him.”
Private Terms raced in the colors of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Janney's Locust Hill Farm, winning 12 races, nine stakes and more than $1.2 million from 1987-89 including the 1988 Federico Tesio (G3) and Wood Memorial (G1) and 1989 Mass Cap (G2). His track record of 1:47 1/5 in winning the 1989 Never Bend Handicap at Pimlico still stands. He sired Grade 1-winning millionaires Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites.
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