Black Cloud Racing Stable's Bound by Destiny, undefeated through four starts, looks to extend her streak with a third consecutive stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Smart Halo at Laurel Park.
Based with trainer Anthony Pecoraro, Bound by Destiny will be venturing away from her Delaware Park home for the first time following wins in the 5 ½-furlong Blue Hen Aug. 31 and six-furlong Small Wonder Sept. 28, both against Delaware-bred/certified horses.
“She hasn't done anything wrong yet,” Pecoraro said. “Eveyrthing she's doing is right. She's doing very well and growing up. She's ready for the next step.”
Bound by Destiny debuted in a five-furlong maiden claimer July 1, romping by 14 lengths in front-running fashion. She returned in an optional claimer Aug. 10 and found herself behind horses before getting up to win by a neck going 5 ½ furlongs. Those two efforts led her to being favored in each of her stakes victories.
“We always liked her because she could run. What happened was I had her ready and the maiden special weight didn't go and then the [next race] didn't go and I thought, 'Let's just run this horse and go forward with that,'” Pecoraro said. “She's a waiver claimer anyway, so that's what we did. We ran her in there and she won by a pole.
“She came back in the allowance race and won again and won two stakes in a row. She does just enough to win, and not any more,” he added. “She's fast, but she's versatile. There's always those guys that want to be on the lead and she can sit off that if she has to, which is good.”
Jeremy Rose, aboard for all four of her starts, gets the return call from Post 4 in a field of eight.
“We were going to run her in this race and then give her the season off,” Pecoraro said. “It all depended on how she came out of the last race, and she came out of it good, so that's why we're in there. We're looking forward to it.”
Also among the entries is Morris Kernan and Jagger Inc.'s Chickieness. The daughter of second-year sire Blofeld ran second to Bound by Destiny in both Delaware Park stakes, beaten 5 ¾ and 1 ½ lengths, before stepping up with a popular 1 ½-length triumph in the Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 22.
Ness, who owns horses as Jagger Inc., bred Chickieness at his farm in Chesapeake City, Md. Approaching 3,800 career wins, Ness also trained the mare, Chickaletta, who finished third or better in 13 of 29 starts including five wins.
“We've got about 16 mares and [Chickieness] was the first one in the Maryland Million. We're pretty excited about her,” Ness said. “We just started a few years ago and we're getting more and more every year. It's good for me because the mares that I like and are good runners, at retirement time we take them to the farm and breed them. It's good for the horse.
“We've had a few 4-year-olds, a few 3-year-olds and now we're getting more 2-year-olds. We're just building it up,” he added. “I've been doing this a long time and it's kind of nice to change it up a little bit. It's good to see that the mares than can run are producing horses that can run.”
Runnymoore Racing's Dissolute is entered to make her second career start after going gate to wire to win a five-furlong off-the-turf maiden special weight by 9 ¼ lengths Oct. 13 at Delaware. Also exiting a win is Victorias Ranch's Shiny Slam, who went all the way on the lead in a 6 ½-furlong Parx optional claimer Sept. 26.
Godolphin homebred Twice as Sweet, trained by Brendan Walsh, broke her maiden second time out in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint Aug. 28 at Ellis Park, and was second in a six-furlong dirt allowance Oct. 7 at Keeneland to Key of Life, who returned to win the Myrtlewood three weeks later.
Diamondsifyoudo was purchased by Glenangus Farm for $300,000 as a 2-year-old in training in March and has made one start for trainer Graham Motion, finishing second by a half-length as the favorite in an Oct. 12 maiden special weight sprinting seven furlongs at Keeneland.
Rounding out the field are JoAnn Smith's Gormley's Gabriela, promoted winner of a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 30 at Laurel, and Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver and Kenneth Fishbein's Miss Georgie, who ran third – 1 ¼ lengths behind Gormley's Gabriela – and was placed second in the same race.
Smart Halo, by top Maryland sire Smarten, won the first race on the inaugural Maryland Million Day program in 1986, beating In the Curl by a neck in the Lassie to cap a perfect 3-0 campaign. Bred in Canada by E.P. Taylor and owned by Sam-Son Farm, Smart Halo was trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Jim Day.
The post ‘She Does Just Enough To Win’: Undefeated In Four Stars, Bound By Destiny Headlines Smart Halo Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
