Been Robbed Racing's Star Shopping, a 4-year-old gelding making his 22nd start, got his nose down on the wire to edge Bourbon Ready in Monday's Memorial Day holiday finale at historic Pimlico Race Course and give trainer Troy Robb his first career win.
Star Shopping ($5.20), favored at 8-5 in the claiming event for 3-year-olds and up, covered five furlongs on a firm turf course in :57.63 under jockey Horacio Karamanos. It was Karamanos' second win of the day, following Air Token ($3.60) in Race 7.
“It's awesome,” Robb said. “It feels like I did something right.”
Robb is the 37-year-old nephew of Laurel Park-based trainer John 'Jerry' Robb. Monday was the younger Robb's seventh lifetime start and fifth this year, all courtesy of Star Shopping, who had one second and four thirds in six tries since launching Robb's career Nov. 20, 2022 at Laurel.
“That's my whole stable, right there,” Robb said. “I run Mary Eppler's barn and I just have that horse. She let me have that one horse in her barn. I'm thankful to her for letting me do that and try to get started.”
Star Shopping, a son of Midnight Storm, was exiting a pair of tough beats, losing by a neck when second in a Feb. 25 claimer on the dirt at Laurel before returning to be third by 1¼ lengths following a troubled trip May 11 over the Pimlico turf.
“They were touting him pretty good,” Robb said of Star Shopping. “They had a breakdown of his last race when he got stuck down behind horses and they showed that, so I think that's why everybody jumped on him. He got in a little bit of trouble last time.”
In addition to working for Eppler, who is based at Pimlico, Robb spent time under his uncle and his father, Larry Robb, who gave him his introduction to horses.
“My dad got me started when I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, at Upper Marlboro. He had a couple horses there. During the summer I used to help him, and I always liked working with horses,” Robb said. “I moved on to work for my uncle for about 10, 15 years and now I'm working for Mary. Me and my cousin Donald, Jerry's son, just wanted to try our luck. That's pretty much it. We've worked with horses our whole lives and been in the business since we were kids. We're just trying to see if we could get lucky, and we did today.”
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