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‘Got Him At The Right Time’: Ohio Derby Winner Dean Martini May Target Ellis Park Derby

Dean Martini made his first start at Ellis Park last Aug. 4, finishing second at 24-1. Now, after winning last Saturday's $500,000 Ohio Derby, Louisville-based Raise the BAR Racing's 3-year-old gelding could be coming back to Henderson for the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9.

“It's definitely under consideration,” said trainer Tom Amoss. “Absolutely timing-wise we'll look at the race at Ellis.”

It was Dean Martini's second start for his new owners and Amoss after they claimed him out of a $50,000 maiden-claiming race at Churchill Downs, which made him a winner on his eighth attempt. Yet even in defeat, there was only one race in which Dean Martini did not run well. That was his second start, which came at Del Mar in California.

Dean Martini won by 6 3/4 length the day he was claimed, the only time he was in a claiming race. He returned to finish a good second after breaking from post 12 in an allowance race won by Man in the Can, a strong contender for Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. That encouraged Amoss to go hunting bigger game in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby, whose runner-up was stakes-winner South Bend and whose third-place finisher was 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award champion Storm the Court.

Amoss is a disciple of the Ragozin handicapping sheets, which chart form cycles by taking into account variables such as ground lost, traffic trouble and how fast or slow the track is playing in assigning a number for each horse's race. The lower the number, the faster the performance, regardless of what the official time might be.

“I liked the fact that he was a horse who looked like on the 'sheets' that he was developing,” Amoss said of the claim. “The day we claimed him, he ran a very big race. In the allowance race, he ran just as well…. I just got lucky. I didn't do anything special with this horse. He came in great shape. I think I got him at the right time. I claimed a horse that was in the process of developing, getting better. I did nothing more than pick up where the old barn left off.”

Raise The BAR Racing's name is a shout out to the first letters of the first names of partners Brad Rives, Annie Jessee and Rick Riney — along with the fact that they're all lawyers, and they might also occasionally have gone to a bar. Diane Jessee, Annie's sister in law, also is a partner.

The Ohio Derby victory fell on the 81st birthday of former Kentucky governor Brereton Jones, who with his son Bret bred Dean Martini, bloodhorse.com noted.

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Lexington-Based Assistant Trainer Miguel Delgado Killed In Car Accident

Miguel Delgado, an assistant trainer to William Morey based at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky., was tragically killed Saturday afternoon in a car accident, according to the Daily Racing Form.

The 53-year-old Delgado had been employed by Morey since 2016, but only recently relocated to Lexington. Prior to working for Morey, Delgado was a long-time employee of retired trainer Julio Canani.

He is survived by his wife, Graciela, and four sons, Miguel Angel, Ricardo, and twins Edgar and Oscar. The latter three work as horsemen in Southern California, while Graciela and Miguel Angel reside in Mexico.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay to transport Delgado's body to Mexico for burial and to cover funeral costs.

Belmont Winner Tiz The Law ‘Getting A Little Bit Tough’ In Morning Workouts

In his first breeze since winning the Belmont Stakes on June 20, Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law worked four furlongs in 50.06 seconds.

According to the Daily Racing Form, jockey Manny Franco kept Tiz the Law steady through the first quarter mile in 26.71 seconds, then moved up to complete the second quarter in 23.18 seconds. In order to go slow early, trainer Barclay Tagg ponied the 3-year-old Constitution colt all the way to the five-eighths pole.

“That was (Tagg's) plan and that was great for me because he's getting a little bit tough,” Franco told the Daily Racing Form. “That made it easier for me.”

Up next, Tiz the Law is expected to take on the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 8, en route to the rescheduled Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

Hall Of Fame Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer Settles In At Monmouth Park

Among the nearly dozen trainers making Monmouth Park their summer home this year for the first time are a Hall of Famer, one who lists the Venezuelan Triple Crown on his resume and another whose barn is looking to take advantage of the lucrative Jersey-bred program that's offered.

It may be as eclectic a group of newcomers the track has ever featured as the Friday, July 3 opener – the start of Monmouth Park's 75th season – nears.

Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer will have a solid presence on the Jersey Shore for the first time, with long-time assistant Dan Ward overseeing a string that he says will eventually number more than two dozen runners.

“Our horses fit well at Monmouth Park and the timing is perfect for us,” said Ward. “When the condition book came out it looked like a really good fit for the horses we have.”

Ward, who said he has not made an appearance at Monmouth Park since Marquetry ran in the 1991 Philip H. Iselin Stakes when he was an assistant to Bobby Frankel, said the decision to try Monmouth Park for an entire meet was done as part of a long-term plan.

“We're here to stay,” said Ward, who has been with Hollendorfer the past 14 years after working with Frankel the previous 22. “We plan on continuing to have a stable in the Midwest or Monmouth Park as long as we can.”

Twenty of Hollendorfer's horses have already shipped into Monmouth Park from Churchill Downs “and we have races for all of them at Monmouth,” Ward said.

“We will be looking to claim some more and trying to pick up business,” he added.

Hollendorfer's outfit will look to be a factor the very first day, with Awesome Anywhere slated to go in the $75,000 Oceanport Centennial Stakes, the opening-day feature. The 6-year-old gelding won a starter allowance race at Oaklawn Park two starts back.

Antonio Machado isn't a familiar name in this part of the country, but the 42-year-old hopes that changes with his first summer at Monmouth.

Machado, Tampa Downs-based, was the youngest trainer ever to win the Venezuelan Triple Crown when he did so with El Gran Cesar in 2008. He won 99 races, 18 of them graded stakes, in Venezuela between 2006-2012.

He said it was time to take on a new challenge, which is why he has decided to try Monmouth Park this summer.

“I wanted to experience training at a prestigious racetrack where the horse racing would challenge me,” said Machado, who started in the sport by working in a stable in La Rinconada racetrack in Caracas while also attending training school. “So many owners, trainers, jockeys and amazing horses have raced on these grounds, and that for me is simply amazing.

“I want to keep on competing at the maximum level and show that I can be there with top trainers and win races.”

His intention, he said, is to make the Tampa Downs/Monmouth Park circuit part of his yearly routine, saying he is “hoping that we will continue with this trend for many years to come.”

Michael Moore has been Parx-based since he started training in 2013, but the makeup of his current stable made Monmouth Park a logical choice for this summer. He hopes to have more than 20 claimers and allowance horses on the grounds, with the more prominent among them being Jersey-breds.

“The biggest reason I came here is because I have some good Jersey-breds and the money is so good for Jersey-breds at Monmouth Park,” said the 49-year-old Moore, a Rutgers University graduate. “It's a little bit of an adjustment because I live five minutes from Parx and the drive here is over an hour every day. But this is such a beautiful place. It's really horse friendly and the people care about racing here.”

Moore, coming off his best year with 35 winners in 2019, was 2-for-10 at Monmouth last year with shippers. His wife, Elizabeth, helps run the barn.

“Everything seems to be working out well,” he said. “I just hope to do well when the racing starts.”

Mid-Atlantic fixture Hugh McMahon is among the other newcomers who will have a string of horses stabled at Monmouth Park this summer.

Monmouth Park's 37-day meet will consist of live racing Friday, July 3, through Sunday, Sept. 27. Post time on Fridays will be 5 p.m. (except Sept. 4, Kentucky Oaks Day, when it will be 12:50 p.m.). Saturday and Sunday posts will be 12:50 p.m., with the exception of a noon first race post time on July 18, when the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes serves as the headliner on the card.

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