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Friday’s Stronach 5 Offers Four Of Five Races On The Turf

The Stronach 5 returns Friday with four of five races scheduled on the turf along with an industry-low 12-percent takeout and $100,000 guaranteed pool.

The action begins at 3:21 with a field of 10 maidens going 1 1/16 mile on the Fort Marcy Turf Course. Laurel's eighth race, the fourth leg of the Stronach 5, will be a restricted allowance race with a field of 10 Maryland-breds going 5 ½ furlongs on the Kelso Turf Course. Both races from Gulfstream Park, the eighth and 10th, are scheduled over the grass.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 6th Race: (10 entries, 1 1/16 mile turf) 3:21 ET, 12:21 PT

· Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 8th Race: (10 entries, 1 mile turf) 3:40 ET, 12:40 PT

· Leg Three –Laurel Park 7th Race: (12 entries, 6 furlongs) 3:59 ET, 12:59 PT

· Leg Four –Laurel Park 8th Race: (10 entries, 5 ½ furlongs turf) 4:33 ET, 1:33 PT

· Leg Five –Gulfstream Park 10th race: (12 entries, 5 furlongs turf) 4:48 ET, 1:48 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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‘Huge Heart’: 8-Year-Old American Sailor Better Than Ever, Takes Aim On Troy Stakes

Firm in his belief that Raj Jagnanan's stakes winner American Sailor is better than ever at the age of 8, trainer Wayne Potts is taking aim at a big target.

Based with Potts at Laurel Park, where he opened his season in impressive fashion last month, American Sailor is being pointed to a return to graded-stakes competition in the $200,000 Troy (G3) Aug. 8 on the Saratoga turf.

The 5 ½-furlong Troy would be the third time facing graded company for American Sailor and the first since running 10th in the 2016 Twin Spires Turf Sprint (G3) at Churchill Downs for previous trainer Joe Sharp.

“He has a huge heart, a huge heart. He just does everything you ask him to do,” Potts said. “When he hits the racetrack, he's all business.”

American Sailor, a gelded son of City Zip, won a turf sprint stakes at Sam Houston in 2016 and ran second in subsequent editions to begin his 2017, 2018 and 2019 campaigns. The connections skipped the trip this past winter and wound up not getting started until June 8, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic that paused live racing in Maryland for 2 ½ months until May 30.

“I think we did the right thing by finally letting him go out and drop his head and be a horse. We gave him the winter off and he came back, and I think he's better now than when I previously had him, knock on wood, that's for sure,” Potts said. “We're very pleased with him.”

The speedy American Sailor earned his 14th career victory in the third-level optional claiming allowance at Laurel, opening up by as many as five lengths after a half-mile to win by a length in 1:03.53 for 5 ½ furlongs. He followed up with a determined runner-up effort after setting the pace in the Wolf Hill Stakes July 18 at Monmouth, finishing between Archidust and Shekky Shebaz – both turf stakes winners at Saratoga.

“It was a very solid field. We were thrilled. It was a super effort, and he gave it everything he had,” Potts said. “He came out of the race very good so I nominated him to the Troy. We're going to look at the race at Saratoga, and I nominated him to the Da Hoss [Aug. 15] at Colonial [Downs] as a backup plan.”

American Sailor, seventh in last year's Da Hoss, is among 17 nominees to the Troy. He was claimed by Potts for $25,000 out of a Sept. 3, 2017 win at Suffolk Downs and ran nine times with two wins and a second in the stakes at Sam Houston before being lost for a $7,500 tag in June 2018.

Jagnanan purchased American Sailor privately after he made one start for owner-trainer David Nunn, and has a record of 4-3-1 with nearly $300,000 in purse earnings from 12 races since being reunited with Potts.

Potts made two starts at Saratoga last summer, both with the gelding Dazzling Okie, finishing third in a mid-July claimer.

“I've never won a race at Saratoga, so it would be a steppingstone in the right direction,” Potts said. “We might get a short field there, who knows. We have to see how it all plays out, but as long as he stays like he is right now, I plan on being there.”

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‘He Sounded Great’: Injured Jockey Rosario Montanez Talking About Return To Riding

When his phone rang Monday evening, jockey agent Joe Rocco Sr. thought it was going to be a regular update on his client, Rosario Montanez, who was injured in a July 17 spill at Laurel Park.

It turned out to be much more. Though the number displayed was of Montanez's fiancé, Chloe LaBarre, Rocco got the surprise of his life when he answered.

“Her number showed up, but it was him on the phone,” Rocco said. “He spoke to me. He's got a long road ahead of him … but he sounded great. It was great news.”

A San Diego native who was a finalist for the 2011 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice, Montanez was unseated when his mount, 4-year-old filly Hendaya, clipped heels and fell leaving the backstretch of a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for filly and mare claimers 3 and up. While he was being tended to on the track, Hendaya was able to get up and jog off the turf course.

Montanez, 28, underwent surgery July 18 to repair several fractures in his back at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Rocco said the rider was being transferred Tuesday to another facility in the city to begin rehabilitation for his brain injuries.

“I had to explain to him what I thought happened. It was just a bad incident he went through,” Rocco said. “He didn't even know he had surgery, which is a great sign. He's doing well.”

A winner of more than 3,700 career races during his riding career and whose son, Joe Jr. is a jockey based in Kentucky, Rocco gets emotional when talking both to and about Montanez.

“He's my friend. I really care about him a lot,” Rocco said. “I couldn't believe it when he talked to me. I didn't know if he was going to make it or not, that's how bad it was. But, you know he asked me when he's going to be back racing. He said, 'Let's figure this out.'”

A GoFundMe account launched by Laurel trainer Brittany Russell July 18 has raised $37,505 to go toward general living and medical expenses. An initial goal of $20,000 was surpassed in less than 24 hours, and a second $30,000 goal reached days later. The goal has been updated to $50,000.

“I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for coming together to help us out,” LaBarre wrote on the GoFundMe website. “Please continue to pray for him! I'm so thankful for everything people have done for him. It means so much to us.”

To donate to Montanez's GoFundMe campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/f/rosario-montanez

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Stronach 5 Cancelled When Races Taken Off The Turf At Laurel, Gulfstream

The Stronach 5 for Friday, July 24 has been cancelled after three races at Laurel Park and one at Gulfstream Park were taken off the turf.

The popular wager with the $100,000 guaranteed pool and industry-low 12-percent takeout will return Friday, July 31.

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

The post Stronach 5 Cancelled When Races Taken Off The Turf At Laurel, Gulfstream appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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