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Multiple Stakes Winner Lebda ‘Had A Lot Of Vacation,’ To Run Back In Three Weeks In Haskell

Euro Stable's sophomore sensation Lebda, a two-time stakes winner this winter over his home course of Laurel Park, will make the jump to Grade 1 company for his next start in Saturday's $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park.

Also heading to the Jersey shore for Maryland's leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez will be MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride, set to make his stakes debut in the Monmouth Cup (G3) on the Haskell undercard. Harpers First Ride has won five of seven starts since being claimed last fall, including an impressive allowance triumph July 3 at Laurel.

Lebda, by Raison d'Etat, suffered the first loss of his 3-year-old season in the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3), where he was part of a wicked early pace under regular Laurel-based rider Alex Cintron before tiring to be sixth behind 14-1 upset winner Dean Martini.

It was the first race for Lebda since his two-turn victory in the Private Terms at about 1 1/16 miles March 14 at Laurel. Live racing was paused in Maryland for 2 ½ months amid the coronavirus pandemic, resuming May 30, and soon after Euro's Valter Ramos spent $3,000 to make Lebda a late nomination to the Triple Crown.

“He was off for a long time. He had a lot of vacation, and that's why we're going to run back in the three weeks,” Gonzalez said. “The owner is very excited for this. This is why he does it, to be part of big days. You don't want to say no when you have a horse like this.”

Lebda helped convince his connections to take a shot at the 1 1/8-mile Haskell when he returned to the work tab for the first time following the Ohio Derby with a half-mile breeze in 47.80 seconds July 10 at Laurel, the fastest of 31 horses.

“Alex breezed him that day and when we talked he said he was feeling good and did everything right, and he had a lot of horse,” Gonzalez said. “The next couple of days he looked good, and that's why we decided to run.”

Cintron will retain the mount for the Haskell, which will be the fourth graded-stakes attempt for Lebda. His best finish came when third in the Iroquois (G3) last fall at Churchill Downs. He ended his juvenile campaign running ninth in the Nashua (G3) at Aqueduct and third in the Heft at Laurel, where he opened 2020 with a victory in the one-mile Miracle Wood.

“For me, to run in the big races is different. I'm not crazy about running if they don't have a chance. This horse, I believe he's a very good horse. He can run,” Gonzalez said. “I know the race is going to be tough. If we don't run over there, we'll never know how much he can run. No matter what, one day he was going to have to run with the good horses.”

Lebda broke from Post 4 in the Ohio Derby, also at 1 1/8 miles, and Gonzalez is hoping for a better starting position over what is regarded as a speed-favoring racetrack in the Haskell.

“I believe there will be a lot of speed in the race. It all depends on the position. I think the seven or eight is a good position for me,” Gonzalez said. “If he's inside, we have to rush him too much to take a good position. If we're outside it's much better.”

Gonzalez said the ultimate goal for Lebda has been the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1), rescheduled from May 16 to Oct. 3 as the final leg of the Triple Crown, four weeks after the Kentucky Derby (G1). Tiz the Law captured the Belmont Stakes (G1) June 20.

“That was the plan before all this happened, to wait for the Preakness no matter what. The plan was not, if we had the points and everything like that, to go to the Derby,” Gonzalez said. “We wait for the Preakness because we're local, we're going to be at home. Now, if he's doing good and everything is good by then, I believe we still try for the Preakness.”

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Speedy Lebda Under Consideration For July 18 Haskell

Having exited the first loss of his 3-year-old season in good shape, Euro Stable's multiple stakes winner Lebda is under consideration for the $1 million Haskell (G1) July 18 at Monmouth Park.

Based at Laurel Park with summer meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez, Lebda is among 34 horses nominated to the 1 1/8-mile Haskell, which this year will serve as a points qualifier to the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby (G1).

Gonzalez said he expects to make a decision this week after speaking with Euro's Valter Ramos, who paid $3,000 by the June 4 deadline to make Lebda a late nominee to the Triple Crown.

“I have to talk to the owner, and we want to see who's going to come for the Haskell. We might take a look at that race,” Gonzalez said. “You never know. We're going to see how he continues to do, and then we'll decide.”

Lebda won the one-mile Miracle Wood and the two-turn Private Terms, contested at about 1 1/16 miles, on his home track over the winter. The latter came March 14, one day before Maryland racing was put on pause for 2 ½ months amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Live racing resumed in Maryland May 30 but with stakes races on hold, Gonzalez targeted the 1 1/8-mile Ohio Derby (G3) June 27 for Lebda's return. Sent off as the fourth choice in a field of 13 at odds of 6-1, Lebda pressed an opening quarter in 22.80 seconds and then led after a half in 47.22 before tiring to sixth.

“He came back good,” Gonzalez said. “He went really fast the first quarter; 22 [seconds] for a mile and an eighth is a little too fast.”

Monmouth would be the sixth different track for Lebda, a winner of four of nine career starts with one second and two thirds, both in the stakes – the 1/16-mile Iroquois (G3) last fall in Kentucky and the seven-furlong Heft at Laurel in his juvenile finale.

“I think it would be good because the track over there is always [good] for the speed horses,” Gonzalez said of Monmouth. “You have to be right there. That's why maybe it fits good for him. We'll see.”

Gonzalez may have another horse to bring to New Jersey in MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride, an impressive one-mile allowance winner July 3 at Laurel over a graded-stakes quality field that included Alwaysmining, Cordmaker, Name Changer and Honor the Fleet.

Harpers First Ride is nominated to the 1 1/8-mile Monmouth Cup (G3) on the Haskell undercard. The 4-year-old gelding has won five of seven starts since being haltered by Gonzalez out of a maiden claiming triumph last fall in Kentucky.

“We nominated for the Monmouth Cup and I'm 50-50 to run there,” Gonzalez said. “For now, he's doing really good and he came back really good from the race. I'm going to take a couple more days to decide. I think this horse will run better going a little longer.”

Harpers First Ride, yet to make his stakes debut, led nearly all the way in his recent 1 ¾-length victory over a quartet that had a combined 15 stakes wins including Name Changer's 2018 Monmouth Cup score. Last year, Alwaysmining swept Laurel's series for 3-year-olds and competed in the Preakness (G1) while Cordmaker was beaten two necks when third in the historic Pimlico Special (G3).

“That field was really tough. They are really good horses,” Gonzalez said. “You know what happened with this horse? Every race, he came back better and better. He's a really cool horse. He's not crazy. He's all business. I don't have any trouble with him at all. He's doing really good.”

Gonzalez said he was also proud of Magic Stable's Princess Cadey's effort in a troubled third-place finish in the July 4 Delaware Oaks (G3), her first race since taking Laurel's Beyond the Wire March 14.

“I'm very happy with her. She didn't break that great, and I wanted to see her right there in the clear because always she doesn't like dirt in the face,” Gonzalez said. “She didn't break good and she came [from] last and she still finished third. She came back good, and I'm very happy for her and how she ran. She ran big. It wasn't how I wanted the trip, that's why I'm so happy for her.”

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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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Cairo Prince Colt Upsets Ohio Derby

Dean Martini proved to be a shrewd claim for trainer Tom Amoss after upsetting the $500,000 GIII Ohio Derby Saturday at Thistledown, which offered 50 points towards the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby. Away alertly from his rail draw, the 14-1 shot contested the pace heading into the first turn and was a close-up third as the first quarter went in :22.80. Shuffled back a bit on the fence as the half went in :47.22, the bay reasserted on the backstretch, heading pacesetter Lebda (Raison d’Etat). Dean Martini continued strongly into the stretch, rolling clear of his competition, and held off a late charge from South Bend to score. Champion Storm the Court rounded out the trifecta.

Starting his career in California with Peter Miller and owners Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen, Dean Martini hit the board in three of his four starts, and was transferred to Brad Cox last fall. In the money in his first three races for that barn, he romped by 6 3/4 lengths in a $50,000 maiden claimer at Churchill May 17, where he was claimed by Amoss and Raise the BAR Racing LLC. He finished second in his next start for them in a nine-panel optional claimer in Louisville June 12.

Pedigree Notes:
Dean Martini is the fourth graded winner and eighth black-type winner for his sire Cairo Prince. His dual stakes-winning dam Soundwave is a half-sister to GSW Letgomyecho (Menifee), who is the dam of Grade III-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), GISP Echo Town (Speightstown) and GSP Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled’s Song). Soundwave is also responsible for the unraced juvenile filly Sauvecito (Cairo Prince), a yearling filly by Creative Cause and a colt by that stallion born Mar. 12 of this year.

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