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My Boanerges Favored In Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint At Ellis

Trainer Dallas Keen shipped My Boanerges almost 700 miles from Oklahoma's Remington Park to Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., to run for less money and tougher competition than if he'd sent the 5-year-old gelding to Albuquerque to race against fellow New Mexico-breds.

My Boanerges is the 3-1 favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint at the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Meet. He enters off two stakes victories against open company in his last two starts at Texas' Lone Star Park, including beating the Preview Turf Sprint's 7-2 second choice Archidust in his previous race.

“For a sprinter, he's probably the best I've had,” said Keen, who began training in 1986. “I just know the horse. He's going to give me his all.”

With $25,000 of the Turf Sprint's purse reserved for Kentucky-breds through Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements, My Boanerges is running for $75,000. Had Keen chosen to wait two weeks and ship only 545 miles to The Downs at Albuquerque, the gelding probably would be no higher odds than 1-to-5 in the $100,000 Casey Darnell restricted to New Mexico-breds at the same 5 1/2-furlong distance on dirt.

But Keen and owners Nancy and David Lock are looking at an even bigger prize: The Preview Turf Sprint winner gets an automatic fees-paid spot in Kentucky Downs' $1 million FanDuel Turf Sprint, which in turn is a “Win And You're In” qualifier for a free spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Horses that aren't Kentucky-breds still compete for $550,000 – America's richest turf sprint outside the Breeders' Cup — in the Grade 3 FanDuel race.

However, if the Kentucky Downs stakes gets an overflow field, which is quite possible, preference is given to graded-stakes winners. My Boanerges hasn't had the opportunity to even run in a graded stakes, which are in relative short supply in the turf sprint division.

“The Locks started noticing the race at Kentucky Downs,” Keen said at Ellis Park Thursday. “Then we found out about this race, a win-and-you're in for Kentucky Downs. Him not having any graded-stakes money, we knew if we were going to dream big about the Breeders' Cup, we were going to need some graded money or go a different route.”

This weekend's seven Preview stakes providing a path to Kentucky Downs “opens the door to horses that might get (stuck) on the side because they don't have the graded money,” Keen said.

By the way, Keen says Boanerges “is a word out of the Bible, a nickname for a couple of Jesus' disciples.” That's James and John, according to online dictionaries, with Boanerges meaning “son of thunder” in Ancient Greek from Hebrew. Today it also means a preacher or orator.

My Boanerges has certainly provided thunder on the racetrack. After a third in his debut before which he got loose on the track at New Mexico's Zia Park, the gelding has never been worse than second in 10 starts, with seven victories. He went to the sidelines after his 3-year-old year, before missing his entire 4-year-old season.

My Boanerges' misfortunate proved a happy turn of events for Keen, who was stabling in Houston at the time.

“A few years back, I'd trained for the Locks,” he said. “When the COVID shut down racing in New Mexico, they contacted me. He was coming off a layoff. By the time we had him ready to run, he'd been off almost a year and a half.”

My Boanerges had never before raced on turf. The gelding finished second in his first two starts at the Dallas-Fort Worth area's Lone Star Park, including an off-the-turf allowance race, then swept the two stakes, one of which also came off the turf.

“Just didn't really know,” My Boanerges' preferred surface, Keen said. “And, too, a lot of times you enter for turf and you run in the mud anyway. Didn't really know if he liked mud, either. The first time he ran on turf, it was obvious his first few jumps that he liked it.”

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Keen believes the speedster will be content to rate behind a horse if necessary.

“The first time I ran him coming off the layoff, a horse kind of acted up in the gate,” he said. “He turned his head right when they popped the gates. Normally he's on the lead. But he actually came from off the pace that day and ran second, got beat a head. He'll stay running, even if he's not on the lead.”

Have we seen his fastest? “It seems like he keeps getting better to me,” Keen said. “He's happy right now.”

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La Jolla, Graduation Stakes Headline Sunday Card At Del Mar

Stakes horses will once again double up for a Del Mar crowd, this time on Sunday with the presentation of the 81st La Jolla Stakes and the 70th edition of the Graduation Stakes. The races will go as the 6th and 9th races, respectively, on the shore track's 10-race program.

The La Jolla, a Grade 3 affair that carries a purse of $150,000, has drawn a half-dozen 3-year-olds for a mile and one-sixteenth jaunt on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course at Del Mar Thorughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. The Graduation also has drawn six California-bred 2-year-old starters for its five and one-half furlong spin on the main track. It offers a purse of $100,000.

The Irish horse Cathkin Peak, owned by Sterling Stables, Nentwig, and CYBT, is a candidate to be the favorite in the La Jolla. A bay son of the Irish stallion Alhebayeb, Cathkin Peak raced once in his native land as a 2-year-old, then was purchased privately and shipped to California where he won a pair of races, including the overnight Eddie Logan at Santa Anita Park last December. He subsequently chased home the blossoming star Rock Your World in February's Pasadena Stakes, also at Santa Anita, then went on the shelf. This will be his first start in nearly six months, but trainer Phil D'Amato has put a series of steady works into him for this comeback.

Double L Stable and Natalie Baffert's Hudson Ridge hails from the powerful Bob Baffert barn and is a son of one of Baffert's Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah. The colt broke his maiden with a dead-head score in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita on May 1 and came back to win a pair of races after that, including the Cinema Stakes.

Two of the other La Jolla runners — Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's Zoffarelli and Yuesheng Zhang's Sword Zorro also first saw light of day in Ireland. The former will be making his U.S. debut in the La Jolla, while the latter owns a victory in the Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita on grass April 25.

The Graduation – like many 2-year-old races at this time of year – is a tough one to sort out with only minimal past performances to work with. Morning line maker Jon White could barely separate two of the runners, hanging Lovingier, London, and Zondlo's Rock N Rye as an 8/5 favorite, just a tick better than Lovingier, Beckerle, and Carrillo's Thirsty Always at 9/5.

Rock N Rye is a homebred by Always Thirsty who was a handy winner of a straight maiden race in his second start at Santa Anita on May 30 in his most recent outing. He's been training steadily for this return date at both San Luis Rey Downs and Del Mar.

Thirsty Always, also by Stay Thirsty, scored in his first start at Santa Anita on May 16, then shipped up to Pleasanton and captured the Nevin Stakes there on July 10.

Trainer Walther Solis conditions both juveniles.

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Here's the lineup for the La Jolla from the rail out with riders and morning line odds: Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Gary Barber's Wyfire (Kyle Frey, 12-1); Hudson Ridge (Abel Cedillo, 5/2); Cathkin Peak (Juan Hernandez, 2-1); Zoffarelli (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), and Sword Zorro (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1).

The field for the Graduation lays out like this: Lovingier or Templeton Horses' Mr. T's Thirsty (Tyler Baze, 2-1); McMahon or Rudy's Trip to Spain (Frey, 2-1); Thirsty Always (apprentice Cesar Ortega); Rock N Rye (Rispoli); Moger, Burke or Estrada, et al's Northvale Road (Tiago Periera, 6-1), and Branch or Hill's Fowler Blue (Edwin Maldonado, 12-1).

First post for Sunday's card is 2 p.m.

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Driver Saved By Dust Sheet In Scary Moment On Australian Harness Track

Australian harness driver Matthew McCaffery and his pacer Gracenava found themselves in a sticky situation Tuesday evening at Young Harness Racing Club in Young, New South Wales. Harnesslink.com shared the story of the incident, where all of the horses and drives involved came out relatively unscathed, with only minor injuries the aftermath of the scary moment on the Young oval.

Coming out of the final turn of their 1720-meter pace, the pair's sulky was checked by another entry. This bounced McCaffery out of his seat and onto the dust sheet, the panel stretched between the sulky's shafts which keeps dust and other debris from being kicked back in the driver's face during the race. Gracenava took a few wobbly strides but was able to stay on course while McCaffery climbed back into his seat.

Gracenava's wobble tripped up two other drivers and their horses, both sulkies upended and the drivers catapulted out of their seats. Kulani Courage and driver Mat Rue came away with nothing more than scraped knees for Kulani Courage. The other horse Sheza Cracker was treated for lacerations, with driver James Locke not injured in the incident.

‘Epitome Of Class’: Elm Drive Holds Off Eda To Win Del Mar’s Sorrento Stakes

Little Red Feather Racing's Elm Drive dug in the length of the stretch and gamely held off Baoma Corp's Eda by a head in a dandy horse race that decided the winner of the 53rd edition of the Sorrento Stakes Friday at Del Mar.

The Grade 2 headliner at the seaside oval north of San Diego, Calif., went with a purse of $201,500 and Elm Drive came away with the winner's share of $120,000. She was ridden by Juan Hernandez and was saddled by Phil D'Amato.

Finishing third was King, Kirby or Kirby's Smash Ticket, the unlucky race favorite at 13-10 who broke badly, then ran into traffic trouble on the backside.

Elm Drive, a bay daughter of Mohaymen, is now two-for-two in her brief career after having easily captured her initial start in a straight maiden race at Los Alamitos on June 28. Her earnings rose to $147,000.

The winning time was 1:10.64 for the six furlongs.

Elm Drive paid $6.60, $3.80 and $2.20 across the board. Eda returned $3.20 and $2.20, while Smash Tickets paid $2.10.

The Sorrento is considered the key prep for the track's biggest race for juvenile fillies, the Grade 1, $300,000 TVG Del Mar Debutante, which will be contested at seven furlongs on Sunday, Sept. 5. Trainer D'Amato indicated that that race is the next target for Elm Drive.

The track's ever-growing Pick 6 Jackpot wager once more expanded when for the 10th straight day as no player was able to take down the entire pool as the single winner. The carryover into Saturday's program grew to $831,517. First post on Saturday's 11-race card will be at 2 p.m.

Post-race quotes:
JUAN GONZALEZ (Elm Drive, winner) – “Phil (trainer D'Amato) didn't give me any special instructions. He just said play the break and put her in a good spot. She broke well and I had her where I wanted her. When we turned for home and the other filly (Eda) came up outside us, my filly got real brave. She dug in. She's not afraid to fight. She's a good one.”

PHIL D'AMATO (Elm Drive, winner) – “She broke on top then Juan got her to rate, make a move and fight off a rival to her outside the length of the stretch. I just thought that's the epitome of class. Very professional, and I think she's the type of filly that the longer (the races) the better. (Debutante?) Yup, absolutely.”

FRACTIONS: :22.00 :46.00 :57.95 1:10.64

The stakes win was the third of the meeting for rider Hernandez, but his first in the Sorrento. He now has 10 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The stakes win was the first of the meet for trainer D'Amato, but his second in the Sorrento (Spectator, 2017). He now has 30 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The winning owners are Little Red Feather Racing overseen by Billy Koch of Woodland Hills, CA.

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