Andrew Lerner is looking forward to next Saturday when he runs Uncle Boogie in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., but he has greater anticipation at stake on Sunday. The 31-year-old trainer is getting married to his long-time love, Katie.
“We've been together for seven years and we were going to get married in June,” Lerner said Saturday morning after working Uncle Boogie four furlongs under Flavian Prat, who rides the Florida-bred son of the Curlin sire Ride the Curlin in the $100,000 Sham for 3-year-olds at one mile.
“We expected to have a bigger wedding with about 200 people back then but the venue in Malibu called us and said if we want it with dancing and no masks, no social distancing, we're going to have to wait until 2022.
“We didn't want to do that so we decided on Dec. 27 which is tomorrow with just immediate family, so it will be a small wedding with about 19 people.”
Meanwhile, back on the track, Uncle Boogie breezed this morning “and Flavien liked his work,” Lerner said. “The horse went well in company sitting outside Miss Glorious. I got him in 48 and change and he galloped out nicely. Provided he comes out of the work good we plan to run.”
Otherwise, Lerner is “trying to reload for the upcoming meet with some incoming two-year-olds coming and recycling our stock a bit.”
Uncle Boogie won his debut race, a $32,000 maiden claimer on Oct. 12 at Santa Anita, by 6 ¼ lengths, and was second in his last two including the G3 Bob Hope going seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 15.
His running style indicates he should like the added distances of the Sham, a starting point on the Triple Crown trail which offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, four to the runner-up, two to the third-place finisher, and one to the fourth.
The colt is owned by Eric Homme, “a good owner and a really nice guy,” Lerner said. “He got into the game two years ago taking fractional percentages of horses. Uncle Boogie is the first horse he owns solely.”
Seems like congratulations are in order all around.
The post Wedding Vows, Sham Stakes Highlight Busy Week For Lerner appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
