Yesterday and today: June 24 racing highlights
A.P. Indian, here winning the 2015 Donald LeVine Memorial at Parx Racing, repeated on Saturday. Photo By Barb Weidl/EQUI-PHOTO
From Staff Reports
YESTERDAY’S NEWS: YOU KNOW TOO GETS ‘BIG MOVE’ HONORS
Here’s one for your stable mail.
Debut runner You Know Too blitzed five rivals to take a $34,000 maiden special weight contest at Delaware Park Thursday. In so doing, she earned our latest “Big Move” award for horses that deserve a spot on your watchlist.
The official chart pretty much summed it up: “You Know Too displayed a good turn of speed to control the issue and was never threatened en route to victory in handy fashion.”
Under jockey Erick Rodriguez, the Colonel John filly zipped to the front, led the field by a length through an opening quarter in 22.34 seconds and gradually widened to a six-length win. She stopped the timer in 1:05 flat for 5 1/2 furlongs. For comparative purposes, her five-furlong time of 58.49 seconds was almost a full second faster than older claiming fillies and mares did it in a six-furlong test earlier on the card — and it was faster than the 58.79 seconds that older starter allowance males needed one race prior.
A $56,000 auction purchase as a yearling, You Know Too is trained by Michael Gorham for X Y Z Racing and Old Coach Farm. She entered the race with a steady string of good workouts and paid $11.40 to win.
[su_divider top=”no” style=”double” size=”9″]BY THE NUMBERS
- HANDLE:
- Charles Town: $693,408
- Delaware Park: $794,662
- Penn National: $822,319
- Pimlico: $1,438,157
- CLAIMS:
- Charles Town: 0
- Delaware Park: 0
- Penn National: 0
- Pimlico: 2
- MULTIPLE WINNERS
- JOCKEYS
- Angel Cruz, 2 wins at Pimlico
- Gabriel Saez, 3 wins at Delaware
- Jerry Villegas, 2 wins at Charles Town
- Christian Hiraldo, 2 wins at Charles Town
- Pedro Guzman, 2 wins at Penn National
- Dana Whitney, 2 wins at Penn National
- TRAINERS
- Anthony Rideoutt, II, 2 wins at Charles Town
- Flint Stites, 2 wins at Penn National
- JOCKEYS
LOOK AHEAD: TODAY’S RACING
- Tracks in action today: Pimlico, Monmouth Park, Penn National, and Charles Town.
- Chief of Command (3-1), who showed promise in three starts as a sophomore last year, returns to action for the first time in 13 months Friday at Pimlico in race seven, a first level allowance. The Mary Eppler trainee, a son of Talent Search, broke his maiden by six lengths second time out while earning a 77 Beyer and then duplicated that speed fig while finishing sixth, though beaten just three lengths, against allowance rivals next out. Larry Murray trainee Blu Moon Ace (5-2) is the favorite here and has been first or second in all three career starts.
- Decoratedwithstyle (3-1) ran third last out in the $100,000 Jostle Stakes at Parx Racing and has two wins, a second, and a third from six career starts. The Flint Stites trainee is perhaps the headliner in the fifth from Penn National, a $30,400 allowance test going six furlongs, though veteran Scuba Sue (5-2), most recently a distant sixth against better at Belmont, is the morning line favorite.
- Another Mary Eppler trainee, Everlasting Secret (2-1), is the slight favorite in a six-furlong allowance test at Monmouth (race seven). The Leroidesanimaux broke her maiden nicely last July but has not raced since finishing second against similar at Laurel in November. Eppler scores with 16 percent of her 90-day-plus layoff horses with a positive return on investment. Major competitors here include True Romance (5-2), recently second against similar, and Gauche (5-1), who broke her maiden by a half-dozen lengths last out.
