Two-time winner So Street heads Rosie’s Stakes

Photo by Laurie Asseo.

A pair of $100,000 races for 2-year-olds on the Secretariat Turf Course – the 1 1/16-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance/Kitten’s Joy Stakes and the 5 ½-furlong Exacta System’s Rosie’s Stakes – bolster the stellar Virginia Derby program on Saturday (Aug. 31) evening at Colonial Downs.

Through the investment of the Colonial Downs Group, a subsidiary of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, Colonial Downs has experienced a racing revival for the 2019 season, and Saturday’s program will feature the return of the Derby and the Oaks after a six-year hiatus.

The Rosie’s, the sixth race on the program, will kick-off the Late Pick 5 (Races 6-10) featuring an industry-low 12% takeout. The Rosie’s also begins the All-Stakes late Pick 4, and is linked with the TAA Kitten’s Joy, the Fasig-Tipton Virginia Oaks and culminating with the $250,000 New Kent County Virginia Derby (G3).

The wide-open Rosie’s drew a field of eight with Troy Johnson and Charles Lo’s So Street installed as the 7-2 favorite by Colonial Downs’ linemaker Merv Huber. A bay Maryland-bred gelding by Street Magician, trained by Jamie Ness, So Street has won two of three starts and comes into Saturday’s race off a 2 ½-length win in a $65,000 allowance over the course and distance on Aug. 8, which was opening night at Colonial. So Street broke his maiden May 9 on dirt at Pimlico. Trevor McCarthy has the mount.

Mellon Patch Inc.’s Munn Passage, the 4-1 second choice, also has a win at Colonial, a sparking 2 ½-length score in a 5 ½-furlong maiden-claiming event in his debut on Aug. 9. Trained by Michael Campbell and ridden by Horacio Kararmanos, Munn Passage is a Kentucky bred son of Munnings out of the Tiznow mare Inside Passage.

In from the Midwest is the 9-2 third second choice Monedas de Oro, a chestnut filly owned by Southwest Racing Stables and Bruce Murphy and trained by Genaro Garcia. Already with five starts under her girth, Monedas de Oro finished second last out in the 7-furlong Ellis Park Debutante on Aug. 18. After breaking her maiden at 4 ½ furlongs at Indiana Grand back in April, Monedas de Oro lost consecutive allowance races at Churchill Downs and at Indiana Grand before rebounding with a half-length win in a six-furlong allowance.

At 5-1 is Flaxman Holdings’ (Niarchos Family) Torres Del Paine, a New York-bred chestnut gelding by 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner Karakontie (JPN). Trained by Graham Motion, Torres Del Paine, ridden by 2018 Eclipse Award-winning Apprentice, Wes Hamilton, broke his maiden on turf at Laurel on June 28, but trailed the field last time out at Saratoga in the Rick Violette Stakes over a sloppy main track track.

Also of interest in the Rosie’s is first time starter Four Wheel Drive, a bay son of American Pharoah, purchased for $525,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling, who is owned by Breeze Easy LLC and trained by Wesley Ward.

Rosie’s Stakes sponsor Exacta Systems was founded in 2013 and specializes in fresh, innovative thinking and product development in the exciting new entertainment business known as Historical Horse Racing. The Exacta line of pari-mutuel horse racing game terminals are in use at all Rosie’s Gaming Emporium locations in Virginia.

One race after the Rosie’s is the TAA Kitten’s Joy, also for juveniles but contested at 1 1/16 miles.

Seven have been entered in the TAA Kitten’s Joy, led by Three Diamonds Farm’s Field Pass, the 3-2 morning line favorite. Trained by Mike Maker, Field Pass finished a fast-closing second in his debut at 5 ½ furlongs at Churchill Downs on June 21. A gray/roan Maryland-bred son of Lemon Drop Kid, Field Pass broke his maiden in this next start, taking a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Saratoga on July 12 by three-quarters of a length.

The Elkstone Group’s The Quantico Kid broke his maiden at Colonial on Aug. 9, winning a one-mile race on turf by a head as the even-money favorite, after finishing fifth on dirt at Laurel on July 11 at 5 ½ furlongs. Trained by Michael Trombetta, The Quantico Kid, a Maryland-bred gelding by 2012 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner, Tapizar, is the 4-1 second choice in the Kitten’s Joy.

The Mike Stidham-trained Doc Boy (9-2), a bay Kentucky-bred son of Into Mischief, broke his maiden in his second start, winning at one mile on July 19 at Laurel on turf by a widening five lengths for owner Rick Kanter.

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), sponsor of the Kitten’s Joy Stakes, will be on site at Colonial Downs on Derby Day conducting “Best Turned Out Awards” in conjunction with the Virginia HBPA for all the stakes races.

LATEST VIRGINIA NEWS