CT: The Big Lep strong favorite in Coin Collector
Speedster has won two straight
The Biz
May 8, 2026
Four Anthony Farrior trainees and a pair conditioned by Jay Bernardini give owner Richard Burnsworth six shots at victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Coin Collector Stakes for 3-year-old West Virginia-breds at Charles Town Races.
The race, carded as the seventh on an eight-race program, is contested at 4 ½ furlongs.
The half-dozen Burnsworth runners leave the Jeff Runco-trained, Coleswood Farm-owned Ryan’s Run on the outside looking in. The Runhappy gelding, an easy winner at first asking, is the lone also-eligible in a race in which preference is based on career earnings; his $18,024, earned in just the one start, leave him with the lowest bankroll of the group.
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Farrior has a couple of the logical players in here, particularly The Big Lep. The Great Notion colt, 3-for-4 at the distance in his career, has won his last two starts and has been installed as the even-money favorite. Arnaldo Bocachica will ride.
Farrior also sends out Irish Jubalee (6-1), the busiest horse in the field with 11 career starts. The Juba colt, a four-time winner, has done most of his work around two turns. But he owns a win in three tries at this trip and earned his career-best Beyer speed figure of 78 in doing so. JD Acosta is named.
Abundant Energy, trained by Bernardini for himself, Burnsworth, and Kristina Buyea, has won three straight at Mahoning Valley and Mountaineer while earning competitive Beyer speed figures. He is 8-1 on the morning line, and Brandon Whitacre will ride.
Trainer Ron Sigler counters the onslaught with Caseys Legacy LLC’s Tricks R for Juba. The Juba gelding closed 2025 with a win in the 6 ½-furlong Vincent Moscarelli Memorial Stakes on WV Breeders’ Classics night, and he kicked off 2026 with a win going 4 ½ furlongs April 25. He is 5-1 on the morning line and will have regular pilot Denis Araujo up.
Others entered include A OK for Bernardini; the Farrior trainees Edy’s Flame and Mayorofgreencounty; My Max for Cyndy McKee; Theycallhimgoldie for Dewayne Johnson; and the filly Maskedandmummed, winner of the April 25 It’s Binn Too Long.
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