Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Stallwalkin’ Dude off to Dubai
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Two years after Salutos Amigos finished eighth in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan, trainer and co-owner David Jacobson is game for another try in that race with Stallwalkin’ Dude.
On Monday, Stallwalkin’ Dude completed his local preparation for the March 25 race with a three-furlong move in 39.45 seconds over Belmont Park’s training track. It was just another in a series of three-furlong moves that Jacobson gives Stallwalkin’ Dude every four days.
Stallwalkin’ Dude was expected to ship to Dubai from Newark, N.J. – via Florida – on Tuesday, but those plans were likely to change due to a Nor’easter that was forecast to bring more than a foot of snow to New York. More likely, Stallwalkin’ Dude – and Imperial Hint, who beat Stallwalkin’ Dude in the Grade 3 General George at Laurel – will leave Wednesday from John F. Kennedy airport in New York and stop in Amsterdam before moving on to Dubai.
Jacobson wasn’t too worried about the delay. He’s more concerned about the drastic climate change his horse will experience.
“It’s so cold here, and he’s going to be going out to the middle of the desert,” said Jacobson, who owns Stallwalkin’ Dude with Sol Kumin’s Head of Plains Partners. “I don’t mind going from hot to cold. Going from cold to hot, I haven’t had the best experiences with that.”
Jacobson didn’t have the best experience when Salutos Amigos raced in the 2015 Golden Shaheen. Jacobson felt the horse had a big chance to win, but a physical issue cropped up in the days leading up to the race.
“He had a small abscess on his throat that caused him to develop a cough,” Jacobson said. “He wasn’t 100 percent. It had nothing to do with the traveling or Dubai or anything like that.”
Stallwalkin’ Dude had a solid 2016 campaign, with four wins, including the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park. He has lost three of his last four starts, but he hardly ran poorly in any of them.
Last Thanksgiving, he was beaten a neck by Heaven’s Runway in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight at Aqueduct, where Stallwalkin’ Dude was spotting the winner 11 pounds. After winning the Gravesend on Dec. 18 at Aqueduct, Stallwalkin’ Dude steadied entering the turn in the Grade 3 Toboggan when third, beaten a neck. In the General George, he finished second behind a loose-on-the-lead Imperial Hint.
“I don’t like finding excuses as to why my horses lose,” Jacobson said. “I do know that he’s doing great, and those races came up to be legitimate races.”
Jacobson has not yet finalized a rider for Stallwalkin’ Dude. Irad Ortiz Jr., who has ridden Stallwalkin’ Dude in his last seven starts, is not expected to travel to Dubai, but American riders Florent Geroux, Flavien Prat, and Mike Smith will be there.
Sunny Ridge does it again
Owner Dennis Drazin and trainer Jason Servis will be sorry to see Aqueduct’s inner track close for the season after their Sunny Ridge collected his third stakes victory over that surface in Sunday’s $125,000 Stymie Stakes.
Sunny Ridge rallied five wide in the stretch under Manny Franco and outfinished 35-1 shot Do you know something to win the Stymie by threequarters of a length. He earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure. The win, Sunny Ridge’s first at 1 1/8 miles, improved his career record to 5 for 13 and pushed his earnings to $833,002.
Servis said that among the races he would look at next for Sunny Ridge is the $1.25 million Charles Town Classic on April 22.
Servis is hopeful that a healthy Sunny Ridge could have a long, prosperous career.
“I’ve been saying all along to Dennis, when that horse is 6, 7 years old, he’s going to have plenty of money behind him if he stays healthy,” Servis said. “He’s a big, lean, lanky gelding who is probably going to be around a while.”
Maragh high on Spartiatis
Spartiatis, a 7-year-old gelding, captured his first stakes victory in last Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct. Jockey Rajiv Maragh does not think it will be his last stakes win.
Spartiatis will point to the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 8, and Maragh thinks Spartiatis will have a good chance in that seven-furlong race, where he most likely will take on Unified, the winner of the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint.
“This horse can win the Carter, definitely,” Maragh said. “I was full of run coming to the wire. I felt like I had more, and he galloped out strong, and he wasn’t even tired at all. This horse is really doing good. I’m excited.”
Spartiatis, trained by Leon Blusiewicz, has won two straight races. He earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the Tom Fool victory.
Fox Sports 2 adds broadcasts
The New York Racing Association announced Monday that Fox Sports 2 will add more broadcasts of live racing from NYRA’s three tracks this year, building on the relationship that started last summer at Saratoga.
FS2 will broadcast three shows from Aqueduct this spring and seven shows from Belmont Park in addition to 36 telecasts from Saratoga.
Most of the Aqueduct and Belmont shows will be on Saturdays – with the exception of Memorial Day – and range from 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours in duration. FS2 will broadcast the final three Saturdays at Aqueduct, beginning April 8. That show will include the Grade 1 Carter but not the Grade 2 Wood Memorial because that race will be shown on NBC. The April 22 show from Aqueduct, which features a New York Stallion Stakes race, will include coverage of the $1.25 million Charles Town Classic.
Greg Wolf will be added to the broadcast team, joining NYRA analysts Andy Serling, Richard Migliore, and Maggie Wolfendale. Gabby Gaudet and Tom Amoss, as they were last year, will be part of the broadcast team at Saratoga.