Seven Trumpets tops possible Romans duo for Southwest

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Seven Trumpets will be making his two-turn debut Feb. 19 in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn. He may be joined in the race by stablemate Promises Fulfilled, said trainer Dale Romans.

The Southwest carries 17 points (10-4-2-1) for the Kentucky Derby and is one of three graded stakes to be run over the holiday weekend at Oaklawn. The Grade 3, $150,000 Bayakoa on Saturday is expected to draw Farrell, Streamline, and Terra Promessa, while the Southwest will share a card with the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap. Romans said J Boys Echo, winner of last year’s Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct, will make the trip from Florida for the Razorback.

Seven Trumpets ran second by a half-length to Firenze Fire in the $150,000 Jerome at Aqueduct on Jan. 13. He set the pace on a muddy track and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 85. Seven Trumpets, a son of Morning Line, worked five-furlongs in 1:00.60 on Monday at Gulfstream.

“I think he’s an improving racehorse,” Romans said. “Everything about him says he’ll go two turns. His sire won at a mile and an eighth in the Pennsylvania Derby. We’re hoping he’ll go two turns.”

Seven Trumpets races for West Point Thoroughbreds. He won a maiden special weight in October and one start later defeated Battle Station, a future stakes winner, in a first-level allowance in November. Both races came at Churchill Downs.

Romans said Monday he wanted to see how Promises Fulfilled trains off a bullet fiveeighths work in 59.60 seconds Sunday at Gulfstream before making a final decision on the Southwest. He would join Seven Trumpets on a flight to Oaklawn on Wednesday. Promises Fulfilled is a son of Shackleford who races for Robert Baron.

Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope had nine possible starters for the Southwest as of Monday. Others on a working list are Mourinho and Combatant, the first two finishers in last month’s Smarty Jones at Oaklawn; Sporting Chance, the winner of last year’s Grade 1 Hopeful; My Boy Jack, coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Sham at Santa Anita; Retirement Fund and Zing Zang, both trained by Steve Asmussen with the latter exiting a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds; and Ezmosh, runnerup in a recent allowance at Oaklawn. Pope said trainer Todd Pletcher also could send a starter for the Southwest.

Pope said weights for the Razorback were to be out Wednesday afternoon. J Boys Echo will come into the 1 1/16-mile stakes off a pair of runner-up finishes in highend optional-claiming races. Pope said others expected for the Razorback are Far Right, Hawaakom, Leofric, Sonneteer, and Untrapped.

Entries for the Southwest Stakes card will be drawn Friday. A flight bringing horses from Southern California is scheduled for Thursday. The long-range forecast for Monday called for a high of 64 degrees and a 40 percent chance of precipitation.

Sporting Chance sharp in work

Sporting Chance, the most accomplished young horse on the grounds at Oaklawn as the winner of last year’s Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga, put in a sharp final work Monday for his 3-year-old debut. He is being pointed for the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest on Feb. 19.

Oaklawn opened for training at 9 a.m. – a late start after freezing temperatures overnight – and Sporting Chance was one of the first workers. The track was muddy and sealed. He went five furlongs in 1:00.40, reaching out nicely through the stretch. Oaklawn clocker Ronnie Morse had the horse’s final quarter in 23.80 seconds.

“He’s as far along as I can get him,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “I may get a surprise coming off that six-month layoff – going a mile and a sixteenth is tough – but he’s a quality horse and I think that I’ve got him moving in the right direction. I think it’s probably time to step up and see where we’re at.”

Luis Saez, who has ridden Sporting Chance in his last two starts – both wins – has the mount. The pair won the Hopeful by a neck after Saez was nearly unseated when Sporting Chance reacted to a left-handed stick nearing the wire in the seven-furlong race on Sept. 4.

“Luis hit him left-handed, low, and . . . instead of hitting him in the flank, I think he caught him a little on the belly, and he’d never been hit before,” Lukas said. “We never hit him in the morning and we never hit him in a race. So, I think it startled him, and the reason I say that is because he had that one stride and then he rebroke again and went to running again and galloped out strong.”

Sporting Chance is a son of Tiznow who races for Robert Baker and William Mack.

Lukas also had 3-year-old Bravazo out for a work Monday at Oaklawn, going a half-mile in 47.80 seconds. Oaklawn head clocker Jim Hamilton had the horse galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.80. Bravazo, a neck winner of a first-level allowance here on Jan. 13, is entered in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star on Saturday at Fair Grounds.