Late Night Pow Wow keeps money local with Oaks win

When Charles Town holds its richer open stakes, horses typically ship in from out of town and walk away with the top awards. But on Saturday, in the $300,000 Charles Town Oaks, owner-trainer Javier Contreras scored one for the home team with the West Virginia-bred filly Late Night Pow Wow.

The victory was the first in a graded stakes for Contreras, who has been training since the mid-1980s.

“It means everything – that all the hard work we do is worth it, not just for me but for all my help,” Contreras said. “Sunday we were all so happy doing our jobs. It means a lot.”

Contreras, 60, has been based at Charles Town since 2008. Prior to that, he stabled at Laurel Park or Delaware Park and raced at Tampa Bay Downs in the winter.

The Charles Town Oaks was the second stakes win for jockey Fredy Petrouche, who won the Sylvia Bishop Memorial on Late Night Pow Wow in August. He gave Late Night Pow Wow a picture-perfect ride Saturday, tracking the leaders while saving ground and then taking her outside Chauncey, who came away with the lead nearing the stretch. Late Night Pow Wow was up in deep stretch to win by a neck over the Lacey Gaudet-trained Chauncey.

Late Night Pow Wow has seven wins and a second from eight starts and earnings of $288,000. Contreras said he will point her next to the $125,000 Cavada against statebreds on West Virginia Breeders’ Classic night, Oct. 13.

“She’s run hard this year,” Contreras said. “We might give her a break over the winter. I think we can pick out spots with her next year and win some stakes on the road.”

Contreras bought Late Night Pow Wow on his own behalf from Charles Town horseman John McKee, who stands her sire, Fiber Sonde. He also bought Hidden Canyon, a son of Fiber Sonde whom he won a stakes with in 2013, from McKee.

Late Night Pow Wow’s two recent stakes wins are the first for Contreras since Amherst Street in 2014. Contreras won five stakes with Amherst Street, whom he purchased from trainer James W. Casey, who stands the gelding’s sire, Luftikus, at his Taylor Mountain Farm.

“I bought Amherst Street and Hidden Canyon for one of my clients, Phyllis Susini, but she passed away, so I ended up owning them,” Contreras said. “I like to go to the farms and look at the horses as yearlings, running in the fields, and see what is for sale.”

Jessica Krupnick wins MATCH

Jessica Krupnick held on to win the overall title in the Mid-Atlantic Championships on Saturday over Laki, who finished second in the Grade 3 De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park. If Laki would have won the De Francis, he would have been the overall champion by one point.

Jessica Krupnick, a 5-yearold daughter of Uncle Mo, is based at the Fair Hill Training Center with trainer Tres Abbott. She is owned by the Sycamore Racing V partnership, which is managed by Abbott’s father, Francis.

She competed in four of the five legs of the MATCH Series filly and mare dirt sprint division and scored 34 points. She took the overall lead by finishing second in the Roamin Rachel on Sept. 15 at Parx Racing.

Jessica Krupnick earned a total of $110,000 in MATCH Series bonuses.

Sycamore earned $50,000 for winning the overall championship and $20,000 for winning her division title. As the trainer, Abbott earned $25,000 and $15,000.

“Once you get into it, you plan around it, and it worked out well for us,” Tres Abbott said. “It’s a good program for Mid-Atlantic horses and some of the smaller trainers in the region.”

Jessica Krupnick is scheduled to make the final start of her career next month at Woodbine. A deal is in place for her to be sold as a broodmare to a Canadian partnership.

Trainer Mary Eppler was the second-biggest winner in the series, with Page McKenney and Oaks Bluffs earning a combined $70,000. The nowretired Page McKenney won the long-dirt division and Oak Bluffs finished first in the turf sprint division by one point over Dubini.

Page McKenney is owned by Adam Staple and Jalin Stable. Oak Bluffs is owned by the Mary Eppler Racing Stable.

Oaks Bluffs and Laki, who won the dirt sprint division for trainer Damon Dilodovico and Hillside Equestrian Meadows, were the only two horses in the MATCH Series to race in all five legs of their respective divisions.

Smiling Causeway won the filly and mare turf sprint division for trainer Arnaud Delacour and Audley Farm Stable.

This was the first year the MATCH Series had been held since 2001. A total of 25 races beginning in May were held at seven tracks in the region – Monmouth Park, Laurel Park, Pimlico, Parx, Delaware Park, Penn National, and Presque Isle Downs.

Stronach 5 starts Friday

The Stronach 5 wager begins Friday with races from Laurel Park, Santa Anita, Gulfstream Park, and Golden Gate Fields.

Laurel Park will serve as the betting hub for the $1 minimum wager, which will have a 12 percent takeout, as all pick fives do in Maryland. The Stronach 5 will be held each Friday through Nov. 2.

If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will carry over to the next week. In the case of a surface change, all horses in that leg of the wager will be considered winners.

The Friday races are scheduled to be run within 42 minutes and begin at 5:26 p.m. Eastern. The wager starts with Laurel race 9 and continues with Santa Anita race 4, Gulfstream race 8, Golden Gate race 4, and Gulfstream race 9.

Parx, Laurel handle up

Parx Racing and Laurel Park both had brisk business at the betting windows last Saturday.

The Parx card, which included the Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion, had allsources handle of $8.96 million, a 12 percent increase over the $8 million bet in 2017.

The record Pennsylvania Derby Day handle is the $10.39 million bet in 2014 when Bayern won the Pennsylvania Derby and California Chrome finished sixth. Untapable won that year’s Cotillion.

In 2016, Pennsylvania Derby Day handled $9.61 million. Connect beat Gun Runner that year, and Songbird won the Cotillion.

De Francis Dash Day at Laurel handled $5.07 million, an increase of 35.5 percent from the $3.74 million bet a year ago. The De Francis card, which included seven stakes, handled $4.51 million in 2016.