Cammack can get a slice

STICKNEY, Ill. – The Pizza Man, one of the best Illinoisbreds ever to race, won the 2015 Arlington Million. In late summer of 2016 he captured the Grade 1 Northern Dancer at Woodbine, but after a 2017 campaign that showed he clearly was past his peak, The Pizza Man was retired.

The gelding is a 12-year-old now, and, believe it or not, an 11-year-old named Cammack has a solid chance to win the first renewal of the $60,000 The Pizza Man Stakes on Sunday at Hawthorne.

Cammack won his debut – on June 13, 2013. In 2016 he put together a six-race winning streak. And even in his ninth year of racing, he still is going pretty good. A Team Block homebred, Cammack (named for a late figure in Illinois racing, Addison Cammack, who also had a stakes race named in his honor at Arlington) ran for as little as $16,000 claiming over the winter at Tampa Bay Downs. It looked like he might have lost a couple steps from his 2020 baseline, but back in Chicago he rebounded with an April 30 victory at Arlington.

Trainer Mike Reavis claimed Cammack from Team Block and trainer Chris Block for $20,000 on July 3, but the Blocks claimed him right back for the same tag three weeks later. On Aug. 14, Cammack finished second to his stablemate Another Mystery in the Black Tie Affair Stakes, an Illinoisbred

turf route like The Pizza Man Stakes, and he basically ran back to that performance on Sept. 10, rallying strongly into a soft pace to finish a close fourth while racing for a $50,000 tag.

Cammack has done good work over the Hawthorne grass course, compiling a 4-1-1-2 record, and he fits as well as anyone in a highly competitive 1 1/16-mile grass contest Sunday.

How competitive? The morning-line favorite in this 11-horse field, Fly Nightly, is listed at a tepid 4-1. Fly Nightly finished one place in front of Cammack in that Sept. 10 Arlington race, but got a much better trip racing close to the leaders through a pokey tempo.

There’s a decent amount of pace entered in The Pizza Man, and Richiesgotgame, who will likely be a far lower price than his 12-1 morning-line odds, could get a sweet trip stalking the speed. From Chicago’s leading trainer-jockey combination, Larry Rivelli and Jareth Loveberry, 3-year-old Richiesgotgame probably does his best work on synthetic surfaces but managed a solid second in Illinois-bred turf-stakes competition over the summer at Arlington.

If the pace gets strong enough, perhaps Blue Sky Kowboy will show up again. This 7-year-old gelding, a dead closer, has hit a higher level than any of his Sunday rivals and at age 3 won the Hawthorne Derby over this course, but all four of his 2021 races have been flat.