The excitable Red Ruby proving well worth the trouble

It’s no secret Red Ruby has great potential. In three starts this year, she has scored open-lengths stakes victories in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico and the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park. Once she swooped to the lead in upper stretch of the Black-Eyed Susan, the race, for all practical purposes, was over.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Red Ruby, and trainer Kellyn Gorder has had to be patient and adjust her schedule on the fly.

On Saturday, Red Ruby will be favored over nine rivals in the Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks. Her challengers include Black-Eyed Susan runner-up Coach Rocks, Acorn third-place finisher Gio Game, and the top four finishers from the local Oaks prep, the Light Hearted.

Red Ruby, winner of 3 of 5 starts and $283,000, was based at Oaklawn last winter, but started only twice and had to skip the meet’s premier race for 3-year-old fillies, the $400,000 Fantasy.

“We shipped into Oaklawn with stitches, and we shipped out of there with stitches,” Gorder said.

Prior to leaving Kentucky for Arkansas, Red Ruby tried to shake off her blanket, which got caught over her eyes. She banged the top of her head in her stall. Bring on the sutures.

Toward the end of the Oaklawn season, Red Ruby was frightened while walking the shed row after her morning exercise.

“We had two horses we were trying to get out before the racetrack closed,” Gorder said. “One of the horses spooked when the rider got on and kind of started running backwards. When Red Ruby saw the horse coming towards her, she just turned and bolted, dragging the hot walker, and slapped into the metal ladder that goes up to the hay loft.”

Red Ruby came out of the incident with two cuts on her right front and two cuts on her hind left. More stitches and 16 days of stall rest followed.

In her first start at Oaklawn, Red Ruby whistled by 2 1/2 lengths in the Martha Washington. But Gorder noticed something prior to the race he didn’t like.

“I kind of saw the tip of the iceberg in the Martha Washington,” he said. “She was a little fractious in the paddock and a bit of a handful in the post parade. After she won, I was worried about it, and we schooled her repeatedly before the Honeybee.”

Red Ruby finished an uncharacteristic fourth in the Grade 3 Honeybee, an oddly run race where Amy’s Challenge ran off to an eight-length lead on the backstretch and held on to finish second.

“It was a strange race, with everyone sitting back wondering when to move,” Gorder said. “Things just didn’t work out.”

Red Ruby didn’t help her cause by getting wound up during the post parade.

“She was good in the paddock but kind of got in a fight with the pony,” Gorder said. “She was pushing the pony around.”

Despite her even effort in the Honeybee and missing the Fantasy, Gorder pushed on to the Kentucky Oaks. But a week before the race, he changed his mind and rerouted Red Ruby to the Black-Eyed Susan.

The morning of the race, Gorder called an audible and galloped Red Ruby, something he rarely does with his horses.

“I thought it might settle her mind a little bit,” Gorder said. “The track was wet, and I just gave her a nice, easy gallop down the backstretch, and in the lane let her get up to what I consider third gear. She has a lot of gears.”

Releasing a little steam may have helped. She won by 4 3/4 lengths.

“I wouldn’t say she was easy in the post parade, but she was really good at Pimlico,” Gorder said.

Red Ruby is by Tiznow and a half-sister to Ohio Derby and Lecomte winner Mo Tom. She was bred in Kentucky by the late Hargus Sexton, his wife, Sandra, and the Silver Fern Farm of Brandi Nicolson. He races for Sandra Sexton and Nicholson.

If Red Ruby wins the Delaware Oaks, her next race will likely be the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga going 1 1/4 miles.

“You can’t get her tired,” Gorder said. “I think a 1 1/4-mile race will be fine for her. It might be time to take on a few champions.”

Allsop wins with first starter

Trainer Carl Allsop won with his first starter on Sunday at Laurel Park, when Antoaneta won a first-level allowance race on turf by a head. She paid $17.20.

Allsop works for Reid Nagle, who owns Big Lick Farm near Ocala, Fla., and keeps horses at the Braeburn Training Center in Virginia. Allsop is based at Braeburn.

A native of England, Allsop met Kiaran McLaughlin while breaking young horses for Shadwell Stable in Dubai. He came to the United States and worked with McLaughlin for five years, then became Dominick Schettino’s assistant trainer. He worked for Ralph Nicks for four years before partnering with Nagle in April.

Sanford next for Our Braintrust

Laurel Park horseman Cal Lynch is pointing his undefeated 2-year-old Our Braintrust to the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga. Our Braintrust followed up his Laurel debut win by rallying up the inside to take the $150,000 Tremont Stakes on June 8 at Belmont Park.

The $150,000 Sanford is a sixfurlong race July 21.

Lynch bought Our Braintrust privately for $25,000 after he failed to meet his reserve at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearlings sale at Timonium last October. He owns him with his longtime client Bo Smith.

Lynch and Smith together campaigned Javerre from 201216. Javerre earned $490,000 and won seven races, including the Grade 3 General George at Laurel and the New Jersey Breeders’ Handicap at Monmouth Park.

Our Braintrust is a Maryland-bred son of Freud. He is eligible for statebred races at Laurel and Pimlico as well as the New York Stallion series.

Laurel pick five worth a look

The Friday card at Laurel Park concludes with a playable late pick five sequence. The 12 percent takeout pick five includes a pair of $25,000 starter races, a first-level allowance, a second-level optional claimer, and a $16,000 claiming race.

There is a carryover into the rolling Super Hi 5 on Friday of $1,426. The Rainbow 6 carryover is $3,156.