Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Catanese inherited his best runners from an old friend
Joe Catanese was humbled when learning his old friend, trainer Larry Bates, had stayed true to his word last year and had bequeathed him his two top horses, Poiema and Trumpets.
The two fillies are now the stars of Catanese’s modest stable, the former slated to make her next start in an overnight handicap here Saturday, the latter showing off her brilliant speed once again to prove a popular and easy winner of a statebred allowance race earlier this month.
“I first met Larry when I was a little boy in New England at Green Mountain Park and can remember when he was riding steeplechase horses at Saratoga while I was still a kid,” Catanese recalled. “Then when I came down to South Florida in 1993 we wound up in the same barn together and remained close friends ever since. We would ride back and forth to the track together in the golf cart every morning, busting each other’s chops and talking about this, that, and every other thing.
“He told me it was always his wish to give me his horses and equipment when he was gone, although believe me, I would give anything for him to be here now so I could give these two fillies back to him to train again if I could.”
Poiema comes into Saturday’s one-mile co-feature off a close second-place finish, beaten a neck by the Grade 2-placed Sterling Silver, under similar conditions at Tampa Bay Downs on March 9. Overall she has won 5 of 26 starts, including a 6 1/2-furlong overnight handicap in one-sided fashion for Catanese here during the fall.
“She’s coming into this race training very well,” said Catanese. “That was a tough little filly who beat her. She came back and finished fourth in the Grade 1 Madison in her next start.
“I think [Poiema’s] best distance is probably seven furlongs, although she’s won at a mile before, so she should be fine.”
The younger Trumpets has won her last two starts by a combined 9 3/4 lengths and has never been headed early in any of her three outings to date. Catanese said he will probably look for an open entry-level allowance race for the speedy filly following her easy victory over Florida-breds two weeks ago.
“The one thing I’m sure of, Larry is up there, watching over me and these fillies all the time,” said Catanese.
Best saved for late
In lieu of an allowance race, Thursday’s main event is a starter/optional claimer for horses who have run for a claiming price of $35,000 or less, or are entered for that same tag. The headliner will go as the last race of the day and be decided at 5 1/2 furlongs over the Tapeta course.
A well-matched field of eight was drawn for the race, led by Dr. Ray D. and Rotondo, both of whom won a similarly conditioned starter event in their last starts.
Dr. Ray D. will bring a modest two-race winning streak into the finale but has been idle since defeating the same kind in game fashion on Jan. 4 for leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Rotondo returned locally and to the synthetic strip from a failed main-track experiment at Tampa to win for the second time in four lifetime starts, despite trouble, on March 29.
Travel Happy and Party Shaker also come in off victories, ableit against lesser opposition, in their most recent starts. Little Minsky is a lightly raced but improving filly who finished third, beaten just 1 1/2 lengths by Rotondo, in their previous encounter.