It took Big Bertha Stable's Professor Zoom 1:11.88 for six furlongs to go from 20th to eighth in the Fantasy Ownership Challenge standings with a victory in the third race at Laurel Park April 21.
Ridden by Steve Hamilton for trainer Damon Dilodovico, who now has 12 wins in 45 starts during the Laurel winter/spring meet, Professor Zoom found room along the rail to defeat fellow contest horse Legends Hope by a half-length. Slick William, the third contest horse in the $16,000-$12,500 claiming race, checked in sixth.
Professor Zoom, who won for the first time since Sept. 24, 2016, banked $13,110 to push his contest earnings to $16,273. Legends Hope got on the board with $6,279 for finishing second, while Slick William collected $460.
(Photo by Jim McCue/MJC)
Twelve horses in the Fantasy Ownership Challenge are entered in races at three tracks—Laurel Park, Parx Racing and Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races—Friday, April 21, Saturday, April 22, and Sunday, April 23.
Here's a rundown of the upcoming action by track:
LAUREL PARK
In Friday's third race, three contest horses are among the seven entered in the six-furlong claiming event with a purse of $23,000. All of them are coming out of the same key race won March 18 by Danny Limongelli's Flight Crew, who is sixth in the standings with $16,388 in earnings and is scheduled to return in Friday's fifth race.
Victor Santiago's Supervisor, who finished second to Flight Crew, was a winner in his subsequent and currently tops the Challenge standings with $30,077. The three horses entered in the third race—Big Bertha Stable's Professor Zoom ($3,163), Wasabi Ventures Stables' Slick William ($863), and Burning Daylight Farms' Legend's Hope (no contest earnings yet)—finished third, fifth and seventh, respectively, behind Flight Crew and Supervisor March 18.
Flight Crew, meanwhile, is among the program favorites in a $23,000 starter allowance/optional claiming event at seven furlongs.
Gunpowder Farms' Indian Paint, in her fourth career start, earned her first career victory in a $40,000 maiden special weight event Friday, April 14, at Laurel Park and quickly moved to third in the Fantasy Ownership Challenge standings.
Ridden by Feargal Lynch for trainer Kelly Rubley, the Kentucky homebred by Uncle Mo took over at the top of the stretch in the one-mile race and gradually pulled away to win by 3 1/2 lengths over Mo Light. She earned $22,800 for the victory to push her contest earnings to $28,300, good for third in the standings.
Larry Johnson's Springtime Wind and Mrs. Frank P. Wright's Grace Isabella finished fourth ($2,400 in earnings) and fifth ($1,500) and also moved up in the contest standings.
(Photo by Tom LaMarra)
There's big money on the line at Laurel Park April 14 for three horses in the Fantasy Ownership Challenge.
In all, four contest horses are set to compete in Friday races, one of them at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races during its evening program. There were five, but standings leader Supervisor, who was entered in the seventh race—a $35,000 allowance test for Maryland-bred or -sired runners—at Laurel, was announced as a veterinarian's scratch earlier in the day.
The third race, a $40,000 maiden special weight event at one mile, drew a field of seven, three of which last competed March 18 in the same race at Laurel.
Gunpowder Farms' Indian Paint ($5,500 in contest earnings), Larry Johnson's Springtime Wind ($3,000) and Mrs. Frank P. Wright's Grace Isabella ($1,500) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the maiden special weight event at Laurel 18. The winner of that event, Claravoyant, sits second in the standings with $28,500 in earnings.
At Charles Town, Two Old Ladies Stable's Sliding Lady ($1,350) is entered in race six, a $6,250 claiming test with a purse of $12,000.
Timothy Hopkins' Whiskey Sour became the first Fantasy Ownership Challenge horse to go two-for-two when he collared the early speed to win the second race at Laurel Park April 9.
The winner's share, including a Maryland-bonus, totaled $13,338 in the race for $7,500-$6,000 claimers. That pushed Whiskey Sour's contest earnings to $26,320, good for third in the standings.
Trained by Kieron Magee and ridden by Trevor McCarthy, Whiskey Sour was one of six horses to win an overnight race at Laurel March 18, kickoff day of the contest that runs through Dec. 31.
It had been a long time since Old Coach Farm's Eyerish Inspired had been in the winner's circle, but on April 8 in the seventh race at Laurel Park the gray 4-year-old filly rallied from ninth early in a field of 12 to get up in time to win a 1 1/16-mile claiming event on the turf.
The victory netted the Paddy O'Prado filly, bred in Maryland by Dark Hollow Farm, $16,302, which includes a state-bred bonus. That moved her to fifth in the Fantasy Ownership Challenge standings after her eighth-place finish March 18 produced no purse money. She dropped to sixth after Whiskey Sour won the second race at Laurel April 9.