Somelikeithotbrown delivers in Pimlico’s Dinner Party
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Somelikeithotbrown hits the line with a win in the Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico Saturday. Maryland Jockey Club photo
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
Second in the re-scheduled Grade 2 Dinner Party last fall, evergreen New York-bred Somelikeithotbrown went one better on Saturday with a one length victory.
Starting at odds of 5-2 when the gates opened, Somelikeithotbrown’s backers were likely hoping a bit of Jose Ortiz’s magic would rub off on his mount. The jockey had put together a successful Saturday at Pimlico by any measure, winning two races on the Preakness Stakes card before the Dinner Party.
Somelikeithotbrown broke strongly in the 1 1/16-mile race, but Ortiz asked him to settle in second as Flying Scotsman opened 2 lengths on the field through a first quarter-mile in :23.78 and a half in :47.33 as he galloped along in front with Somelikeithotbrown patiently waiting for him to wear himself out.
That moment came in the last half-mile when Somelikeithotbrown found himself just a length behind the leader and then at his hip. As the 1:10.52 fraction flashed on the board, Somelikeithotbrown was head-and-head with the leader. The 5-year-old took over from there, and despite a herd of horses trying to run him down, Somelikeithotbrown found enough to even extend his lead a bit and cross the line in front.
“He showed me some speed early on, and I got him to relax on the first turn and that was the key,” Ortiz said. “He relaxed nicely and from the half-mile pole to the three-eighths pole I was just waiting and waiting and when I asked him to go he did.”
Trying to avoid Flying Scotsman proved to be the key to Somelikeithotbrown’s tactics on Saturday. When they met in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile last month, Flying Scotsman did the pressuring instead of Somelikeithotbrown with Somelikeithotbrown finishing seventh and his rival last in the race.
“Jose and I talked about it,” said trainer Mike Maker. “Last time (Flying Scotsman) broke a step slow, came to our outside and (Somelikeithotbrown) never settled in the Maker’s Mark and it cost him in the end. I told Jose, ‘If the horse goes, let’s see if we can’t get to the outside of him and see you in the winner’s circle.’ ”
Stopping the clock in 1:40.09, Somelikeithotbrown not only won the Dinner Party but also set a Pimlico course record. Talk Or Listen (Ire) finished second, a length behind the winner, with Midnight Tea Time a head back in third.
It was the third graded stakes victory and second at the Grade 2 level for the horse after last summer’s Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap.
The Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stables runner won for the seventh time in 19 starts and pushed his earnings to $842,838. Only a little over a month ago, Somelikeithotbrown took his third New York-bred championship when named Champion Turf Male. The Sequel Stallions New York-foaled runner was also named 2- and 3-year-old Champion the previous two years.
As for his next start, Maker wasn’t showing his cards but indicated it’s likely Somelikeithotbrown will return to his home state this summer.
“We have a lot of options,” Maker said. “He’s run well at Saratoga multiple times. He’s a New York-bred, so we’ll look at a couple of those races as well.”
Sand Dollar Stables bred Somelikeithotbrown with Hot Pink Stables. By last year’s leading New York sire Big Brown, Somelikeithotbrown is joined by Jolting Joe as stakes winners for his dam Marilyn Monroan. Jolting Joe looks to continue Marilyn Monroan’s good week on Tuesday with an entry in an Indiana Grand allowance.
Marilyn Monroan’s 3-year-old Temple City colt Culture Icon also recently raced in Indiana, finishing third at the track Thursday. Foaling in Kentucky the last few years, the mare also has an unnamed Palace Malice 2-year-old and a Hard Spun yearling filly. She was bred to Mendelssohn for 2021.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Somelikeitthotbrown.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/05/15/somelikeithotbrown-delivers-in-pimlicos-dinner-party/
The King Cheek scores in Sir Barton to kick off Preakness Day
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The King Cheek edges Hozier to his inside in Saturday’s Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico. Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club Photo.
By Tom Law
Jamie Ness always thought The King Cheek would fare better at a distance of ground. He just took his time stretching the 3-year-old son of Laoban beyond one-turn sprints.
Ness stretched The King Cheek out Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, to 1 1/16 miles in the opening $99,000 Sir Barton Stakes to lead off the Preakness Day card, and the New York-bred gelding edged odds-on favorite Hozier for the victory. Coming off a win in a 6-furlong open optional at Parx Racing May 3, The King Cheek won the restricted Sir Barton by a head in 1:42.81 under Jaime Rodriguez.
“I always thought he was a two-turn horse,” Ness said after the race. “This was kind of a last-second entry. It was kind of a short field.”
Ness found that out when the Maryland Jockey Club’s racing office phoned, hustling runners to take on the Bob Baffert-trained Hozier dropping into the restricted stakes off a second in the Grade 2 Rebel and a sixth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
“You got any 3-year-olds that are doing good?” they asked.
“Yeah, for what?”
“The Sir Barton.”
“All right, let’s go.”
The King Cheek improved to 4-for-9 with the quick turnaround. He went to the front from the break, which saw Market Cap stumble and lose jockey Johan Rosado. The King Cheek and Rodriguez clicked off early splits of :24.06 and :47.67 with a length advantage over the 3-5 Hozier and Joel Rosario. Hozier edged up the inside around the far turn and was a half-length in front through 6 furlongs in 1:12.69 and into the stretch.
The King Cheek didn’t give way and found back inside the eighth pole for the victory. Hozier finished 9 ½ lengths clear of third-place finisher Romp with Golden Gulley fourth.
“When the favorite came up inside us it looked like uh-oh,” Ness said. “But he re-engaged and it was a hard-fought battle right to the wire, and luckily we got in front.”
Ness and owners Morris Kernan and Jagger Inc. claimed The King Cheek for $25,000 late last September at Delaware Park. He finished sixth of eight that day, well beaten in his second start.
“It was a five-way shake and he ran terrible,” Ness aid. “I was with my owner and I go, ‘go lose the shake,’ Then he comes out with the slip and I go, ‘awww.’ Now here we are. You just never know. I’ve claimed a lot of horses and you just never know.”
Bred by Pucker Ridge Farm LLC and out of the War Chant mare Selfie, The King Cheek broke his maiden in his first start for Ness, again for a $25,000 tag at Parx. He finished eighth in the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Aqueduct to end his juvenile season.
The King Cheek won an open optional going 7 furlongs at Parx Jan. 4 to open his 3-year-old season. Ness sent him to Aqueduct for his next two starts – a second in a state-bred optional Feb. 21 before another drubbing in stakes company in the Damon Runyon March 14.
The second foal out of the $27,185-earner and winner Selfie, The King Cheek was originally sold as a weanling for $10,000 to Silver Oaks at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. He then reported sold for $4,500 at the OBS October yearling sale in 2019 before being an RNA for $14,000 at last year’s OBS July sale of 2-year-olds in training.
Patricia Clark purchased Selfie in foal to Mizzen Mast for $14,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Selfie produced The King Cheek two years later and the gelding became the latest stakes winner for his former leading New York-based freshman sire who started his career at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson.
Pucker Ridge Farm also bred Selfie’s last two foals – an unnamed 2-year-old New York bred colt by Commissioner and a yearling cold by Redesdale foaled April 24, 2020. Selfie was bred back to Destin in 2020.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TheKingCheek.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/05/15/the-king-cheek-scores-in-sir-barton-to-kick-off-preakness-day/