Barn Notes
Carolina Mist Tests New Home in Sunday Allowance Feature
Carliwood Farm and partners’ 3-year-old filly Carolina Mist hit the board in all three starts last year at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota and Remington Park in Oklahoma, and the Kentucky-bred chestnut resumes her career at Calder Race Course on Sunday in a 5 ½-furlong allowance test with leading rider Manoel Cruz aboard for new trainer Henry Collazo.
A daughter of Mr. Greeley, Carolina Mist won her debut at Canterbury last June and finished third in the Canterbury Lassie for trainer Michael Biehler before moving on to Remington where she finished second in the Cimarron Stakes on turf on Nov. 18 in her last start. Carolina Mist has done most of her training for her return breezing at Nelson Jones Farm (formerly Hooper Farm) in Ocala, but tested the Calder surface with an easy three furlongs in 37 2/5 last Thursday.
Carolina Mist faces six rivals her own age in Sunday’s ‘non-winners of two’ allowance with Barbara and Roy Cawley’s Powdered Sugar a solid contender with jockey Pedro Monterrey, Jr. aboard for trainer David Fawkes. A Florida homebred daughter of Halo’s Image, Powdered Sugar looked good breaking her maiden by four lengths last out on Apr. 3 in her fifth start for a $62,500 claiming tag.
Completing the field for Sunday’s feature are Marion Montanari’s Therese, Jeffrey Sanchez; A and P Maestro’s Stephaningrid, Manuel Aguilar; Martin Pons’ Dr. Citron, Jose Rivera II; Jerome Bozzo Trust’s Put That Away, P.J. Lydon; and Steve Dwoskin’s Meadow Touch, Elvis Trujillo.
Golden Spikes to Peter Pan’ Samba Rooster to Texas
Trainer Marty Wolfson developed two 3-year-olds in this year’s crop at Calder that have made names for themselves in major stakes as the season unfolds with Golden Spikes finishing second in the Illinois Derby (G2) at Hawthorne in Chicago on Apr. 5 and Samba Rooster a strong second in the Lexington Stakes (G2) at Keeneland on Apr. 19 after being sold privately and placed with trainer Bob Baffert.
Wolfson has M375 Thoroughbreds and Suarez Racing’s Golden Spikes at Belmont Park where he will be among the choices in Saturday’s $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (G2) with Edgar Prado aboard while Baffert sends out Samba Rooster in the $400,000 Lone Star Derby (G3) in Texas that afternoon for new owners Lanni Family Trust and Mercedes Stable.
Wolfson had Golden Spikes under serious consideration for the Lone Star Derby at 1 1/16 miles around two turns, but opted for the one-turn Peter Pan at 1 1/8 miles for the son of Seeking the Gold, who couldn’t make up ground in the stretch on front-running Recapturetheglory in the Illinois Derby, the latter going on to a respectable fifth-place finish behind Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby (G1).
Samba Rooster is a Songandaprayer colt that developed quickly early this year for Wolfson after finishing second in his debut at Calder on Jan. 2, closing day of the Tropical-at-Calder meet. He then ran well in four straight one-mile allowance races at Gulfstream Park, winning one and finishing a game second to highly regarded Harlem Rocker on Mar. 30 before being sold.
