Add Ol Memorial Stable and C.E. Glasscock’s Soaring Empire
to the intriguing probable field now expected to line up for this year’s
enriched $200,000 Derby Trial Stakes (G3) to be run next Saturday at Churchill
Downs reported trainer Cam Gambolati Saturday morning at Palm Meadows.
Soaring Empire is an Empire Maker colt purchased for
$190,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sales. He finished eighth behind
Ice Box after a rough start last out in the $750,000 Florida Derby (G1) at
Gulfstream Park on Mar. 20 with trouble later in the race in his second start
this year after a seven-furlong allowance victory over the track on Feb.
25.
“He’s not really a bad gate horse,” Gambolati
reflected. “But I felt he would probably get stirred up with the start
right in front the grandstand and the size of the crowd. It won’t be an
issue at Churchill (for the Derby Trial). They start back in the chute
where it’s quiet and a long way from the grandstand.
“We schooled him a lot here at Palm Meadows since the (Florida) Derby,”
he continued, adding that noted Starter Bob Duncan, the former Head Starter for
the New York Racing Association, worked with Soaring Empire extensively the
past few weeks.
“He (Soaring Empire) didn’t do a thing wrong for Bob and
hasn’t done a thing wrong in the mornings. I don’t anticipate any problems in Kentucky.”
Soaring Empire left Palm Meadows Saturday morning on a van bound for Louisville.
Soaring Empire made two starts as a 2-year-old last year
winning his debut at Monmouth Park on Sept. 26 and finishing third in the
$100,000 Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1 over the track and
one-mile distance of the Derby Trial.
Loving Vindication the One to Beat
in Thursday Feature
Live Oak Plantation’s 5-year-old mare Loving Vindication
shows two wins and five seconds in 12 career starts, most recently missing by a
neck as runner-up in a five-furlong turf dash at Gulfstream Park on Mar. 17 for
trainer Eddie Plesa, Jr. She goes back to the main track as the likely choice
in Thursday’s ‘two other than’ optional/allowance feature.
Leading jockey Paco Lopez gets a return call in the 6
½-furlong test facing five rival fillies and mares. The daughter of Vindication
made the first eight starts of her career for late Hall of Fame horseman Bobby
Frankel, including a win and a second in allowance races at Saratoga
as a 3-year-old in 2008.
Loving Vindication was sidelined for just over a year
before re-surfacing with Plesa last fall at Calder, finishing second in an
allowance on Nov. 13. In two dull tries before her good effort last out, she
finished last of 10 in the Minaret Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 2 after
acting up at the gate and tired to seventh after showing speed in a main track
allowance sprint over the Gulfstream track on Feb. 12.
An intriguing contender in Thursday’s feature is Kenwood
Racing LLC’s 7-year-old mare Annabill, winner of $703,900 with 18 career wins,
and entered for a $62,500 claiming tag with jockey C.H. Marquez, Jr. named to
ride for trainer Stephen L. DiMauro.
In two starts at the meet previously Annabill finished
second in a similar race over the track and distance on Mar. 5 and sixth of
seven last out in the Harmony Lodge overnight stakes on Apr. 2.
A daughter of Outflanker, Annabill was purchased privately
by her current connections about a year ago from owner-trainer Milt Wolfson and
his family after earning most of her bankroll and numerous stakes at Calder
where he claimed her for $25,000 early in her career.
Completing the field for Thursday’s race are Buckingham
Farm and Gordon Potter’s Max Speed, Luis Saez; William Schettine’s Ain’t Love
Grand, Joe Bravo; Mr Amore Stable’s Suave Royalty, Jose Lezcano; and Wendy
Dacosta and Jose Pinchin’s Golden Mystery, Elvis Trujillo.