“That was one for the good guys,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said to Gary Hartlage as Lukas passed the viewing stand just past the six-furlong pole.
It was one of many congratulations Hartlage received Monday after Anita Cauley’s On Fire Baby’s three-quarter length victory in the Grade II Pocahontas on Sunday’s opening-day card of the 21-day Fall Meet.
“Right place at the right time,” Hartlage said. “I’d like to enter
her today for the Breeders’ Cup like they did in the old days when they
ran the Derby Trial on the Tuesday before the (Kentucky) Derby.”
Instead of the Breeders’ Cup, the next stop for On Fire Baby likely
will be the $150,000-added Golden Rod (GII) to be run Nov. 26.
On Fire Baby is a half-sister to High Heels, who was
owned by Cauley and trained by Hartlage. High Heels ran third in the
2006 Golden Rod. High Heels’ 3-year-old season included a win in
Oaklawn Park’s Fantasy (GII) at Oaklawn Park and ran third to eventual
Belmont Stakes (GI) winner Rags to Riches in the 2007 Kentucky Oaks (GI).
The Golden Rod is not in the cards for Helen Groves’ And Why Not, who rallied from far back to get second in Sunday’s race.
“She’s a May 20 foal and she has had four races as a 2-year-old, so she is going to be turned out,” trainer Michael Matz said. “Hopefully, we can come back with her in the spring.”