Colonel Looks ‘Sharp’ in Laurel Feature Victory Saturday
Colonel Looks ‘Sharp’ in Laurel Feature Victory Saturday
First of Three Winners on the Program for Trainer McMahon
Rainbow 6 Jackpot Carryover Grows to $17,612 for Sunday
LAUREL, MD – Rising Sun Racing Stables’ Colonel Sharp was unhurried early before coming with a sweeping move on the outside and powering down the stretch to a 1 ¾-length victory in Saturday’s featured second race at Laurel Park.
Colonel Sharp ($11.40), a gelded 5-year-old son of Colonel John, ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:24:01 over a sloppy, sealed main track in the third-level $47,000 optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up.
“I was really impressed. I thought the racetrack would be compromising because he had two sloppy, sealed track runs and they were kind of subpar and I was like, ‘That might get us today,’” winning trainer Hugh McMahon said. “I don’t know. This horse looks like he’s coming into himself. I’m thankful.”
Jockey Feargal Lynch rated Colonel Sharp in the clear in fourth as Showalter, half of the favored Gary Capuano-trained entry with O Dionysus, and 11-1 long shot Spirit Grabber dueled through fractions of 22.64 seconds for a quarter-mile and 46.71 for the half. Colonel Sharp circled five wide on the turn and cleared his rivals in mid-stretch.
Dan Eubanks of Rising Sun purchased Colonel Sharp for $35,000 at the Timonium winter mixed sale Dec. 5 and moved him to the barn of McMahon, who also won Saturday with Bad Nana ($7.40) in the fifth race and Wild Dreams ($4.20) in the eighth.
“I’ve been to a lot of sales and looked at a lot of horses, and this is probably the most beautiful horse I’ve ever seen. He was put together and the way he was filled out, he was just a great-looking horse,” Eubanks said. “My goal was $25-30,000 on him. It was going really slow on the bid but I just stayed in which, obviously, was a great decision. I’m very happy to have him.”
In the day’s co-features, a pair of $42,000 entry-level optional claiming allowances for 4-year-olds and up, Mens Grille Racing’s Twin Valor ($4.40) picked up his second straight win, both over a sloppy, sealed track, in Race 7, while Danny Limongelli’s Wild Dreams also ran his win streak to two in Race 8. Twin Valor ran one mile in 1:42.09, and Wild Dreams went 5 ½ furlongs in 1:04.54.
Rainbow 6 Jackpot Carryover Grows to $17,612 for Sunday
There will be a jackpot carryover of $17,612.33 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Sunday’s nine-race program.
One horse, Jackson S, was live to take down the jackpot heading into Saturday’s ninth-race finale, won by 8-5 favorite Bungalow ($5.40). Multiple tickets with all six winners were worth $1,365.78.
Sunday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 4-9, kicked off by a $40,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3 and up and including $42,000 entry-level optional claiming allowances for females in Race 7 going one mile and Race 8 at 5 ½ furlongs.
Notes: Jockeys Jomar Torres and Elvis Trujillo each had two wins Saturday. Torres was first with Sir Sidney ($11.80) in the third race and Bungalow ($5.40) in the ninth, while Trujillo won back-to-back races on Chargin Storm ($19.20) in the sixth and Twin Valor ($4.40) in the seventh.
