Compound It Goes the Distance for Second Straight Victory
Jockey McCarthy Caps Three-Win Day in Sunday Finale
Multiple Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday, June 14

LAUREL, MD – Caonabo Stable’s Whirlin Curlin, a multiple stakes winner at 2, surged past favored Taco Supream inside the sixteenth pole and edged clear to a one-length upset of Sunday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.

Ridden by Julian Pimentel for trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, Whirlin Curlin ($20.80) completed seven furlongs in 1:22.49 over a fast main track for his sixth career victory, all at Laurel, where he won the Christopher Elser Memorial and Maryland Juvenile Futurity in 2017, the latter over subsequent Grade 2 winner Still Having Fun.

Whirlin Curlin, a gelded 4-year-old son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, settled in fifth as Won and Done ran the opening quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds, advancing to third along the rail after a half in 46.57. Pimentel swung Whirlin Curlin outside on the turn, closing steadily down the center of the track with Chargin Storm on his right hip, reeling in Taco Supream late.

“I was always trying to run him the seven-eighths,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “I thought it was the perfect distance for him and the ride Julian gave this horse was perfect. That’s just what I wanted, that kind of ride.”

Taco Supream, a winner of two straight and three of his previous four races, was sent off at 3-5 in his first start since March 31. After wresting a short lead from the stubborn pacesetter, he settled for second, a neck ahead of Chargin Storm.

Sanchez-Salomon claimed Whirlin Curlin for $12,500 out of a victory in his 3-year-old finale Dec. 21 at Laurel. He has run nine times for his new connections, with two wins, a second and three thirds.

“He used to be a little cuckoo, and now he’s great. You couldn’t even go by him because he would go crazy before; now he’s pretty calm and relaxed. He’s got a lot of confidence in himself,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “I’m going to go step-by-step, little by little, and we’ll decide what we’re going to do after this race. He’s a nice horse. He’s just getting better and better day by day.”

Compound It Goes the Distance for Second Straight Victory

In Sunday’s co-feature, Colts Neck Stable’s Compound It fended off the challenge of favored Smart Time from gate to wire for a front-running one-length triumph in Race 7, a $42,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The winning time was 1:35.79 over the main track.

A 3-year-old bay son of 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) Super Saver, purchased for $280,000 as a yearling in September 2017, Compound It ($8.60) posted his second straight win in just his fourth career start, all this year.

Compound It set fractions of 23.75 and 47.50 seconds, 1:11.54 and 1:23.43, all while pressed by Smart Time, a 3-year-old homebred son of champion Bernardini making his second career start off a runaway maiden triumph May 8 at Delaware Park. Set down for a drive through the stretch on the inside by Jevian Toledo, Compound It refused to give up the lead.

“He wouldn’t let him by. He likes to get where he’s going first,” Nick Galati, assistant to winning trainer Jorge Duarte Jr., said. “The difference is we put the blinkers on him. He’s all business and he ran like he was supposed to today. He looked great, and we got lucky and won another one.”

Compound It debuted over the winter at Gulfstream Park, making his last two starts at Parx, including a 12 ¼-length maiden special weight romp May 14, also with Toledo aboard.

“We’re going to wait to see how he comes out but I think [the next step] will be something good. He’s earned it,” Galati said. “He looks legit.”

Notes: Jockey Trevor McCarthy and trainer Cal Lynch teamed up for a pair of maiden winners Sunday, Bash ($3) in Race 2 and Creative Artist ($6.20) in Race 6, and McCarthy added a third winner with Lunar Image ($7) in Race 10. Jevian Toledo rode back-to-back winners on Compound It ($8.60) in Race 7 and Running Tide ($12.20) in Race 8, while Sheldon Russell was first with Such Great Heights ($16.60) in Race 1 and Uplifting ($9.20) in Race 4.

Live racing returns to Laurel Park with a 10-race card Friday, June 14 starting at 1:10 p.m. and featuring carryovers of $6,454.72 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 5-10) and $472.82 in the $1 Super Hi-5 (Race 1). Tickets with five of six winners in Sunday’s Rainbow 6 were worth $87.04.