Always Sunshine looks to carry momentum into De Francis Dash

Stonehedge’s Grade 3 winner Always Sunshine, who earned his second straight stakes victory in Saratoga’s Tale of the Cat on Friday, will bring that momentum to Laurel Park for his next planned start in the $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Sept 15.

Trainer Edward ‘Ned’ Allard said Saturday Always Sunshine exited his two-length victory in the six-furlong Tale of the Cat in good shape and both horse and trainer were in good spirits upon returning to their base at Parx Racing.

“He got in early this morning and dove into his feed tub and seemed to come out of his race great. The trainer did, too,” Allard said Saturday. “I went to sleep with a grin on my face, and woke up with it this morning.”

The 27th running of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up highlights a card of seven stakes worth $900,000 in purses, marking the first of several Super Saturday programs during Laurel’s calendar year-ending fall meet which opens Sept. 7.

Named for the late president and chairman of Laurel and legendary Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis was moved up from its mid-November spot on the Maryland racing calendar in 2017. Past winners include Hall of Famer Housebuster and fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor’s Echo and Benny the Bull.

“That’ll probably be his next start. It’s a prestigious race, it’s close to home and he’s already won at Laurel, too, so it’s a good spot,” Allard said. “And if you do all that fine, then you can dream a little bit. I’m not going to even have the words pass my lips, but you know what I mean.”

The De Francis could serve as a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs, where another prominent Parx-based sprinter – Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint – is being pointed. Trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said following a victory in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) July 28 at Saratoga that the De Francis was also a possibility for Imperial Hint.

Always Sunshine and Imperial Hint met in the True North (G2) June 8 at Belmont Park. Imperial Hint won by a neck while Always Sunshine ran fourth after he and jockey Kendrick Carmouche were carried out on the far turn by Westwood, who was ultimately eased and vanned off the track.

“Carmouche told me the horse was just getting in gear when that happened, and it’s a shame. I don’t know if we were going to catch the winner, but he was just getting ready to kick and that eliminated him that day,” Allard said. “The Delaware race was a monster race and he did it very nicely against some very nice horses. I felt that he deserved a little bit better shot [and] I thought the race at Saratoga fit him very well. I liked his post and everything, and it all worked out very nicely.”

Always Sunshine came running late to snap My Boy Tate’s five-race win streak in the Tale of the Cat, giving jockey Frankie Pennington his first career win at Saratoga and Allard his first since the 1988 Seneca Handicap with Fuller’s Folly. The victory also came 33 years to the day when Allard-trained Hall of Fame mare Mom’s Command won the Alabama (G1).

“It was exciting. It’s been a long time. I really haven’t run that many horses there lately or in the last number of years. I think our last major win up there was with Mom’s Command, so that was quite a while ago,” he said. “Yesterday was a lot of fun. The horse went into it super, and just ran terrific.”

Always Sunshine, a 6-year-old son of West Acre out of the Awesome Again mare Sunny Again, has a record of 8-5-3 from 23 starts with purse earnings of $517,650. Two of his four career stakes wins have come in Maryland, in the 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico and 2015 Dave’s Friend at Laurel.

“He’s a horse with a lot of talent and it seems like if you time him right, he’s kind of a dangerous racehorse,” Allard said. “It’s fun to dream a little bit. These kinds of horses make the game worthwhile. The good ones give you goosebumps.”