Back on dirt, Blended Citizen 'couldn't be doing any better'
Brooke Hubbard, a bloodstock agent and racing manager who also co-owns 4-year-old colt Blended Citizen, reached for her phone upon seeing entries for Saturday’s $75,000 Tenacious Stakes.
The Fair Grounds feature at a mile and 70 yards counts graded winners such as Lone Sailor and Tenfold among its 10 entries. Meanwhile, Hubbard’s Blended Citizen is looking to string wins together for the first time in his 19-race career.
“Wow, it looks like we’re in tough,” she messaged to trainer Brad Cox. He responded: “Don’t worry. He couldn’t be doing any better.”
“He seems pretty confident,” Hubbard added of Cox, “so I guess we’ll all have a little confidence in him.”
There are hopes, too, that Blended Citizen can regain his 3-year-old form.
The son of Proud Citizen won Turfway Park’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) and Belmont Park’s Peter Pan (G3) before competing in Justify’s Belmont Stakes, finishing ninth. He raced once more that season before getting some extended time off from former trainer Doug O’Neill.
“After the Belmont, he had some setbacks and health issues, but we gave him time off,” Hubbard said. “Doug and his team did a good job getting him back.”
Returned at age 4 as a turf horse, Blended Citizen never quite got his footing in California, where his best finish was fourth. In September, he shipped east for two more starts on the lawn and again missed the board.
So Hubbard, along with Sayjay Racing and Greg Hall, then left Blended Citizen in Kentucky with Cox, who switched the colt back to the main track. He broke through in the first start for his new barn, winning a Nov. 28 allowance event at Churchill Downs.
“It was our connections that wanted to keep him on the turf and not put him on the dirt,” Hubbard said. “Getting him with the new trainer in Kentucky helped that out because Brad was so adamant in running him on the dirt.”
Blended Citizen drew post No. 2 in the Tenacious and will have Florent Geroux aboard. Carded as Race 12 of 14, post time is 6:19 p.m. ET Saturday.
Despite its modest purse, the Tenacious, given its late December spot on the calendar, has often served as a springboard for older horses in the midwest with plenty of more lucrative options awaiting early next year.
Cox runs strings at both Fair Grounds and Oaklawn Park.
“Of course you’d love to see him back in graded company,” Hubbard said of Blended Citizen, who gets his chance to prove worthy again on Saturday.