Promise Me Silver Leaning Towards Honeybee
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Trainer Bret Calhoun said Thursday morning that he’s leaning toward running unbeaten Promise Me Silver in the $150,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 7. Promise Me Silver moved to 6 for 6 in her career with a front-running 9 ¾-length victory in the $75,000 Two Altazano Stakes Feb. 14 at Sam Houston Race Park.
Promise Me Silver was the 1-9 favorite in the 7-furlong race. The 1 1/16-mile Honeybee would be Promise Me Silver’s first start around two turns.
“There’s a pretty chance you’ll see her in the Honeybee,” Calhoun said. “I don’t have a lot of great options right now.”
Promise Me Silver, a gray daughter of Silver City, opened her 3-year-old campaign with a neck victory in the $100,000 Dixie Belle Stakes Jan. 15 at Oaklawn. The 6-furlong race was scheduled to be run Jan. 9 – opening day of the Oaklawn meeting – but delayed six days because of winter weather that closed the track.
Calhoun said he hoped to stretch out Promise Me Silver in the $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes (mile) Jan. 31, but it came back “too quick” because the Dixie Belle was run almost a week later than originally scheduled.
“I got out of sync and off schedule,” Calhoun said. “It’s not really how I planned to come into that race (Honeybee) at a mile and a sixteenth, her first two-turn race. The seven-eighths race the other day was a good stepping stone.”
Promise Me Silver is a five-time stakes winner of $259,355. The Honeybee would be her first graded stakes race.
Blinkers On
Phenomenal Phoenix is scheduled to race in blinkers for the first time in Sunday’s $300,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said he decided to add blinkers after the Summer Bird gelding finished second, beaten a length, in a Jan. 19 entry-level allowance/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles. Von Hemel said believed Phenomenal Phoenix was going to win the race in midstretch, but then “he quit running.”
“A horse came by him on the outside, and was one was coming on the inside,” Von Hemel said Saturday morning. “It looked like both were going to pass him. He just took off after the horse on the outside and ran second, so there’s more than he showed us, I believe.”
Von Hemel said isn’t sure if Phenomenal Phoenix was distracted by the starting gate parked in the infield or the grandstand.
“We’re trying to keep him a little more focused,” Von Hemel said.
Phenomenal Phoenix broke his maiden by 5 ½ lengths at mile Nov. 5 at Remington Park before running fourth in the $250,000 Springboard Mile Stakes Dec. 14 at Remington.
The 2012 Springboard Mile runner-up, Will Take Charge, ran sixth in the Southwest before emerging as the country’s champion 3-year-old male of 2013.
Finish Lines
Training was extended 30 minutes Sunday because of winter weather that has played havoc with normal hours the last six days. Oaklawn is normally open for training from 7 a.m.-10:30 a.m. (Central). … Carve, scheduled to make his next start in the $250,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) March 14, worked a half-mile in :49.20 Sunday morning for trainer Brad Cox. … Super Saks, scheduled to make her next start in the $150,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 7, worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.40 Sunday morning for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. … Multiple stakes winner Sugar Shock, scheduled to make her next start in the $300,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 14, worked 5 furlongs in 1:02.20 Sunday morning for trainer Doug Anderson. … Trainer Kenny McPeek said Flashy American, runner-up in last Sunday’s $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3), will be pointed for the Azeri. … Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said Gold Medal Dancer, third in the Bayakoa, will “most likely” make her next start in the Azeri. Von Hemel said he will monitor the potential field, particularly shippers, before making a final decision. … Gentlemen’s Bet, third in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, worked a half-mile in :49.20 Sunday morning for trainer Ron Moquett. … Razorback Futurity winner Touchdown Arkansas worked a half-mile in :49.60 Sunday morning under Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel. Trainer Tom Howard said the goal for Touchdown Arkansas is the $75,000 Rainbow Stakes March 29, a six-furlong race restricted to 3-year-old Arkansas-bred colts and geldings. ... Multiple stakes winner Kiss Moon, a candidate for the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 10, is about 10 days away from her first breeze this year, trainer David Vance said. … Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero’s daughter, Canela, is visiting Oaklawn. Her godmother, Kim Dutrow, is the wife of Oaklawn-based trainer Tony Dutrow.
Source: Oaklawn Park Barn Notes
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