Rise Up Leads Wild & Wonderful Field
Paul Van Doren’s graded stakes winner Rise Up headlines the field on Saturday night in the $100,000 Wild & Wonderful – the first of three six-figure unrestricted stakes on Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races eighth annual Race for the Ribbon card. All told, the Race for the Ribbon card contains eight stakes and gets underway at 5:00 P.M. EST.
After winning the 2013 Delta Jackpot (G3), the Tom Amoss trainee appeared to be on his way to the Kentucky Derby before a pair of setbacks in the Risen Star (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fairgrounds forced him to change course.
Included in that change of course was a stop in the 2014 Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town over the same seven furlong configuration he’ll face on Saturday. Rise Up wouldn’t disappoint in the Hilton as he parlayed a front running trip into a 10 3/4 length romp over his competition as the odds on favorite. That front running trip is something his trainer makes no bones about wanting again in the five-year-old’s second trip to Charles Town.
“It’s no secret that he’s a horse that needs to be on the lead,” said Amoss, who himself sports a Charles Town Oaks win with So Many Ways in 2013. “His last work at the Churchill Downs training track was very good. It’s a similar configuration to the track at Charles Town, and that’s what we did before his win in the Robert Hilton. So he’s coming into it as well as we could hope.”
Most recently the winner of an optional claiming allowance at Ellis Park by 3 1/4 lengths, the son of Rockport Harbor could also find himself with a pace scenario to his liking as he breaks from the rail in a race that, on paper, seems to lack an abundance of speed.
If that isn’t enough, Rise Up will also team up with jockey Javier Castellano over a track the winner of the last three Eclipse Awards as the country’s top rider has experienced a run of success on that includes a pair of Charles Town Classic wins as well as a Charles Town Oaks victory.
A win in the Wild & Wonderful would push Rise Up north of $1.1 million in career earnings.
Jacks or Better Farm’s homebred Grande Shores, the winner of this year’s $100,000 Sir Shackleton at Gulfstream Park, also journeys in from trainer Mark Casse’s base at Churchill Downs to try his hand in the Wild & Wonderful.
Much like his rival Rise Up, the now an eight-year-old Grande Shores is himself no stranger to the graded stakes ranks having finished second in back of the speedy X Y Jet in last year’s Mr. Prospector (G3) and then third, beaten just 3 1/2 lengths by Mshawish and Valid, in the Hal’s Hope (G3) earlier this year.
After making the first 57 starts of his career in the state of Florida, Grand Shores will make start number 59 his second consecutive one in the state of West Virginia, having finished fourth in the West Virginia Governor’s Cup on West Virginia Derby day at Mountaineer Park on August 6.
J.D. Acosta, who recently won the 3000th race of his career, has the call.
Starship Zeus, I Came to Party, Demon Buster and Old Upstart, the winner of a $50,000 claiming event at Saratoga in his last outing, complete the lineup.
The Wild & Wonderful is the first race in the late Pick 4 sequence that also includes the $100,000 Pink Ribbon and $350,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3). Post time for the Wild & Wonderful is scheduled for 9:10 P.M.
$100,000 WILD & WONDERFUL S.
September 17, 2016
Race 9 – Post time 9:10pm EST
3&up, 7 Furlongs
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Rise Up, Javier Castellano, 119, Thomas M. Amoss
2. Starship Zeus, Carlos D. Lugo, 119, Murat Sancal
3. I Came to Party, Gerald Almodovar, 116, Gerald E. Brooks
4. Demon Buster, J.D. Acosta, 119, Jose Corrales
5. Grande Shores, J.D. Acosta, 119, Mark E. Casse
6. Old Upstart, Angel Cruz, 119, James L. Lawrence, II
FAMILIAR FOES SQUARE OFF IN PINK RIBBON: A trio of fillies and mares from the $150,000 Sugar Maple presented by CANTER Mid-Atlantic on this April’s Charles Town Classic undercard will square off once again over the Charles Town oval as they take part in this Saturday night’s $100,000 Pink Ribbon. The Pink Ribbon represents the symbol of the day’s events on track as a variety of fundraising activities are planned to raise money for the Susa G. Komen Race for the Cure Foundation’s West Virginia Affiliate as a part of Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races’ eighth Race for the Ribbon program.
Of the three returning runners from the Sugar Maple, BB Horses’ Sweet on Smokey fared the best in April checking in second behind longshot winner Raging Smoke. Since her last trip to Charles Town, the daughter of Successful Appeal has found the winner’s circle once in four starts with the win coming in the $50,000 Dashing Beauty at Delaware Park.
Trained by Claudio Gonzalez, Sweet on Smokey is reunited with jockey Jevian Toledo who rode her to the runner-up effort in the Sugar Maple.
Making Havoc, the beaten even-money favorite in the Sugar Maple will make her second start for trainer Gary Contessa after being claimed from the Michelle Nevin barn at Saratoga on August 10. Owned now by Hot Scot Racing Stables, Making Havoc made her first start for her new barn in a September 1 optional claiming allowance at Saratoga, but checked in sixth, beaten by 7 1/4 lengths.
Should she capture the Pink Ribbon on Saturday, it would mark the first stakes win of Making Havoc’s career.
The six-year-old mare Flattering Bea is back to take a fourth crack at winning the Pink Ribbon, having finished fifth as a three-year-old, second as a four-year-old and then third in the 2015 running. The leading money earner in the field having banked north of $436,000 over her 30 race career, Flattering Bea will look to break a 13 race losing streak in stakes that dates back to the 2014 Sugar Maple.
Jose Montano, who has been on Flattering Bea in her last two tries in the Pink Ribbon once again has the mount.
New to the fray is G. Watts Humphrey’s Pretty Fancy who returns in the Pink Ribbon after a near four month absence following a seventh place finish in the Roxelana at Churchill Downs on June 25. Trained by Rusty Arnold, the daughter of Lemon Drop Kid fell just a half-length short of becoming a graded stakes winner herself in the 2015 Doubledogdare (G3) at Keeneland.
Thomas and Will Van Meter’s Remember Lucy, New Jersey-bred stakes winner She’s Hot Wired, locally based Kluvyabye and Swan Deer complete the field for the Pink Ribbon.
Post time for the Pink Ribbon is slated for 9:39 P.M.
$100,000 PINK RIBBON S.
September 17, 2016
Race 10 – Post time 9:39pm EST
Fillies & Mares 3&up, 7 Furlongs
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Swan Deer, Oscar Flores, 119, Shawn D. Brackett
2. She’s Hot Wired, Trevor McCarthy, 119, Miguel Penaloza
3. Kluvyabye, Antonio Lopez, 119, Michael G. Atkins
4. Flattering Bea, Jose Montano, 119, Crystal G. Pickett
5. Sweet on Smokey, Jevian Toledo, 124, Claudio A. Gonzalez
6. Making Havoc, Javier Castellano, 121, Gary C. Contessa
7. Pretty Fancy, Javier Castellano, 119, George R. Arnold, II
8. Remember Lucy, Brian J. Hernandez, Jr., 119, William B. Van Meter
Source: Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races