Talamo Back Aboard Cyclometer

With Mike Smith opting to ride Shakin It Up in the San Carlos Stakes, one of four graded races on next Saturday’s blockbuster card, it opened the door for Joe Talamo to reunite with Cyclometer, and he’s happy to be back.

“He’s a nice horse,” said Talamo, who rode Cyclometer in his first 10 starts, winning three. Smith had ridden Cyclometer in six of his last seven races, the last four in a row.

“He runs hard every single time,” Talamo said of Cyclometer, a 6-year-old Cyclotron horse owned and bred by Irwin and Andrew Molasky and Bruce Headley, who also trains the California-bred chestnut.

“I think he’s a better seven-eighths horse than six (furlongs), because he often doesn’t break that sharp, even though he’s a speed horse,” Talamo said. “That first jump, he always seems to break a little slow.”

Such was the case last out, when Cyclometer bobbled at the start and finished fifth as the 3-2 favorite in the California Cup Sprint at six furlongs on Jan. 25. The San Carlos, which Headley has won five times, with 9-year-old Softshoe Sure Shot in 1995; 8-year-old Son Of A Pistol in 2000; 7-year-old champion Kona Gold in 2001; and young whippersnapper Surf Cat at age four in 2006 and again at six in 2008, will be decided at seven furlongs.

“When I rode him, there was something about that first jump that caused him to be wary,” Talamo said. “That’s why seven-eighths is a lot better for him, although you can do anything with him. You can sit off the lead or go to the front. He’s a great horse to ride.”