Trombetta confident in cutback for Win Win Win in Forego

Trainer Mike Trombetta has been anxious to get Win Win Win back to the seven-eighths distance over the main track and hopes that the distance will do him some good when he takes on a competitive field assembled for Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Forego.

Trombetta has had the prestigious seven-furlong event in the back of his mind for the versatile son of Hat Trick for a while. When trying to find the right spot for the horse, Trombetta goes back to his track-record setting performance in the Pasco last January at Tampa Bay Downs, where he stopped the clock in 1:20.89 winning by 7¼ lengths and garnered a career best 99 Beyer.

"He hasn't had too many opportunities to do it," Trombetta said. "I keep going back to his 3-year-old race in the Pasco, where he broke the track record at seven-eighths. It was a distance that he really liked. When I was looking around to see where we were going to run him, the seven eighths of a mile intrigued me a bit so I figured this would be a good place to go."

Owned by Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation, Win Win Win is a stakes winner on both dirt and turf. After two unplaced efforts in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, he won the Manila going one mile over the Widener turf at Belmont Park. He did not race again for another 11 months and started off his 4-year-old campaign on the turf in the First Defence at Belmont Park, where he was tenth. He then switched back to the main track against a competitive allowance field to finish second behind fellow Forego aspirant Complexity.

"In his first start back, the turf was a little soft and it was his first start back so he may have needed the race," Trombetta said. "He didn't get away all that well, so we'll give him a pass on that one. His last race was better, it was more what I wanted to see. Now, we've trained up to this, so we'll see if he's ready for it."

A Florida homebred, Win Win Win is out of the Smarty Jones broodmare Miss Smarty Pants, who is a half to turf graded stakes winner Unbridled Humor.

One race prior, Trombetta will saddle allowance winner Premier Star in the Amsterdam (G2) for 3-year-olds over the main track.

Owned by Marc Tacher's Sonata Stables, the chestnut son of second crop sire Tapiture arrives at the six-furlong race off a victory against elders in an allowance optional claiming tilt at Laurel Park. In his prior start, he was a distant fourth at Laurel behind Eastern Bay and Fortunate Friends, both of whom were next-out winners.

Premier Star began his career with two wins going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park, including a maiden victory over Travers (G1) runner-up Caracaro.

"He won against older horses and ran pretty well," Trombetta said. "The only thing left for him is straight 3-year-old stakes at this point for the rest of the season, so here we are. The first time I ran him, he stumbled out of the gate and got caught behind horses and didn't like it a whole lot. He had to come wide and finished fourth. The second time, he had a clean getaway and he went on and ran really well."

Bred in Kentucky by Charles H. Deters, Premier Star is out of the Hold That Tiger broodmare Letthetigerparty and was bought for $100,000 from last year's OBS October Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.