TurfPublicists: BAY SHORE (G3)/COMELY (G3) ADVANCE; for Saturday, April 9, 2011

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Contact: Jon Forbes

J J’S LUCKY TRAIN, SMOKE IS RIGHT INVADE FOR BAY SHORE; R HOLIDAY MOOD, AVA K. TRY MAIN TRACK IN COMELY

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A pair of stakes winners from out of town headline the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore, while two local fillies will attempt to defend home turf in the Grade 3, $150,000 Comely on the Resorts World New York Casino Wood Memorial undercard Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Bay Shore, race eight on the 11-race card, attracted J J’s Lucky Train and Smoke It Right, who respectively enter the seven-furlong dash for 3-year-olds off stakes victories at Laurel Park and Oaklawn Park.

Fresh Start Stable’s J J’s Lucky Train, second in the one-mile, 70-yard Count Fleet and the 1 1/16-mile Whirlaway over Aqueduct’s inner track, returns to the Big A off a resilient score in the seven-furlong Miracle Wood at Laurel on February 26.

“I always thought he’d be a bit better at seven-eighths to a mile, but we wanted to run him long to see if he could run in the bigger races,” said J J’s Lucky Train’s trainer, William Anderson. “I came to the reality pretty quickly that a mile and a sixteenth is a little too far.”

In the Miracle Wood, J J’s Lucky Train prevailed by a neck over pacesetter Bandbox, who returned to take the Private Terms at Laurel on March 19.

“I thought it was a very good race as Bandbox came back to win a stakes at Laurel a couple of weeks later,” said Anderson. “Bandbox was very sharp [in the Miracle Wood], and [J J’s Lucky Train] sat right off him. According to the Sheet numbers, that was his best effort yet.”

J J’s Lucky Train, who drew post position 3 and was made the 3-1 morning-line second choice, will once again be ridden by Jose Ferrer.

Smoke It Right is unbeaten in four starts and seeks his third stakes victory. After closing his 2-year-old season with an eight-length score in the Lafayette at Evangeline Downs on September 6, the son of Smoke Glacken took a Delta Downs allowance by 3 ¾ lengths on February 11 and captured the Mountain Valley by 1 ¼ lengths at Oaklawn on March 5 in his two most recent starts.

“We want to see if he can long go long, and seven-eighths seems like a logical distance,” said trainer Bernard Chatters, who owns Smoke It Right in partnership with Rand Metoyer. “He’s a speedy horse. He’s so relaxed, like a pony. Hopefully he’ll go long. We liked him from the beginning. That year we bought four yearlings, but he was my favorite. We know he’s fast, and we want to see if he can if he can handle the good ones.”

Cornelio Velasquez will ride Smoke It Right, 6-1 on the morning line, from post 6.

The Bay Shore is a homecoming for Godolphin’s Buffum, who finished fifth in the Grade 3 UAE 2000 Guineas over Meydan’s all-weather track on February 10 in his lone start as a sophomore. In his two previous efforts, the $1.2 million yearling purchase was fifth and last in the Grade 3 Remsen at Aqueduct in November following a narrow maiden score at Belmont Park in October.

“He’s been at Belmont with Henry Spiller the past three days after coming out of quarantine in Newburgh, [N.Y.],” said Rick Mettee, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor. “He trotted the first two days and galloped this morning. He was first on the also-eligible list for the UAE Derby, and he was fit and ready to run. You might think a mile might be a bit better for him, but seven furlongs is good for his first start back.”

David Cohen gets back aboard Buffum, who drew post 2 and was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

Dr Disco, a Joseph Dirico homebred who has never finished outside the exacta in five starts, was last seen taking a second-level New York-bred optional claimer by two lengths over the inner track on March 17. He has faced open competition once, having finished second to stakes-placed Rift in an entry-level optional claimer on February 16.

“From the beginning he has acted like a horse who wants to go farther,” said trainer Bruce Brown. “He has a long stride, and while he’s fast, he’s also easy to rate. We breezed him the other day [five furlongs over the Belmont training track in 1:01.05 on Sunday], and Mike Luzzi had him sit off another horse. He’s lightly raced, but he’s very mature. Seven furlongs is a distance where you can experiment. It will give us a good perspective of what we’re going to do with him the rest of the year.”

Luzzi will ride Dr Disco, a 20-1 long shot, from post 4.

The Bay Shore field also includes Harlan’s Hello, Justin Phillip, Royal Currier, and Vengeful Wildcat.

The one-mile Comely for 3-year-old fillies, scheduled as the seventh race, features a pair of runners who look to transfer stakes-winning form from the inner track to the main track.

R Holiday Mood broke her maiden by a neck in her second start when stretched out to a mile on February 12, and the E. Paul Robsham Stables homebred posted another front-running victory when she prevailed by that margin once again in the Out Ruled overnight stakes on March 13.

“She’s a filly we’ve always liked,” said R Holiday Mood’s trainer, Todd Pletcher. “Obviously, it’s stepping up in class, but we are optimistic she’s that kind of filly.”

John Velazquez has the call aboard 7-2 morning-line third choice R Holiday Mood from post 2.

Like R Holiday Mood, Ava K. has competed three times, having aired by 10 ¼ lengths on debut on January 9, kicked clear to a 2 ½-length allowance score on February 16, and wired the field to take the Proud Puppy overnight stakes on March 11. The Comely will be the New York-bred’s first start against open competition.

“After the [Proud Puppy] we decided this would be the obvious next step,” said Mike Hushion, who trains the daughter of Dixie Union for Lewis H. Rapaport and Sugar Maple Farm. “She just places where she’s comfortable. There’s not much to say about her – she’s pretty straightforward.”

Ava K., the 5-2 morning-line favorite, will leave from post 5 under Ramon Dominguez.

The aforementioned Bernard Chatters will saddle Drs. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman’s Mysterious Chimes, who is 1-1-1 from three starts at Oaklawn, in the Comely.

“We have a couple of other nice fillies at Oaklawn, so we wanted to see if she could make it here,” said Chatters. “Arkansas is really deep with fillies this year.”

Third on debut on February 17, Mysterious Chimes dug in to earn her diploma by a head on February 25 and led in deep stretch before yielding late to finish second in an allowance on March 11.

“She’s has three good, sharp six-furlong races in her,” said Chatters. “The one thing that scares me is how they sometimes build a lot of speed racing down these long straight-aways.”

Cornelio Velasquez has the call aboard Mysterious Chimes, 12-1 on the morning line, from post 5.

Her Smile, Hot Summer, Royal Sighting, and Vixen’s Roar complete the Comely field.

The field for the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore:

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	Odds
1	Justin Phillip (KY)	R A Dominguez	116	S M Asmussen	5-1
2	Buffum (PA)	D Cohen	116	S bin Suroor	5-2
3	J J's Lucky Train (KY)	J C Ferrer	118	W D Anderson	3-1
4	Dr Disco (NY)	M J Luzzi	116	B R Brown	15-1
5	Harlan's Hello (KY)	C Hill	116	D Shivmangal	20-1
6	Smoke It Right (KY)	C H Velasquez	120	B Chatters	6-1
7	Vengeful Wildcat (KY)	C H Marquez, Jr.	118	B W Perkins, Jr.	7-2
8	Royal Currier (FL)	E Castro	118	P Farro	12-1

The field for the Grade 3, $150,000 Comely:

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	Odds
1	Hot Summer (VA)	L Saez	116	D Fawkes	5-1
2	R Holiday Mood (FL)	J R Velazquez	120	T A Pletcher	7-2
3	Her Smile (VA)	D Cohen	118	L Delacour	3-1
4	Mysterious Chimes (KY)	C H Velasquez	116	B Chatters	12-1
5	Ava K. (NY)	R A Dominguez	120	M E Hushion	5-2
6	Vixen's Roar (KY)	E Castro	116	G C Contessa	20-1
7	Royal Sighting (KY)	E S Prado	116	P J Kelly	5-1

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