Albano is getting fit
NEW ORLEANS – Graded stakes winner Albano, who hasn’t raced since finishing third in the Smarty Jones Stakes on Sept. 1 at Parx, worked a half-mile at Fair Grounds on Wednesday in 48.20 seconds, his fourth workout since he arrived in New Orleans last month.
“He’s starting to get into a little form,” said trainer Larry Jones, whose prime target for Albano at this meet is the New Orleans Handicap.
“That would be the long-range plan,” Jones said. The two-turn preps for the New Orleans Handicap, the first of which is the Louisiana Handicap on Jan. 17, might be on Albano’s schedule, Jones said.
A 3-year-old Istan colt, Albano put together a strong 2014 season. In his first three starts this year, all at Fair Grounds, he finished second in the Lecomte and the Risen Star Stakes and was fourth in the Louisiana Derby. At Monmouth Park, he won the Pegasus Stakes and finished second to Bayern in the Haskell Invitational before closing his season in the Smarty Jones. Albano, who earned $483,000 at 3, has $541,100 in career earnings in nine starts.
His record is similar to that of his half-brother Mark Valeski, who earned $658,452 in 10 career starts. Mark Valeski, also trained by Jones, finished second in the New Orleans Handicap in 2013.
“I think [Albano] and Mark Valeski are pretty much of the same cloth,” Jones said. “I think the distance is better for Albano.”
Jones might be looking for an allowance spot for The Sandman, a 3-year-old who ran six furlongs in 1:10.66 to defeat maidens Dec. 6 in his second start, his first for Jones.
“We’re going to run through a condition or two,” Jones said.
A Bernardini colt purchased by Foxhill Farms for $700,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale in 2012, The Sandman debuted for trainer Chad Brown with a second-place finish in a maiden race May 3 at Belmont Park.
Stakes winner Divine Beauty, who won a second-level optional-claiming sprint Nov. 30 for Jones, is nominated for the Pago Hop, a two-turn turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Dec. 27.