Balboa finds his weight class in Jerome
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Balboa ran into a couple of potential heavyweights when he finished third behind Paladin and Renegade in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes here last month. A drop in class is in the offing Saturday at Aqueduct when Balboa gets back in the ring in the $150,000 Jerome Stakes.
Balboa will meet only three rivals in the one-mile Jerome as Mailata, who was entered in this race, won Tuesday’s three-horse Future Stars Stakes by 19 lengths at Parx Racing.
Balboa began his career in Southern California with Bob Baffert. After one win from four starts and two drubbings in Grade 1 company, Balboa was sent to Brittany Russell.
In his first start for Russell, Balboa won the six-furlong James F. Lewis III Stakes at Laurel, drawing away late to score by 5 1/4 lengths after attending the pace. Hollywood Import, second in the Lewis, won last weekend’s Heft Stakes at Laurel.
Meanwhile, in the Remsen, at 1 1/8 miles around two turns, Balboa attended the pace set by Day One Starter. He took a narrow lead at the three-eighths marker and tried to run with Paladin and Renegade in the stretch before grudgingly giving way in the final sixteenth. Balboa was beaten 3 1/2 lengths.
Russell said while she likes the cutback to a mile on Saturday, she has not given up on Balboa stretching out again. Saturday, drawn outside in the four-horse field, Russell figures the speedy Balboa can demonstrate an ability to stalk under Manny Franco.
“I think he’s a big horse and obviously has speed, but he’s also a very sensible horse, I thought he settled in really nice last time for [Ricardo] Santana Jr.,” Russell said. “I think Manny will be able to see how it shakes out inside of him. If the horse breaks and he’s going to overtake everybody, great, rock on, because he can. If they want to be silly, he can sit a stalking trip, he’s capable of doing it.”
My World, trained by Brad Cox, won the Nashua Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths defeating Probably Dreaming, a two-time minor stakes winner at Delaware Park who finished second in last weekend’s Heft Stakes.
Cox elected to skip the Remsen and point to the Jerome.
“He was a little bit of an immature horse mentally, though he’s definitely improved through the summer and into the fall,” Cox said. “He’s getting better all the time. The Remsen I didn’t feel was the right spot for him, so we passed that for the Jerome. I think it’s the right stepping-stone for him with how he’s trained and how he’s acted.”
Jaime Rodriguez rides My World from post 3.
Enforced Agenda, a son of Liam’s Map, was a pace-pressing debut winner of a one-mile race when allowed to go off at 23-1 on Nov. 23. Ottinho, third in that race, came back to win his maiden here Wednesday.
Flavien Prat will ride Enforced Agenda from the rail.
Freedom’s Echo, who won a maiden $40,000 claiming race on Nov. 1 at Parx, completes the compact field.
The Jerome offers qualifying points (10-5-3-2-1) to the Kentucky Derby though the race has not produced a Derby starter since Firenze Fire in 2018.
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