Bennett bullish on his young horses

OLDSMAR, Fla. – When you’ve been training for over 50 years and have won more than 3,300 Thoroughbred races where does the motivation come from to get up at 4:30 a.m. every morning and head to the track?

“It’s the young horses that keep the fires burning,” says trainer Gerry Bennett.

Bennett won his fifth race of the meeting on Sunday to place him second in the trainer standings, one behind Kathleen O’Connell. Bennett thinks he may have as good a group of young runners as he has ever brought to Tampa. He says he has five juveniles about to turn 3 next week and the same number of 3-year-olds turning 4, and thinks there’s talent and potential in many of the group.

One of those who could have a bright future is Cheers for Sidney, a 2-year-old filly who set the pace into the stretch and finished seventh in the Sandpiper Stakes here on Dec. 6. Cheers for Sidney won at first asking at Indiana Grand then came back to be fourth in a six-furlong allowance sprint there run in 1:08.78.

In the Sandpiper, Cheers for Sidney broke from the rail, and Bennett said she became nervous while the field was loaded and wound up flipping her palate and cutting off her air during the race.

“We’ll make some equipment changes for her next and you’ll see the real Cheers for Sidney next time,” Bennett said. “If we can get her to relax a bit I think she could be a really nice filly.”

Cheers for Sidney is one of several Bennett has with a group of owners headed by Beth Muirhead who want to develop and race young runners.

“They want what’s best for the horse, which is encouraging,” he said.

Bennett also has high hopes for One Lucky Step, who was second at Indiana Grand in his debut. One Lucky Step rapped a tendon and was sent to the sidelines.

“He could be a nice colt,” Bennett said. “He’s out of the mother of Bucky’s Prayer, who won 10 races and $280,000 for us.”

World Gone Wright returns

World Gone Wright won at first asking here last spring and proved that victory was no fluke with later tallies at Keeneland and Monmouth. She makes her first start since August in an allowance optional-claiming sprint at about five furlongs on the turf here Friday.

Trained by Robert Smith and owned by Smith and Mark Hoffman, World Gone Wright ripped through five furlongs in 55.77 in a front-running win over the Monmouth turf course last summer and comes into this race off a string of bullet drills.

Smith said a strong performance here could earn World Gone Wright a start in the $100,000 Lightning City Stakes going five furlongs on the turf here Jan. 24.

◗ Last Friday’s third race, an optional claimer, wasn’t listed as a stakes but it sure could have been. The stakes-placed Joe Tess defeated Pyrite Green, who was followed in third by the stakes winner Bourbonize. Bourbonize was making his first start since September and figures to be a salty foe with that race under his belt.

◗ Cee ‘n O outgamed Hold On Smokey in a Saturday turf sprint, setting a track record of 55.66 for about five furlongs on turf.