Bombs Away starting to live up to pedigree
ELMONT, N.Y. – Bombs Away showed that there is some talent to go along with a powerful pedigree when he won a maiden race here five weeks ago. On Friday, Bombs Away takes the next step toward a possible stakes assignment when he meets winners in a first-level allowance race going a mile over Belmont Park’s main track.
Bombs Away is expected to face five rivals, including Sticksstatelydude and Dixie Runner, in the third race on a nine-race card that starts at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.
Bombs Away is a Phipps homebred son of Smart Strike out of the A.P. Indy mare Protesting. Bombs Away comes from a family that produced Grade 1 winners Storm Flag Flying, Miner’s Mark, and My Flag.
After finishing third in his debut going 6 1/2 furlongs over a muddy surface, Bombs Away came back to win his second start, leading all the way. He ran seven furlongs in 1:21.47 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I think he wants to run farther than I’ve been running him,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “He’s been training well. We’ll see what happens.”
Jose Ortiz rides from post 4.
Sticksstatelydude, a maiden winner at Saratoga last summer, missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall due to a tendon injury. He came back off an eight-month layoff to finish second under Brian Hernandez in a first-level allowance race at Churchill Downs on June 19.
“He got stopped at the half-mile pole,” said Greg Burchell, who trained Sticksstatelydude for the June 19 race. “Brian had to take up and up and circle them. He didn’t get tired, he got outrun.”
Burchell has trained the horse for most of his career and had him at Churchill. However, with Burchell having just one horse in his stable, he opted to send Sticksstatelydude to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who will saddle him for this race, as he did last summer at Saratoga.
Joel Rosario, aboard for the maiden win, is reunited with the colt Friday.
KEY CONTENDERS
Bombs Away, by Smart Strike
Beyers: 94-75
◗ Finished third, eight lengths behind Connect, in his career debut on a sealed, muddy surface. Connect came back to win an allowance race on Belmont Stakes Day, earning a 94 Beyer.
◗ Bombs Away has worked three times since his win, including a bullet half-mile in 46.60 seconds June 26.
Sticksstatelydude, by First Dude
Last 3 Beyers: 78-78-71
◗ Was scratched from last year’s Grade 1 Hopeful after getting a temperature associated with allergies.
◗ Came out of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity with a tendon injury that forced him to miss the Breeders’ Cup.
“It wasn’t something that jumped out at you,” Burchell said. “It was on the outside of the tendon. It’s basically gone.”
Dixie Runner, by Flatter
Last 3 Beyers: 81-78-73
◗ Goes first out for trainer Rudy Rodriguez after making his first five starts for Chad Brown.
◗ He has trained better in the mornings than he’s run in the afternoons. Rodriguez is equipping him with blinkers for the first time.
“I’m hoping the blinkers work,” Rodriguez said.