Brother o' Brien looks to run back to his last
Trainer Tim McCanna’s family has deep roots in the Spokane, Wash., area. So when it came time to assign a moniker to a now-4-year-old gelding whom McCanna partially owned, he decided to name him after a Jesuit brother who worked at Gonzaga Prep High School.
“He was like every freshman’s best friend,” McCanna said of Brother O’Brien.
When he filed the paperwork establishing the horse’s name, McCanna accidentally spelled O’Brien with a small “o” and shipped him to California, where he went 5 for 17 over the course of two years that saw very little in the way of time off.
“He’s had a long campaign, but he’s not really weakening,” remarked McCanna, who has mainly been training a string of horses at Del Mar while his assistant Mary Ellen Silva tends to those based at Emerald Downs.
On July 13, Brother o’ Brien made his Emerald debut, cutting the corner and rallying in the stretch for a one-length victory under a brilliant ride from Frank Alvarado, tying a career-high 72 Beyer Speed Figure while going a mile and 70 yards.
“He likes the course and probably likes the company a little better too,” said McCanna of the closer, adding that he “needs a bit of his setup for his kick.”
It will be interesting to see whether Brother o’ Brien gets such a trip in a $10,000 claimer Saturday, which will be run at the same distance as the July 13 race. Brother o’ Brien is one of two closers in the field of six, with A Skip in the Park being the other. That pair will be rooting for Howie Gibson’s front-running Sanger to break quickly from the far outside and set quick early fractions.
The other 4-year-old in the field, Right Hand Ryder, has 27 career starts under his belt, basically running non-stop since getting his start in California at age 2. Since being claimed for $5,000 by the barn of Jorge Rosales, who leads all Emerald trainers in wins at the current meet, the speedster has adopted a stalking style that has resulted in two straight local wins and a career-best Beyer of 76 at the $8,000 claiming level.
“Right off the bat, Jorge said, ‘I think if he waits off the pace, he’s going to be better,’ ” said assistant trainer Eliana Thompson, whose boss/boyfriend turned out to be right. “I think he just really likes to chase something.”
McCanna is a member of the Washington Racing Hall of Fame, and on Saturday he’ll be joined by this year’s class of inductees: the racehorse Wasserman, trainer Mark Glatt, breeders Ron and Nina Hagen of El Dorado Farms, and the late owner Paskey Dedomenico.
The first two races on Saturday will be a pair of Quarter Horse stakes, the $30,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge at 350 yards and the $40,000 AQHA Racing Championship Challenge at 440 yards. Sunday’s action will feature six stakes races, including the $125,000 Longacres Mile.
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