Buster Rose ends trainer's four-year stakes drought

Just in time for the holidays, Steve Dunn received a gift that keeps on giving.

Dunn, a trainer since 1991, had his first stakes winner in more than four years when Buster Rose rallied from far back to prevail amid a solid field of turf sprinters in the $110,000 Canterbury Stakes on the Dec. 6 Claiming Crown program at Gulfstream Park in south Florida.

“I’m still getting calls and congratulations,” Dunn, 58, said this week from HighPointe Farm and Training Center in LaGrange, Ky.

“It was very special. The horse really had a big year for us.”

Doing his best work in turf sprints, Buster Rose has won 6 of 10 starts for earnings of $204,889 in 2014. The 6-year-old Indiana-bred gelding by Pioneering is being turned out for the winter on Dunn’s 10-acre farm in rural Henry County, Ky., with “all options open when we have him ready to run in May,” said Dunn.

Buster Rose is owned by his breeder, Mike Ball, a retired General Motors engineer who “raised him on a little patch of land in Muncie, Ind.,” said Dunn.

“It’s a one-mare operation, so he’s just thrilled,” said Dunn.

Dunn maintains a year-round stable at HighPointe, a facility with six-furlong dirt and Polytrack training surfaces. He said he will have about 13 horses to run this winter, mostly at Turfway Park, including Help the Children in the allowance feature Friday night at the northern Kentucky track.

Contenders line up for Prairie Bayou

Amen Kitten, Joha, Set the Sail, and Taken by the Storm figure as the top contenders Saturday night at Turfway in the $60,000 Prairie Bayou, the second and last stakes of the holiday meet.

Entries for the 1 1/16-mile Prairie Bayou were to be drawn Thursday, two days prior to raceday. Turfway racing secretary Tyler Picklesimer said all cards will be drawn at least three days out when the three-month winter-spring meet begins Jan. 1.

The 2015 stakes schedule still is not posted on the track website, but the template remains essentially the same as last year, with the showcase race, the Grade 3 Spiral, set for March 21. Seven stakes are on the schedule, starting Jan. 3 with the $60,000 Wintergreen.

** Business through the first half of the 16-day holiday meet at Turfway has been much improved over comparable 2013 dates, with all-sources handle showing a 42 percent increase, according to the general manager, Chip Bach.

Through Sunday (eight programs), field size has averaged 10.1 horses per race, with favorites winning 16 of 72 races (22 percent).

** Perry Ouzts slipped past Larry Snyder into 13th place on the all-time wins list among North American jockeys when he rode Shakeyogroovething to victory Dec. 11 at Turfway for his 6,389th winner.

Ouzts, 60, rode his first winner in March 1973 at Beulah Park. Into action this week at Turfway, his win total had inched to 6,392. The next jockey up the list is Sandy Hawley (6,450) in 12th place.

** Deshawn Parker has made his presence felt at Turfway, challenging Albin Jimenez atop the jockey standings, although Parker will depart soon after the holiday meet ends Dec. 31 to ride at Sam Houston.

Parker, the leading jockey in wins in North America in 2010, long has been the dominant jockey at Mountaineer Park. He rode at Sam Houston for the first time last winter, winning 37 races. Sam Houston resumes racing Jan. 16.

** Yes, the horse named Wigginton, who recently competed at Turfway, is named in honor of Jesse “Sonny” Wigginton, the popular Kentucky trainer who died at age 78 in July 2013.

A 2-year-old colt trained by John Dyer, Wigginton still is a maiden after six starts. His co-breeder and co-owner Christian Erickson was a longtime exercise rider for Wigginton.

** Turfway has sent out emails to horsemen to explore interest in summer stabling at the track. At least 400 horses, with connections paying stall rent, would be required to keep the track open, according to officials. The track was open last summer when that figure was reached.

** Churchill Downs officials said this week they still are not prepared to make an announcement in regard to the hiring of a new race-caller. The position is open, with Larry Collmus having departed for the New York Racing Association after one year.