Camaro Z squeezes through to take off-turf Black Gold

Camaro Z gallantly won the $100,000 Black Gold Stakes by a neck over Count Dracula in the featured race Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Under Corey Lanerie, Camaro Z burrowed through a narrow hole in upper stretch, squeezing between pacesetting Bear River on the inside and Count Dracula on the outside. Count Dracula’s jockey, Brian Hernandez, did his best to keep Lanerie from getting through, and Count Dracula then did his best to keep Camaro Z from victory. Count Dracula nosed back to the lead in the final furlong but switched to his wrong lead at a key deep-stretch moment as Camaro Z pushed on to victory.

The Black Gold, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, was carded for turf but rained onto a muddy, sealed main track. Rock’n a Halo finished third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Count Dracula, after half of the 12 entrants were scratched following the surface switch. The winning time was a modest 1:45.97.

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Camaro Z ($11.60) was a narrow fourth-start winner of a turf maiden race Jan. 13 at Fair Grounds, but in a Feb. 3 first-level allowance, rained off turf onto dirt, Camaro Z got into a pace battle and had little left the final furlong. Saturday, trainer Greg Foley told Camaro Z’s new jockey, Corey Lanerie, to let other horses lead and wait for the final quarter-mile to make a run. Lanerie said he wasn’t sure Camaro Z was taking him anywhere at the five-sixteenths pole, but turning for home, moving into a narrow gap, his mount came alive.

“When I got to the quarter pole the hole got smaller and he got braver,” Lanerie said.

Foley trains Camaro Z for Terry Stephens, Pravin Patel, and Tagg Team Racing. The colt is by Liam’s Map out of Jaylan, by Scat Daddy, and was bred by Al Shaqab Racing.

* Jack Hammer was the most impressive horse to race Saturday at Fair Grounds, winning an off-turf renewal of the Eddie Johnston Memorial Stakes for Louisiana-breds by 8 1/2 lengths over odds-on favorite Behemah Star. Jack Hammer, Reylu Gutierrez up for trainer Bret Calhoun and Allied Racing Stable, ripped through one mile and 70 yards over the muddy, sealed surface in a swift 1:41.67. Earlier on the card, favored A G’s Charlotte grinded out a win in the Red Camelia Stakes, another Louisiana-bred race carded for turf but contested on dirt.

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