Catalano takes shot at a big day

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - On the seventh day, God rested, the Christian tradition teaches us. Wayne Catalano? He runs horses at Arlington Park.

Sundays have been fun days for Catalano, who has racked up four winners from nine starters the last two Sunday racing programs at Arlington. This Sunday could be boom, could be bust, with Catalano-trained horses entered in seven of the card's 10 races.

Catalano has entries in races 1 and 3 and then will saddle a horse in the last five races on Father's Day afternoon. Three of those are races of the allowance variety on yet another card this week that came up on the strong side.

Among the Catalano contingent is Mam Bird, one of the better looking young prospects seen so far this meet. Mam Bird raced once last summer for a different outfit at Delaware Park and won his maiden here May 14 by 3 3/4 lengths, the same margin of victory that Mam Bird posted in an entry-level allowance score May 28. The rub with Mam Bird in Sunday's sixth race is that he may not run: Mam Bird is coupled in the wagering with Super Robusto, and on Friday, Catalano said it was more likely Super Robusto would start while Mam Bird awaits another spot.

Super Robusto also is qualified to win this second-level allowance at seven furlongs. His two dirt wins include one at Sunday's distance, and Catalano said the Smoke Glacken gelding has been training with verve over the Arlington Polytrack. Tazz, Lissa's Star, and Bergman also are potential factors in the sixth race.

Race 7 is virtually the same race as the sixth: second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers, only this one is a furlong farther, at one mile. More Catalano power here, too, in the form of Call Shot. Call Shot sniffed the edge of the Triple Crown trail this winter in Florida but will be making his first start since an 11th-place clunker in the April 17 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. Catalano said last month that nothing was found after that race to explain why Call Shot ran as poorly as he did and a return to his better form makes Call Shot the horse to beat in race 7, where Badger Bo rates an upset look.

Catalano's chance in the ninth, a filly-and-mare race open to entry-level allowance horses or $62,500 claimers and carded for 7 1/2 furlongs on Polytrack, is Loves to Fly. Loves to Fly likes to race close to the early lead and could find herself in an early pace duel with a couple others in the 10-horse race. The pick to win from off the pace is Sweet N Sour Nina, a filly who ran well at Arlington last summer and has put up a grand-looking work pattern for her first start since April.