Condilenios horses gear up for Mt. Rainier

AUBURN, Wash. – With the Longacres Mile a little more than five weeks out, jockeying for starting berths in the Northwest’s only graded stakes race will begin in earnest Sunday in the $50,000 Mt. Rainier Handicap at Emerald Downs.

Fifteen horses were nominated for the 1 1/16-mile Mt. Rainier, the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 3 Longacres Mile on Aug. 24. Five of the 15 are based in Canada – four at Hastings in Vancouver, British Columbia, and one at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta – and as many as three of those runners are expected to compete in the Mt. Rainier.

Hastings-based trainer Dino Condilenios nominated three horses for Swift Thoroughbreds. They are Iscar, a Darley-bred son of Bernardini; Shooting Jacket, who captured the Chris Loseth Stakes for 3-year-olds at Hastings in 2013; and Modern, another Darley product and the most likely of the three to have a realistic chance in the Longacres Mile.

“I’m bringing Shooting Jacket for sure,” Condilenios said Wednesday from Vancouver. “I entered the other two in an optional here, and it depends on if the race goes or not. If not, I’ll probably bring Modern down as well.”

Modern, by Tiznow, has been a much-improved horse through the first three starts of his 4-year-old year. After a runner-up finish behind Title Contender in the Sir Winston Churchill Handicap on June 8, the front-running Modern finished third behind Mr. Bowling in the Lieutenant Governors’ Handicap on July 1.

“He’s one of the most talented horses I’ve ever trained,” Condilenios said. “When I got him last year, he was a real nervous horse, and I had some issues getting him to relax. He’d get really washed out in the post parade, in the paddock, and he’d run off in the morning. So we tried some stuff, and part of it is just maturity and growth. He’s going in the right direction.”

Shooting Jacket will start at Emerald for the second time; he closed from last to finish third in the one-mile Budweiser Handicap on a sloppy track June 15.

“I was happy,” Condilenios said. “He’s not the best horse in my barn, but he ships well, he’s got the right style for the longer stretch, and I think he fits the track down there. He’s one of those guys who tries hard every time, and if there’s a lot of speed in the race, he can pick up the pieces.”