Cosmic Gold tries first stakes as Winning Image makes final start

The four $100,000 stakes Saturday at Laurel have drawn a wide spectrum of horses, ranging from the up-and-coming Cosmic Gold, who will make his stakes debut in the Native Dancer, to the 8-year-old Winning Image, who will race for the final time in the What a Summer.

New York horsemen are well represented on the card, with Chad Brown sending in Bakken for the Fire Plug and David Jacobson the trainer of the likely Native Dancer favorite, Stormin Monarcho.

The Native Dancer, for males, and the Nellie Morse, for fillies and mares, will be run at 1 1/16 miles. The Fire Plug and the What a Summer are six-furlong sprints. The four stakes are carded as races 5 through 8 and, in a change to the Laurel wagering menu that began Thursday, will be linked by rolling daily doubles and pick threes.

Cosmic Gold, 4, is just starting to reach his potential for trainer Mike Trombetta. After missing his 2-year-old season with “baby issues,” according to Trombetta, he made his debut at Parx in June. He came up a little short in that race and two subsequent sprints at Saratoga but now has rattled off three eye-catching wins in a row at Laurel, two at a one-turn mile and his most recent at 1 1/16 miles.

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He earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in his latest win while never asked for his best by jockey Julian Pimentel.

“He’s done what we asked in both breezes since his last race,” said Trombetta, who has his 80-horse Mid-Atlantic division split evenly between Fair Hill and Laurel. “I breezed him at Fair Hill and then brought him to Laurel last weekend and breezed him because that’s where he’s going to race. If he does well Saturday, this will really open things up for him.”

Winning Image finished a close second in her last start, the Garland of Roses at Aqueduct. After the race, trainer Michael Aro said she was being retired. But Winning Image, a 10-time stakes winner and an earner of $750,000, was not quite ready to call it quits.

“We tried to wind her down after the last race, but she wouldn’t have it,” Aro said. “She was a wild woman, so we put her back in training and are going to race her one more time.”

Aro said Winning Image will sell Jan. 13 at the Keeneland sale of horses of all ages.

Winning Image’s rider is the 63-year-old Tony Black, a winner of 5,208 races. Black works horses in the morning at Parx to stay busy and rides the occasional afternoon mount. Three of his four 2014 wins came in stakes on Winning Image. There is speculation that if she wins Saturday, Black will make an announcement regarding his riding future.

Native Dancer (Race 8)

Key contenders

Stormin Monarcho (Last 3 Beyers: 98-99-103)

* Middle-moved in the Queens County at Aqueduct last time out but flattened out and finished fourth while making his third start in 28 days. A more representative effort was his 2 3/4-length win at Laurel in the Richard W. Small Stakes on Nov. 15.

Cosmic Gold (Last 3 Beyers: 91-87-87)

* Son of Mineshaft races for Harry and Tom Meyerhoff, who won this race last year with Bold Curlin.

What a Summer (Race 5)

Key contenders

Lady Sabelia (Last 3 Beyers: 97-99-84)

* Freaked in the slop and won the Willa On the Move by 7 3/4 lengths Dec. 6 at Laurel.

* Has won five of her last six for trainer Robin Graham and is the horse to beat.

Winning Image (Last 3 Beyers: 75-90-73)

* Won this race a year ago at age 7.

Fire Plug (Race 6)

Key contenders

Bakken (Last 3 Beyers: 83-96-94)

* Finished fifth to Salutos Amigos – who has won three stakes in his last four starts – in the Fall Highweight last time out. Was eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint prior to that.

* A repeat of his Belmont Park optional-claiming win Oct. 2 will make him tough to beat here.

Smash and Grab (Last 3 Beyers: 93-82-92)

* Winner of 11 of 32 starts is in the best form of his career for trainer Damon Dilodovico.

* Iron horse started 13 times in 2014 and 14 times in 2013 while racing for several different trainers.

Nellie Morse (Race 7)

Key contenders

Miss Mischief (Last 3 Beyers: 80-95-95)

* Won three straight races at Presque Isle, including the HBPA Stakes, after being transferred to Dale Capuano.

* Was fifth in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf at Woodbine going 1 1/4 miles last out but fits in this competitive race off her best effort.

Star Pearl (Last 3 Beyers: 76-81-77)

* Recent Parx allowance winner is one of three entrants in this nine-horse field for Graham Motion, who also has entered Unbound and Zucchini Flower.

South Andros (Last 3 Beyers: 73-88-72)

* Never got untracked over a sloppy strip while making her first start in 13 weeks against males in a tough optional-claiming race Dec. 6. Has a recent bullet work for Rodney Jenkins and could wake up at a big price.

* Shayjolie is expected to scratch after finishing fourth in the Affectionately at Aqueduct on Jan. 1.