Diamond is sky-high on Somelikeithotbrown
Harvey Diamond enjoys Kentucky Downs like few others. The retired occupational physician was part of the group that owned Da Big Hoss, winner of the Kentucky Turf Cup in 2015 and 2016, but beyond that, he revels in the fun and friendly atmosphere the track provides.
“I absolutely love it down there,” Diamond said this week from his Louisville home.
As a principal in the Skychai Racing partnership that co-owns Somelikeithotbrown with Sand Dollar Stable, Diamond is hoping to get his picture taken following the $1 million Mint Million on Monday at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky. Somelikeithotbrown, a multiple graded winner of nearly $900,000 in 20 starts for trainer Mike Maker, figures to vie for favoritism with Flavius when making his local debut amid a field of 11 older horses in the one-turn mile race.
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“He doesn’t need to take his racetrack with him,” said Diamond, a longtime right-hand man of Maker’s. “I do like the one turn for him.”
Somelikeithotbrown, unlike most horses competing at Kentucky Downs, is ineligible for the huge Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund bonuses that are a major component of most purses. With a series of sharp works at the Trackside training center in Louisville under him since his most recent start in late June, the 5-year-old New York-bred will be competing for $550,000 of the Mint Million purse.
New York-breds “are no cupcakes, either,” Diamond said. “So we figured with the difference in the purses, we might as well stay home where he’s doing well.”
The Mint Million, known in recent years as the Tourist Mile, is the first of three million-dollar races at the meet, followed by the Calumet Turf Cup and Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint next Saturday.
A pair of $500,000 races for 2-year-olds, the Kentucky Downs Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, also are part of an 11-race Monday card.
By Saturday afternoon, entries for every card at the six-day meet except the Sept. 12 finale will have been drawn.