Direct Dial, Mr Money Bags square off in Hanks Memorial
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The $75,000 Wayne Hanks Memorial on Sunday at Lone Star Park will bring together two Texas-bred of the year title winners – Direct Dial and Mr Money Bags.
The 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas is one of five restricted stakes on the card. They are worth a cumulative $350,000.
Direct Dial is an eight-time stakes winner who won the Texas-bred title in 2018. Mr Money Bags is a six-time stakes winner who earned the honor in 2019. The horses are part of a field of seven that includes front-runners Kenai Bob, Good Judgment and Shifty Henry.
“There’s a lot of speed in there,” said Mike Neatherlin, who trains Mr Money Bags. “We’re just going to sit back, which he doesn’t mind, let the speed go, and see what we can get done at the end.
“I don’t think he could be doing any better. He might even be better than he was before. He’s doing really well.”
Mr Money Bags, a 5-year-old making his second start of the year, worked five furlongs in a bullet 59.60 seconds on June 6 at Lone Star. He will be moving back to both dirt – where he’s won all his stakes – and two turns, after running a close fourth in a turf allowance May 22 at Lone Star.
Neatherlin said Mr Money Bags raced on turf, where he had run second and third in previous starts, because it was an opportunity against Texas-breds and it’s the surface over which there’s a stakes for him later in the meet at Lone Star.
“We’ll be back on turf,” he said. “He can really run on turf. His numbers are not as good. I think he’ll be just fine, but he is a lot better on the dirt.”
Mr Money Bags is owned by Erma Cobb, whose late husband Roy Cobb bred and raced the horse. Roy Cobb died in November. Neatherlin said in a tribute to Roy Cobb, photos and other special items will decorate the suite from which Erma Cobb will watch the race Sunday.
“They were married for more than 50 years,” Neatherlin said.
Mr Money Bags will break from post 4 under regular rider Ernesto Valdez-Jiminez.
Direct Dial will be looking for his third stakes win of the year following the $75,000 H-Town over seven furlongs Feb. 27 at Sam Houston and the $100,000 Star of Texas at a mile at the same track March 20.
Stewart Elliott has the mount from post 3 for breeder and owner W.S. Farish and trainer Steve Asmussen.
Direct Dial, 6, won last year’s Wayne Hanks.
Corluna will be looking to win the $75,000 Lane’s End Danny Shifflett Scholarship Stakes for the third year in a row. The 7 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies and mares drew 12. The group includes Ima Discreet Lady, the reigning Texas-bred champion older female, and six-time stakes winner Shes Our Fastest.
“It’s an interesting field,” said Karl Broberg, who trains Ima Discreet Lady. “The field looks loaded. There’s lots to chose from there.”
Ima Discreet Lady, a multiple stakes winner on turf, exits an off-the-turf allowance in which she set a pressured pace and finished third in a field scratched down to three on May 23 at Lone Star.
“We never perceived her to be a dirt route horse,” Broberg said, “and then when they set the fractions they did, we knew it would only get worse from there.”
Ima Discreet Lady last raced on turf in February at Sam Houston and dominated the Miss Bluebonnet Stakes, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
David Cabrera has the mount from post 11 for Raymond Todd White and Duane Coker.
The turf counterpart for males is the $50,000 Texas Hall of Fame. The 1 1/16-mile race drew two-time defending winner Redatory, who also is the reigning Texas-bred of the year. His rivals include Sunlit Song, who is coming off a Lone Star allowance score over Grade 2 winner Harvey Wallbanger.
The card Sunday includes a pair of $75,000 Texas Stallion Stakes for 2-year-olds at five furlongs. There are a number of first-time starters in both races, including a pair from trainer Bret Calhoun.
“The weather had given us a little bit of a problem getting those young horses ready in that area,” Calhoun said of the unseasonably wet spring at Lone Star.
Tengo Mis Papeles goes in the Staunch Avenger division and has worked sharply.
“He’s shown quite a bit,” Calhoun said.
Wicked Song goes in the Pan Zareta.
“She’s training very well,” Calhoun said.
◗ Lone Star has increased overnight purses 20 percent, the track announced Thursday.