El Sinaloense goes after barn's biggest win

VANCOUVER, British Columbia Trainer Juan Olmos will be trying to win his first stakes race in Canada when he runs El Sinaloense in the $50,000 Ladnesian Stakes at Hastings Racecourse on Sunday.

Olmos, 38, started training horses in Mexico in 1999. He won a stakes races in Mexico City before he moved to Vancouver from his homeland in 2002.

Actually, it happened during my first week as a trainer, he said. I won three races including a stakes. Thats been my only stakes win, though.

El Sinaloense figures to be the odds-on favorite in the Ladnesian, and Olmos likes the way hes coming into the race.

He seems to be a nice horse and he galloped out very strongly when he worked five-furlongs, Olmos said. I dont think hell have any trouble going six furlongs.

When Olmos arrived in Vancouver he had recently sold his shares in a glass factory in which he was part-owner. He said at the time, Now I have enough money to do what I want, and I want to train horses.

Olmos owns all of the horses he trains. He had 37 starts in his first year at Hastings, winning five races. He expanded his stable and in the next two years he had more than 165 starts, winning 32 races. Olmoss horses run under the name Lara Racing Stables Ltd.

He scaled his operation back the next two years, and in 2007 he transferred his horses to trainer Terry Jordan.

I was kind of bored so I gave them to Terry to train, he said. The main reason I got bored was because the horses I had just werent very good.

Olmos has a pretty strong group of horses at the track this year. Prior to El Sinaloense running in the Ladnesian, Olmos appears to have a very good chance of winning the $50,000 Timber Music Stakes on Saturday with Cielo Rojo. Also in his barn is Enforcement. A

5-year-old horse by Tiznow, Enforcement won a first-level allowance race by better than six lengths in his first start for Olmos. Enforcement is coming off of a good second-place finish behind Bank Emblem in a $50,000 optional sprint on July 1, and Olmos is looking for a similar race going long.

I think hell be a good route horse, said Olmos. Hes certainly bred to run a distance, and hopefully well find a race for him soon.

El Sinaloense also has a solid pedigree, and he shouldnt have trouble getting a middle distance when he stretches out eventually. Hes by Mud Route, who won the Grade 2 Californian. El Sinaloenses dam won four sprints but one of her first two foals, Northern Ayne, won four route races. Olmos purchased El Sinaloense for $9,500 out of last years CTHS yearling and mixed sale. He was bred by Mike Anderson, the assistant trainer to Terry Clyde.

I liked both his breeding and his looks, said Olmos. Nothing in particular, but he just looked like he could be a nice horse.

Bored? Not with the type of horses Olmos currently has in his barn.

No, not at all, he said. Right now I am really enjoying myself.

Watch this first-time starter in Ladnesian

Trainer Tracy McCarthy hasnt won with 26 percent of the horses she has started in her career by running them in places where they dont have a realistic chance of winning. She has entered first-time starter Stole Home in the Ladnesian, and she is not discounting his chances.

He is a real nice colt, she said. I know its a stakes race, but its more like an expensive maiden race than anything else. Only one of the horses has won a race and that was going 3 1/2 furlongs. Plus, anything can happen with 2-year-olds.

McCarthy owns Stole Home along with her mother, Lola McCarthy, and Ole Nielsen, who races under Canmor Farms. They also owned Stole One and Stole Another. Stole One won three stakes races and earned $161,903. Stole Another was stakes-placed and earned $144,039. Stole Home is a half-brother to both horses. They paid $55,000 for him out of the 2007 September Keeneland sale.

We knew what we were getting, said McCarthy. He can be a handful when he acts like a real colt at times, but were pretty happy with him so far.

All three horses were bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones and Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Kuster. When the McCarthys and Nielsen bought Stole One, Jones was the governor of Kentucky.

We named Stole One because of a nice letter Mr. Jones wrote to us after we had bought her off of him, said McCarthy. He wrote in the nicest way that we had stole one from him. When we bought the next one we named him Stole Another. Hopefully, Stole Home can steal one in the Ladnesian.

McCarthy said she was pleased with

Stole Homes five-furlong work in 1:03.40 on June 29.

He did it pretty easily, she said. He is fighting a little bit of a shin, but it doesnt seem to be bothering him too much. Its just the usual stuff with 2-year-olds.

* Management at Hastings said that the project to install the permanent slots floor is going very well and is ahead of schedule. An official announcement regarding the exact date of when the slots floor will open could come as soon as next week. The only statement made by the company so far was that it was hoping for a mid-summer opening. Hastings currently has a temporary slots floor that houses 150 slot-machines. The new area will hold 600 slots.