Gierkink: Two impressive 3-year-olds

Monday, May 19, review

Numerous horses who saved ground on the far turn on this card hit the board, some at a big price. The top three finishers in the 10th race all broke from an outside post in the 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race before closing inside on the far turn and then angling wide in the stretch: 4-5 winner Call Her Karma, 7-1 runner-up Naturally Smooth, and 31-1 third-place finisher Optimism.

Phil’s Dream, Canada’s reigning champion sprinter, rallied along the rail to take the $125,000 New Providence at 3-5. It appeared to be an improvement on his flat runner-up placing in his seasonal bow in the prep for the six-furlong stakes, but he earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure in both races.

Sophomores shine

Two Ontario-bred 3-year-olds currently not eligible to the Queen’s Plate won impressively on the card.

Freitag, a son of Giant Gizmo, made most of the running to land a 1 1/16-mile Ontario-sired allowance by three lengths with a 72 Beyer.

Shaft of Light, a debuting Sam-Son Farm homebred, notched a seven-furlong maiden special weight race by five lengths with a 73 Beyer. Shaft of Light, a son of Smart Strike, is out of a full-sister to Silver Ticket, a Grade 2 stakes winner on turf.

Jockey/trainer standings

Coming out of the long weekend, Luis Contreras leads the jockeys’ standings with 28 wins, with Eurico Rosa Da Silva and Patrick Husbands tied for second with 24 wins each. Contreras missed Saturday’s card because he rode in the Preakness at Pimlico. On Monday, Da Silva bagged a triple, and Contreras doubled up. Husbands’s mounts have yielded a positive return on investment of $2.20 at the meet.

Mark Casse tops the trainers’ standings by a 15-11 margin over Bob Tiller. Casse’s ROI through the first five weeks of the meet is $2.13. Nick Gonzalez (7) and Malcolm Pierce (6) rate next in line.

Horses to watch

COZY LEAD
Trainer: Reade Baker
Last race: May 19, 5th
Finish: 3rd by 5 3/4
Beyer: 60
He got away slowly and then raced four wide in a stalking position on the turn before flattening out a little in deep stretch on a day when the inside was live. The nicely bred son of Pulpit shouldn’t be a maiden much longer.

CITRINATION
Trainer: Robert Gerl
Last race: May 19, 9th
Finish: 3rd by 1
Beyer: 46
She ran much farther than the short-priced winner, Eyes Her Man, in a $25,000 maiden sprint, going at least four wide throughout on a card that featured a golden rail on the far turn. It was the 5-year-old’s second consecutive solid effort in the maiden-claiming ranks.