Intrepid Heart will have large rooting section for Bosselman Stakes

Intrepid Heart will have an outstanding cheering section Saturday at Fonner Park, when he seeks to win the first stakes race of his career in the $75,000 Bosselman Pump and Pantry/Gus Fonner.

The 1 1/16 miles stakes run around three turns is the meet’s marquee event. It goes as the ninth of 10 races, with first post 1:30 p.m. Central.

Intrepid Heart is a recent private purchase for Nebraska-based owners Jesse Jakubowski and Roger Morse.

“We’re going to have just a ton of people,” said Jakubowski. “They’ll be at least 200 friends, family members. We’ve got a couple of party buses we’re taking down.”

Jakubowski and Morse long have raced horses together at their home track of Fonner.

“Probably about 15 years ago we bought our first ones, $2,500 claimers, and we had a blast,” Jakubowski said. “We never had anything that was a stakes horse. I kind of approached Roger about really spending the money and getting something good this year, and he was all on board.

“It’s always kind of been a bucket-list type of deal to run in the Bosselman.”

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Jakubowski set out to find a candidate for the race, and came across Intrepid Heart.

“I probably watched a thousand races,” he said. “I was just studying video replays, trying to find a horse.”

The partners negotiated with owner and trainer Eddie Kenneally to buy Intrepid Heart, and the horse came to them on Super Bowl Sunday.

Intrepid Heart won a $30,000 starter allowance at a mile for his new connections March 1 at Fair Grounds. He then returned to run second in an allowance route at the track, which was won by Shared Sense on March 24.

“The race he got beat, they broke the track record,” said Jakubowski.

Intrepid Heart earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100, which will make the earner of more than $400,000 a strong favorite Saturday. The horse will break from post 3 under Ken Tohill, who on Thursday morning was two victories from 4,000 career Thoroughbred wins in North America.

Joe Hawley trains Intrepid Heart, who is a 6-year-old gelding by Tapit. Intrepid Heart is out of the mare Flaming Heart, who has produced Commissioner, a Grade 2 winner of more than $950,000, and Laugh Track, a Grade 3 winner of nearly $600,000.

Jakubowski is a farmer who has a cattle operation about 25 miles from Fonner. He grew up in Ashton, Neb., and grew up going to Fonner.

“I’m 52 and my dad’s been taking me since I was 5,” Jakubowski said. “My dad loved the races.”

The Bosselman field of six also includes three-time stakes winner Its a Wrap, who is looking for his fourth straight win in a streak built this meet at Fonner.

Its a Wrap won his first stakes in the Evangeline Mile last year at Evangeline Downs. He’s since won the Tondi and Dowd Mile as part of his current win streak at Fonner Park.

Kevin Roman, who won six races on April 22 at Fonner, has the mount for trainer Isai Gonzalez. Of the six-win feat by Roman, five of the horses were trained by Gonzalez and owned by GSH Stable, which races Its a Wrap.

Gonzalez also sends out Stephen’s Answer, a past stakes winner at Delta Downs.