Itsallabouttheride takes blinkers off in seasonal debut
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Itsallabouttheride, winner of the 2022 Irish Day Stakes, will make his yearly bow when facing six others in a first-level allowance race over six furlongs Saturday at Emerald Downs.
Itsallabouttheride will race without blinkers for the first time, and trainer Bonnie Jenne said, “He’s training well now. Last two works were very good.” Jenne added that she “took the blinkers off after he worked four times” this year.
The son of Harbor the Gold has given good account of himself in each and every start, and Jenne said she is “looking forward to a good year with him.”
There is every reason to expect that Itsallabouttheride will handle longer distances when the time comes. His only prior route attempt was in the 2022 Muckleshoot Derby in which a torrid early pace and longshot winner rendered the end results mostly inconclusive regarding potential distance prowess.
Most of the competition for Itsallabouttheride will come from a quartet of runners that last raced in a similar allowance event May 27, including Naval Escort, Firewalker, Peso, and Napoletano.
In that race, Peso was making just the third start of his career and first since last August, when in the barn of Bob Baffert at Del Mar. Considering the layoff, it makes sense that he came up a little bit short in his Emerald Downs debut.
Peso is currently trained by Justin Evans, who has named Luis Negron to ride. The pair have combined for 14 wins from 30 starts at Emerald Downs through last Sunday’s racing.
The dam of Peso, Intangaroo, was a three-time Grade 1 stakes winner while sprinting and banked $623,231 during a 14-race career.
Another candidate for success in Saturday’s feature is Naval Escort, who outfinished three of Saturday’s foes when second two weeks ago while making his first start since September.
Naval Escort, trained by David Martinez, is a win-shy 5-year-old who puts forth a steady effort at every opportunity and rates a chance to move forward in his second start of 2023.
Firewalker has started twice at the stand, each in allowance company under similar conditions. The son of Daredevil is trained by Howard Belvoir and will have Jennifer Whitaker in the saddle.
As a sophomore, Firewalker won under identical conditions facing older foes in August, but by nature of a clause in the conditions of this race he remains eligible because he is a Washington-bred.
Napoletano, trained by Faustino Patino, is a 4-year-old who probably needed the May 27 race in which he finished behind Naval Escort, Firewalker, and Peso. The son of Orb is eligible for considerable improvement Saturday.
The weather is expected to be partly cloudy with highs in the low 70s for a card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.
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