Lone Star: Calhoun saddles four winners opening night

One day into the Lone Star meet trainer Bret Calhoun is batting .800. He won four races with five starters at Lone Star Park on the track’s opening night Thursday, including the $50,000 Premiere Stakes with Wagson.

Calhoun, a longtime Lone Star regular who captured training titles in 2010 and 2011, took the daily double when Adrianne G followed Wagon’s meet-opening victory in the second race. He then picked up additional wins with Yuppie Girl in the fourth and Gom Jabbar in the sixth.

Only Joedini in race 5 failed to win, running sixth.

“That’s how this game is – a roller-coaster,” said Calhoun of his successful evening. “There are way too many lows. So sometimes you can’t get too excited about the highs.”

Calhoun admitted Thursday was fun, even if he couldn’t be there in person. After overseeing his Kentucky division that day, he watched the races Thursday evening from Louisville, Ky., on his iPad, while getting updates on the telephone from his staff in Texas.

Of his four wins Thursday, none was more thrilling than Wagson’s in the Premiere, a race that was contested during a brief rainstorm. Wagson just outlasted a strong-finishing Solar Charge to win by a short head for Randy Galloway’s Wimp Free Stable.

Claimed for $40,000 last month at Fair Grounds, specifically to run in the Premiere for Texas-breds, Wagson is now likely to head to Kentucky, where Calhoun has a division at Churchill Downs.

Calhoun, a Dallas native, runs a split operation between Lone Star and Churchill in the spring and early summer, and it is not uncommon for him to shuttle horses between the two tracks. Most notably, Texas-bred 2-year-olds he unveiled at Lone Star have shipped up to Churchill to win stakes there, with Fiftyshadesofgold and Promise Me Silver winning the Debutante for 2-year-old fillies at Churchill in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Lindey Wade and C.J. McMahon rode two winners apiece for Calhoun on Thursday and will continue to be among his most-used riders, he said, along with Cliff Berry, who begins riding at Lone Star on Sunday after completing the Oaklawn Park meet.

Berry is the winningest rider in Lone Star Park history.

Russell Baze goes 0 for 2

Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, based in Northern California, went without a victory with his two mounts Thursday at Lone Star, though both horses ran competitively.

He’s a Bling ran third for Baze in the Premiere, taking a brief lead between calls in midstretch before being passed in the final furlong, and Popalicious rallied to be a distant runner-up to Adrianne G in the second race.

Live handle, crowd down

A crowd of 4,884 was reported opening night despite inclement weather. Of tracks reporting attendance Thursday, only Keeneland and Oaklawn announced larger on-track crowds.

Rainy conditions likely contributed to a smaller crowd than last year, when 6,145 fans were at Lone Star under clear skies. On-track handle also dropped 13 percent from $343,207 to $298,156, per Equibase statistics.

Off-track wagering was up 39 percent at $1,000,744 Thursday night – compared with $716,887 a year ago.

Two allowances Sunday

Racing shifts from evenings to the afternoon on Sunday. First post is 1:35 p.m. Central, with the last of nine races set to go off at 5:19.

Two entry-level allowances are carded, with one being “open” and carrying an $18,000 claiming condition, and the other restricted to Texas-breds.

Berry has mounts in six races, with Funtobefast his best chance in race 5. Funtobefast is favored at 4-5 on the morning line, and likely to be 1-5 at post time.