Lone Star: Kick On should improve in second start back

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The presence of stakes winners Kick On, One Call, and J J’s Indy spice up Saturday’s featured allowance at Lone Star Park, with the three to meet at a mile and a sixteenth on turf. The race is part of a card that includes an appearance by Hint of Majic, a rare Palomino-colored Thoroughbred; the turf debut of If Ever, a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Wasted Tears; and the career debut of Heckofahit, a half-brother to graded stakes-winning sprinter Hollywood Hit.

Kick On has done his best work to date on dirt, but turf is the option available for the comebacking horse right now, said his trainer, Joe Petalino, who has targeted the $100,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park on Aug. 20 as Kick On’s first stakes objective of the year. The horse was second in that race last season, following a turf race. Kick On will break from post 3 on Saturday, and the allowance will be his second start of the year. In his comeback June 17, he prompted a quick pace and finished ninth in a $25,000 optional claiming turf allowance at 7 1/2 furlongs at Lone Star.

“He handled the turf all right,” Petalino said. “He needed the race.”

Kick On, who should move forward in his second start back, will break from post 3 under Bobby Walker Jr. The horse owned by Baccari Racing Stable is the richest member of the field as a multiple stakes winner of $243,756.

One Call is the one to beat off consecutive wins, one of which was a restricted stakes at Turf Paradise in April. J J’s Indy won the $167,000 Oklahoma Classic for statebreds last fall at Remington.