Loud Mouth roars in Cary Grant surprise

DEL MAR, Calif. – After experimenting with sending Loud Mouth long on both turf and dirt for four straight starts, trainer Steve Knapp put him back in a sprint Oct. 25 at Santa Anita, and he responded with a four-length victory while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 91, a career best.

Luckily for Knapp and owner Ron Thomson, no one took him for $40,000 out of that optional-claiming race.

On Sunday at Del Mar, sticking with sprints, Loud Mouth moved into stakes company, mitigated somewhat by running in a race restricted to California-breds. He continued his sharp form, rallying from just off the pace to score a 13-1 surprise in the $100,500 Cary Grant Stakes for older sprinters.

Loud Mouth ($28) rallied three paths wide on the far turn, then got past a stubborn Take the One O One in deep stretch to win by three-quarters of a length under the meet’s leading rider, Abel Cedillo. Rookie Mistake was another 3 1/2 lengths back in third.

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Galilean, the even-money favorite, was fourth and was followed, in order, by El Tigre Terrible, Oliver, and Better Trip Nick.

Seven ran following the scratches of Appreciated, Brickyard Ride, and Surfing Star.

Loud Mouth covered seven furlongs on the fast main track in 1:22.34.

“I kept experimenting with him to find out what and how far he wanted to run,” Knapp said. “He got some real questionable rides, several of them, but I knew this horse could run.

“This horse has a big heart when he gets to the lead or gets close.”

The race set up well for Loud Mouth. He started from post 6 in the field of seven, and benefitted from a sharp early pace (22.13 seconds, 44.94) set by Better Trip Nick.

Take the One O One, who ended up on the rail after the scratches, drafted in behind the leaders and then had an opening on the far turn, so he quickly advanced to take the lead while hugging the rail. He put away Galilean in upper stretch, but Loud Mouth ran him down.

The win was the sixth in 22 starts for Loud Mouth, a 4-year-old colt by Boisterous who was claimed by his current connections for $40,000 in July 2019. This was his third win in 14 tries for Knapp and Thomsen, who competes as Thomsen Racing LLC.

“They got me going again,” said Knapp, who said Thomsen and his wife, Deanna, have been big supporters since deciding to run horses on their own after being with a syndicate previously.