Mr. Bowling freshened for sprint

AUBURN, Wash. – Mr. Bowling’s first tour of Emerald Downs didn’t go exactly as planned. Acquired to run in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile last August, Mr. Bowling finished a distant 11th in the Pacific Northwest’s richest race and then went to the sidelines for the rest of the year.

He will make his 2014 debut Sunday in a $21,000 allowance for older horses at six furlongs. First post for the nine-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.

Mr. Bowling captured the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds during his 3-year-old season in 2012 and spent a short while on the Kentucky Derby trail.

A year later, he won a third-level allowance at Churchill Downs before setting the pace during a runner-up effort in the Golden Bear Stakes at Indiana Downs. The latter effort convinced Northwest owners Mark Dedomenico and Glen Todd to purchase Mr. Bowling from trainer Larry Jones. The rest is history – though not the kind of history his new connections were hoping for.

“I’m still scratching my head why he ran so poorly in the Mile,” trainer Mike Puhich said this week. “But he’s training like a different horse. He’s more animated, less laid-back. He’s really into things, so I think maybe he was just a tired horse when we got him. I’m hoping that’s what it was. We scoped him after the Mile, and there was nothing major, so he got the winter off, which is pretty much what he needed.”

The plan now is to prepare Mr. Bowling for another shot at the Longacres Mile. Sunday’s allowance sprint is not the ultimate target, but Puhich said he expects a strong effort from Mr. Bowling, a 5-year-old horse by Istan.

“I think he’s probably best at two turns, a mile or mile and a sixteenth,” Puhich said. “But he broke his maiden going six furlongs. The group he’s in with, he’s going to have to run down there in 8 flat to win. And there are bigger fish to fry later this summer, so I’m not going to jump off a bridge if he gets beat. But I think if he gets a good, clean break, he’s got a lot more speed than people give him credit for.”

With intermittent rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, Mr. Bowling could find himself on wet footing in a race for the first time. Puhich sees that as a positive.

“He seems to like off tracks, and that’s what we’re likely to get,” the trainer said. “He’s breezed twice on off tracks and likes it. If it’s a good, safe, off track, he’s going to be tough.”