Northfield: Catch The Fire looks to stay hot in Milstein Memorial

Two weeks after a scintillating victory in the Adios at The Meadows, Catch The Fire will make his first career start on a half mile track in Saturday's $250,000 Carl Milstein Memorial at Northfield Park as the early 2-1 morning-line favorite.

Trainer John Ackley believes the son of Captaintreacherous has all of the ability and speed it will take to handle the dynamics of a four-turn oval. "I think he'll be fine," said Ackley. "He's trained over the Washington Court House (Oh) Fair track."

As for the condition of Catch The Fire after successive sub-1:50 victories at The Meadows, Ackley believes his horse has recovered and will be ready for what looks on paper to be a very interesting contest.

"That Ocean Rock horse the Nobles have is pretty impressive," said Ackley. Fortunately for the trainer, Catch The Fire drew the rail and Ocean Rock, already a 1:50 2/5 winner at Northfield Park this season, drew post eight.

Originally a $15,000 yearling purchase that owner Charles Taylor (C T Stables LLC) plucked from the Lexington Selected sale while Ackley was out looking for sandwiches, Catch The Fire enters Saturday's contest with $466,413 in career earnings and the potential to see that number grow exponentially this year. "We were looking at a few of the Captaintreacherous yearlings," Ackley said, recalling the 2018 sales. "Catch The Fire was kind of a small horse but I didn't think we could buy him the way the others were selling." Ackley left the sales ring and when he returned Taylor had made the purchase. "When he told me that he bought the colt for $15,000 I immediately went over to look at Catch The Fire again to see if there was something wrong with the colt," said Ackley, laughing now.

Who will be laughing on Saturday after the Milstein is contested remains to be seen because a solid Invitational field has been assembled with strong roots to the Buckeye State. The Aforementioned Ocean Rock, a gelded son of Rockin Amadeus, captured the $118,000 Ohio Sire Stakes event at Eldorado Scioto Downs on August 1 in a 1:49 clocking. Trained by Christi Noble and driven by Dan Noble, Ocean Rock has won four of his six starts this year, but perhaps none more impressive than his last where he paced a 53-flat final half.

Elver Hanover, fifth in the Adios final two weeks ago, returns to Ohio where he was unbeaten in nine starts as a freshman in 2019 but has but one victory in four sophomore starts. Trainer Ron Burke appears to have the Yankee Cruiser-sired gelding going in the right direction. Elver Hanover drew post three with Chris Page in the sulky.

Coming in from Indiana for the Milstein is Odds On Osiris, an altered son of Rockin Image with a very impressive resume. Odds On Osiris won seven of 10 starts as a freshman, good for $343K in 2019 earnings. The Melanie Wrenn trainee drew post two and will have driver Peter Wrenn in the bike. Odds On Osiris has a victory and two seconds in three starts this year while racing at the elite level in Indiana’s Sire Stakes program.

Stanford Court has won four of his six starts this year, all in Ohio for trainer Brian Brown, and could be a sleeper in the Milstein. The Nob Hill High-sired colt has shown talent on all-sized tracks but his effort in a second-place finish at Northfield on June 13 sticks out. Saddled with post eight, Stanford Court rallied from seventh at the half to finish a powerful second to Ocean Rock in an Ohio Sire Stakes event. That the colt paced a final half near 53 seconds racing overland suggests he could be heard from on Saturday night.

Joining the Milstein on a trip in from New Jersey are two colts that competed in last Saturday's Cane Pace at The Meadowlands. Manticore (post 6) and Chief Mate (post 7) will be making their first appearances over a half-mile track this year. Manticore does have half-mile track ability, having finished third in last year's Sheppard Pace at Yonkers. Chief Mate, a surprising second at 53-1 in the Adios final, makes his half-mile track debut in the Milstein.

Completing the field for the Milstein is Slippin The Clutch (post 5), an Iowa-bred with 17 wins in 22 career starts.

The Milstein is race 10 on a 16-race card that also features a number of races for top Ohio-breds. The $50,000 Myron Charna President's Pace lured nine "Buckeye's" including the very talented Bllack Hole, already a 1:48 winner in 2020 and Sectionline Bigry, a 22-time winner in 57 career starts. Those tuning in for the Milstein may want to hang around one more race to watch the undefeated-in-2020 Action Uncle. The 3-year-old trotting colt by Uncle Peter starts from post one in a $50,000 Ohio Sire Stakes leg while looking for his sixth victory of the year.