Old Time Revival by a nose in Chaledon Stakes

Old Time Revival does not appear to like moisture in his track surface, nor, trainer Kenneth Decker said, does he especially care to travel and race. But Old Time Revival got a lightning-fast, dry racing strip Saturday at Laurel Park, the venue where he has been training, and he wore down 54-1 shot Perfect Cover to capture the $75,000 Chaledon Stakes.

It was a tough beat for Perfect Cover, who probably benefited from a surface carrying speed but nevertheless turned in a game performance, putting away pace rival Union Blues through a scorching 44.75-second half-mile before Old Time Revival, with Rosario Montanez up, nosed him out at the wire.

Off a six-furlong split of 1:08.54, Old Time Revival ($13.80) ran seven furlongs in 1:21.25. It was several lengths back to third-place Tour de Force.

Old Time Revival sniffed around the head of the Triple Crown trail when he finished second in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes on March 10, but his distance limitations were exposed when he faded badly in the nine-furlong Wood Memorial. In fact, Old Time Revival had been 0 for 9 this year since a December maiden win before his score in the Chaledon.

“He’s been a nice colt from the beginning,” said Decker, who trains Old Time Revival for his breeder, Jacks or Better Farm. “He’s had some issues; it looks like we’ve got them straightened out. We ship, he doesn’t do as well. He likes to come out of his house.”

Old Time Revival, a Florida-bred, is by Brethren and out of Diary, by Congaree.

Cairenn busts bias in Shine Again

There was little passing going on early on the Laurel card Saturday, but Cairenn had the class to pass.

Dropping from the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes into the $75,000 Shine Again, restricted to horses who hadn’t won a stakes race, Cairenn and jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. raced from sixth early, began a sustained run between horses at the three-eighths pole, came outside Tweeting and Angel at War at the furlong grounds, and got home by a half-length.

Tweeting was up for second by a length over Angel at War, who set splits of 22.59 and 45.53 on the way to Cairenn’s final clocking of 1:22.11 for seven furlongs on a fast track.

Cairenn, a 4-year-old filly by First Dude and out of Expect Nothing, by A.P. Jet, was a private purchase this past spring and broke through Saturday with her first win for the new connections, owners Heider Family Stables and Madaket Stables and trainer Graham Motion. Over the summer, Cairenn had finished second in the Shine Again Stakes run at Saratoga. In this Shine Again, it was her turn to shine.

• Sonny Inspired ($26.20) won a stretch-long duel with pace rival John Jones to capture the $75,000 Find Stakes by a neck. Sonny Inspired, a 7-year-old winning for the 11th time in 54 starts, is trained by Phil Schoenthal for D Hatman Thoroughbreds and was ridden by Angel Cruz. He was timed in 1:35.65 for one mile on dirt in a race moved from turf because of wet conditions. The favored Just Howard never was a factor and finished last.