Ponder and Dream should enjoy home cooking in Smarty Jones
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Ponder and Dream, a 3-year-old colt trained by Butch Reid, did not ship well in his lone career start outside Parx Racing, but for the time being, the racing world is coming to him. The Pennsylvania-bred will be the likely favorite in the $200,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Tuesday at Parx, a race that could launch him into contention for the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby next month.
“We went down to Delaware [in June], and he didn’t ship all that well, so we were really looking for a local race so we didn’t have to get on the van,” Reid said. “Fortunately, the Smarty Jones set up perfectly for him.”
The Smarty Jones is the co-featured race on a 12-race Tuesday card at Parx that also includes the $200,000 Cathryn Sophia and four more stakes. The six stakes races offer a combined $625,000 in purse money.
Though he has shown flashes in his nine-race career, Ponder and Dream finally turned heads in the $100,000 Lil E. Tee last month, when he dominated four Pennsylvania-bred rivals by 14 3/4 lengths. He earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He actually didn’t act that well in the paddock last time,” Reid said. “We’ve really been working on that, getting him to calm down and not waste as much energy pre-race. I think he could even move forward from that race.”
Reid said he was disappointed when his colt shipped poorly to Delaware Park and faded to fifth in the $300,000 Delaware Derby in June, but his romp in statebred stakes company helped wipe that result away. The 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones functions as the local prep for the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 19 at Parx, and Reid said he would readily take the opportunity.
Ponder and Dream is one of three last-out stakes runners in the Smarty Jones’s field of six 3-year-olds. Star Sweeper, a classy colt trained by Lou Linder Jr., has run in six straight stakes and most recently finished sixth in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park.
“Down the backside, he was in a position to win if he had it,” Linder said. “When it came down to the brass tacks, he just didn’t have what those horses had, but it was encouraging.”
Linder said he eventually plans to cut back to a mile with Star Sweeper, who struggled to negotiate the 1 1/8-mile distance in the Haskell. He and the owners will see things through on Tuesday, however, in the hopes of stepping back up in the Pennsylvania Derby next month.
“We backed off his training and he seems to be responding to that better than nose to the grindstone,” Linder said. “He’s coming up to this race real well.”
Very Volatile, a gelding trained by Gary Capuano, won a first-level allowance at Laurel Park in June before stepping up in the $100,000 Petramalo Mile at Colonial Downs. He finished sixth by 9 3/4 lengths.
Jockey Yedsit Hazlewood, who moved to Ellis Park in early July, is listed to return to the Mid-Atlantic aboard Very Volatile, as well as two stakes runners on the undercard for Jamie Ness.
Last-out allowance runners Freedom’s Echo, Tifosi, and Micanopy complete the field.
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