Private Prospect brings perfect record to Arlington-Washington Futurity

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Seven 2-year-old fillies were entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie and eight 2-year-old colts and geldings in the Grade 3, $125,000 Arlington-Washington Futurity. It’s unlikely that any have a shorter fuse than Private Prospect, who has taken an unusual path on the way to a perfect record.

Trainer Mike Campbell dropped a claim slip for owner George Mellon when Private Prospect, trained at the time by Keith Desormeaux, debuted here June 26 in a $50,000 maiden claimer. Then, Campbell watched as Private Prospect, startled by some movement around the paddock, reared up and threw jockey Sheldon Russell, breaking Russell’s foot and sending him to the sidelines for six weeks.

But Private Prospect went out and won that day. For Campbell and Mellon, he came back and won the $75,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 19, and back in Iowa three weeks later, Private Prospect won again, taking the $100,000 Prairie Juvenile Mile by a neck despite ducking out dramatically in deep stretch.

But Private Prospect keeps winning, and his 3-for-3 record easily exceeds the actual accomplishments of the other seven Futurity entrants. Six of them – Bourbon Cowboy, Ike Walker, Mr Lightning Boy, One Go All Go, Recount, and Seraph – are one-time winners, while Tender May finished fourth in his career debut. Campbell wanted a draw away from the rail and got it, landing post 5.

The Lassie field lacks even a Private Prospect-type: Happy to Go, Lemon Gala, Puntsville, Quality Rocks, Sarah Sis, Sugar Talk, and Susan’s Day all have no more than a maiden win on their r é sum é s, making the Lassie a listed-stakes first-level allowance. Puntsville might be the one to beat here. Not entered was the leading 2-year-old filly based at Arlington this summer, A.P.’s Glory.

Before suggesting that his longtime owner Mellon claim Private Prospect, Campbell hadn’t saddled a stakes winner since 2006, when he won six stakes with two horses also obtained through claims, Kid Grindstone and No Tolerance. Kid Grindstone, a graded stakes winner on dirt, also was claimed from a maiden race, taken for $40,000 in his fourth start.

Campbell thought he saw something in Private Prospect when the colt appeared in the entries. “I went to Mr. Mellon and said, ‘George, if I’m wrong, you’re going to have a $25,000 maiden claimer, but if I’m right about this horse, you’re going to have the favorite for the Arlington-Washington Futurity,’ ” Campbell said.

Campbell said Private Prospect, a son of Discreet Cat and the Private Terms mare Private Deputy, is “a highly volatile horse.” Private Prospect acts fine in his stall and, Campbell said, isn’t difficult to train. But after throwing his jockey before his debut, he again acted up in the paddock and post parade in his first Prairie Meadows win and wound up nearer the outside rail than the inside last month at Prairie Meadows after ducking from the stick past the eighth pole. Campbell began galloping Private Prospect in blinkers after the claim and races him in the hood, and Private Prospect gets a pony in the paddock to tamp down his antics.

“You need a very controlled environment, work with him on his terms,” Campbell said.

Alex Birzer rode Private Prospect in Iowa, but Campbell’s son Jesse Campbell is coming in from his base at Woodbine to take the mount Saturday. He might have his hands full.