Radosevich stacks deck in Loyalty Stakes
A dozen 2-year-olds will sprint six furlongs in Saturday’s $75,000 Loyalty Stakes at Belterra Park, and trainer Jeff Radosevich is holding the only two aces in the deck.
Radosevich, the leading trainer at Thistledown, will send out the uncoupled entry of Lunar Heat and Mobil Sky, the lone winners in the large field of juveniles foaled in Ohio and sired by stallions standing in the Buckeye State.
Lunar Heat figures to go favored while coming back three weeks after trouncing 10 rivals as the 1-2 favorite in a maiden race at Thistledown. His 50 Beyer Speed Figure is by far the fastest in the Loyalty lineup.
Mobil Sky won his debut against open company in late June but stumbled at the start and finished far back in last month’s Cleveland Kindergarten. He was three lengths behind stablemate Lunar Heat that day.
It’s difficult to make a strong case for any of the maidens, a group that includes three first-time starters and two others who have raced just once.
Among that group, Lonestar Buckeye was third while facing open company on Aug. 31. The winner, Highbelieving, was the runner-up to Lunar Heat in his maiden victory.
Lonestar Buckeye’s dam, Officer Big Red, won $385,144 during her career and picked up a pair of seconds in Pennsylvania-bred stakes at Parx Racing.
Speedy Mobile has been beaten less than three lengths in both career outings, including a runner-up finish after stumbling at the start and having to go five wide on the turn. His dam, Fighting Speedy, was twice stakes-placed against New York-breds in 2006.
Bubba J held a daylight lead after the first half-mile of his most recent start before he was passed by the sharp first-time starter Tough It Up. He gets a rider upgrade from apprentice Euclyn Prentice Jr. to John McKee.
Cataphract makes his career debut for trainer Chuck Peery, who is just 2 for his last 29 with 2-year-old first-time starters. The Kentucky-based Peery is 7 for 17 (41 percent), however, with horses he has brought to Belterra, which means this son of Vanquero merits respect.