Raise Cain looks all grown up for Commonwealth

Two New Orleanian trainers, Al Stall and Tom Amoss, must cope with a Lexington native, Ben Colebrook, in the Grade 3, $300,000 Commonwealth Stakes.

Stall, who grew up going to Fair Grounds, sends out Bo Cruz in this seven-furlong dirt contest. Amoss, who began going to Fair Grounds as a kid with Stall and his family, starts Minnesota Ready.

It’s Colebrook who trains Raise Cain, the Commonwealth’s most likely winner. Raise Cain makes his 4-year-old debut in the Commonwealth and will be a handful if, as Colebrook believes, he has matured through a winter break.

“I think he’s turning the corner from 3 to 4. Last year, he was a little feminine; he’s filled out,” Colebrook said.

Raise Cain spent much of his 3-year-old season racing around two turns. That’s where the money is, and Raise Cain proved a competent router. But he’s a better horse in one-turn races. He captured the Gotham Stakes last spring and, cut back to seven furlongs in the Perryville last October at Keeneland, won by a neck over the sharp California shipper Dr. Venkman.

Raise Cain started 10 times last year and had no real break after his 2-year-old campaign.

“I think he’s ready. He’s fresh and happy, and he’s fired some good races with mini-freshenings,” Colebrook said.

Minnesota Ready, purchased at a Fasig-Tipton online sale earlier this year for $380,000 as part of the Lothenbach Stables dispersal, rolled to a sharp score Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds, his first start for Amoss. His 102 Beyer Speed Figure was a career best, and Amoss likes the move from 5 1/2 to seven furlongs.

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“Had that race been a little longer, he’d have put in an even better performance, and the performance he put in was very significant,” Amoss said.

Bo Cruz goes the other direction, cutting back from a solid route allowance showing Feb. 12 in the 4-year-old’s first start since July.

“I think he might be a good horse at seven-eighths or a mile,” Stall said. “We’re going to test the distance and test his class in one fell swoop.”

Bo Cruz is eligible for a second-level allowance, as is the Wesley Ward-trained Wico, a short 4-1 on the morning line. Here Mi Song went from a sixth in the Big Daddy Stakes at Turfway Park to a 12-1 upset of the 2023 Commonwealth and comes to this year’s renewal after . . . a sixth in the Big Daddy. A repeat, nonetheless, remains unlikely.

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