Reigning can give Jenne a boost

AUBURN, Wash. – Bonnie Jenne has won more than 400 races during her training career, but it has been slow going so far in 2014. She has one win this year at Emerald Downs, which kicked off its meeting seven weeks ago, and every time she enters a horse, it seems, the track comes up muddy.

Against that backdrop, Jenne is cautiously optimistic that Reigning can provide a spark when the 3-year-old filly starts Saturday in the third race, for maiden fillies and mares at six furlongs. First post time for Emerald’s nine-race card is 2 p.m. Pacific.

Reigning is owned by Jon Sather, a longtime Jenne client who has residences in Oklahoma and eastern Washington, and a string of horses in Kentucky. Sather campaigned multiple stakes winner Ladyledue, who won 6 of 7 career starts under Jenne’s care in 2008-09, and there was hope that Reigning could be Sather’s next big thing at Emerald Downs.

Reigning started three times during her 2-year-old year, and Jenne threw her into the deep end immediately. After a fourth-place finish in an allowance race in her debut, Reigning went directly into the stakes ranks, first against fillies in the Barbara Shinpoch Stakes (a distant fourth) and then against males in the season-ending Gottstein Futurity at 1 1/16 miles.

Reigning has been working smartly, her major prep work capped by a six-furlong move from the gate in 1:11.60 on May 22. But how good is Reigning, exactly? Even Jenne isn’t sure.

“I don’t know,” she said after Reigning drew post 4 in a six-horse field. “I thought she was stakes-quality last year, and she’s training better now. We’ll see how she runs, and then we’ll have a better line on her. But she’s a lot more mentally mature now.”

In her two sprint efforts last year, Reigning took a long time to level into stride, and even with her powerful late kick, never came close to threatening the front-runners. She did press the pace in the Gottstein Futurity, however, and Jenne is confident she can be forwardly placed in her season debut. Juan Gutierrez has the riding assignment.

“I really can’t tell if she has any speed,” Jenne said. “I worked her out of the gate the other day, she didn’t break that well, but she still worked in 11 and 3. I believe she’ll be laying a lot closer this year sprinting. And she’s coming into this race really good.”