Scioto: Workin Ona Mystery looks to keep rolling in Ewart Memorial

When Workin Ona Mystery won the $100,000 #Senditin Invitational Pace on Aug. 28 at Eldorado Scioto Downs, it was the first triumph for the son of Captaintreacherous since he won a $100,000 #Senditin Invitational division one full year ago. The lightly-raced Workin Ona Mystery's 1:49 1/5 score in this year's #Senditin Invitational broke a streak of eight straight losses, including six consecutive this year.

Workin Ona Mystery will now attempt to make it two straight trips to the winner's circle when he starts in post six with driver Ronnie Wrenn Jr. in Saturday night's (Sept. 11) $135,000 Jim Ewart Memorial at Scioto Downs.

First raced in 2014, the Ewart Memorial returns to the schedule after skipping 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'm not telling you that I went in to the Senditin Pace thinking I was going to win, but I thought the horse would race good," said trainer Brian Brown. "And I expect him to race good this week.

Although the 5-year-old Workin Ona Mystery had gone winless his first six starts this year, Brown was not discouraged. In three consecutive starts at The Meadowlands, Workin Ona Mystery finished in a dead-heat for second in a $113,000 Roll With Joe division on July 3, 10th after a grueling parked-out trip in a $265,400 William Haughton Memorial division on July 17, and a late-closing fourth in a $157,100 Sam McKee Memorial division on Aug. 7.

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Racing back just six days later in the $325,000 Dan Patch at Harrah's Hoosier Park, Workin Ona Mystery led through an opening quarter of :25.3 before eventually finishing ninth.

"He's really only had one bad start," said Brown. "He got parked that one day at The Meadowlands (in the Haughton Memorial) and I can't count that race as a bad start. In his last start before Hoosier (in the McKee Memorial), he raced great as we took him to last and he came charging home and he finished fourth. We were very happy with him.

"But I shipped him home (the day after) and five days later I raced him at Hoosier (in the Dan Patch) and it does not work for that horse. It's asking too much. In the end, I don't think the horse was terrible; he left hard in :25.3 and by the time he's at the head of the stretch he's eighth. You can't go huge quarters and then sit eighth at the head of the stretch and think you're going to have enough left."

In the #Senditin Invitational two weeks ago, Workin Ona Mystery sat a two-hole trip for Wrenn before angling out at the top of the stretch and going on to win by a half-length over the late-closing Gold Digger King, who starts from post four in the Ewart Memorial. In fact, seven of the nine Ewart starters raced in the recent #Senditin Invitational (Dojea Gizmo, who did not start in the #Senditin, was supplemented to the Ewart for $10,000 by his connections), but Brown said to not look too close at those results.

"It will be an altogether different race than last week," said Brown. "Maybe we don't leave and follow and get a good trip that way, that'll be up to Ronnie. It's the same as any other race. We got the trip last time, this time somebody else might get the trip. If we can get a trip -- and it does not have to be a two-hole trip -- he'll be close."

Purchased as a yearling for $30,000 from breeder White Birch Farm -- named at the time Twist The Tale -- Workin Ona Mystery is owned by Diamond Creek Racing, Stambaugh Leeman Stable, Alan Keith and Wingfield Brothers.

In a career marked by various ailments that has limited his starts to just 34 -- no more than 11 in any single year -- Workin Ona Mystery has posted 13 wins and $708,579 in earnings. His two biggest checks came in 2019 when he finished third in the $750,000 North America Cup ($81,000) and third in the $682,650 Meadowlands Pace ($77,822).

Workin Ona Mystery's career was delayed when he stuck his foot in a stall gate early his freshman year. He did not debut until late August, where he posted a victory at Scioto Downs. Brown believes that Workin Ona Mystery may still have lingering effects from that injury.

"His feet still cause him problems off and on," he said. "Whether he stuck it in the (stall gate) or not, he still has foot trouble and I think that has caused him foot trouble to this day.

"With him, I can't over race him so I have to pick spots with him. If that horse could race every two weeks I think he'd be good every start. I think he could race every week once in a while, especially when I'm not shipping, eight, nine hours from New Jersey and racing five days later. It's not to say that this horse could not race two or three Saturdays in a row, I just can't be shipping all over the country doing that."

In concluding, Brown again reiterated that he expects Workin Ona Mystery to race well in the Ewart.

"It seems the last couple years the wins have been hard to come by with him," said Brown, whose only previous Ewart starter was the 54-1 longshot Beach Memories who finished seventh in the inaugural edition in 2014. "Last year as a 4-year-old he raced against aged horses all the time in the top races and it was asking a lot of him. Now he's a year older, a year tougher, and he's stronger and healthier. He's been good all year; he's had just that one bad race."

By Gordon Waterstone (USTA Communications)