Thirtyfirststreet staying closer to home in 2012

ARCADIA, Calif. – Thirtyfirststreet spent almost as much time on the road in 2011 as he did racing in his home state of California. Of his nine races, four were outside the state, including a win in the Lone Star Derby in Texas last May.

For 2012, there is unlikely to be too many plane flights for the 4-year-old California-bred colt. Thursday at Santa Anita, Thirtyfirststreet won for the first time since May in an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles against open company. Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Thirtyfirststreet stalked the pace in early stretch and pulled away in the final furlong to win by 6 1/2 lengths.

“We’ve been waiting for that for a long time,” co-owner Mark Gorman said. “It set up perfect. Bejarano has those magic hands. Now, we have a lot of fun choices.”

The primary choice for Gorman and his partners, Neil Haymes and Sterling Stable, is the $200,000 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds over 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Feb. 4. The race could lead to a start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3.

“He likes the track at Santa Anita, and the plan is to keep him on the main track,” Gorman said. “It’s very exciting when you wait a long time for something and it comes to fruition.”

Gorman bred Thirtyfirststreet with trainer Doug O’Neill. A winner of 4 of 13 starts and $345,200, Thirtyfirststreet won the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes in December 2010, but the Lone Star Derby was his only win in nine starts in 2011. The 2011 season also included a second in the Zia Park Derby in New Mexico in December, a 10th in the Virginia Derby in July, and a third in the Grade 2 La Jolla Handicap on turf at Del Mar in August.

“When you ship out of town, it can take a toll on a horse,” O’Neill said.

Thirtyfirststreet is by Good Journey out of Avian, a Sky Classic mare. O’Neill trained Avian, who won six races in a six-year career and earned $124,960. Gorman said that there is a yearling full brother to Thirtyfirststreet, named Fortysecondstreet, and that Avian is expected to deliver a foal by Good Journey this spring.

Caracortado eyeing Sensational Star

Caracortado, winner of the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes on the hillside turf course Jan. 8, may not have long between starts.

Trainer and co-owner Mike Machowsky said the 5-year-old gelding may start in the $100,000 Sensational Star Handicap for statebreds on the hillside turf course Jan. 28, with the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf on March 3 as a late winter goal.

“If I run in the Cal-bred race, it will give me more time for the Kilroe Mile,” Machowsky said.

After Sunday’s race, Machowsky traveled to Kentucky, where he watched Caracortado’s dam, Mons Venus, sell for $250,000 at Keeneland. Caracortado, by Cat Dreams, is likely to be the last foal of Mons Venus’s that Machowsky trains. He said there is a Giant’s Causeway yearling out of Mons Venus who will sell at Keeneland in September as part of a foal-sharing agreement.

The family includes an unraced 3-year-old filly trained in Southern California by Hector Palma who was sold as a yearling and a 2-year-old at an in-training sale in 2011.

Later this year, Machowsky has the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita in November as a long-term goal for Caracortado, a winner of 9 of 19 and $864,105.

“I want to give him a couple of races and then give him a break,” Machowsky said Friday. “He went back and jogged today.”

Machowsky has a promising California-bred 3-year-old filly in Twelve Folds, by Cindago, who won a maiden race for statebred fillies over 5 1/2 furlongs in her third start Jan. 8. She is a filly with high expectations, Machowsky said.

“I think she’ll win some stakes,” he said.