Tomlinson takes his time with stakes-winning pair
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Between 2015 and 2018, the trainer Michael Tomlinson won 10 stakes races from 73 runners. And then Tomlinson’s stakes participation ground nearly to a halt.
From 2019 through June 26 of this year, Tomlinson went 1 for 24 in stakes races. But on June 27, the older sprinter Harrodsburg landed the Grade 3 Bango at Churchill Downs. The next day, the 2-year-old Blessed Flyer won the $219,000 Bashford Manor.
Tomlinson, 72, took out his license in 1991 and has learned the essential art of patience. Having captured over $300,000 worth of purses on consecutive days and, reasonably, become quite emotional about the accomplishment, Tomlinson immediately backed off both horses.
There were races for Harrodsburg and Blessed Flyer at the ongoing Ellis Park meeting, but Tomlinson took his time ramping them back up to full-bore training. Harrodsburg runs Sept. 12 at Churchill in the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes over six furlongs, while Blessed Flyer is on the same card in the $300,000 Iroquois, a one-turn mile.
While both horses are nominally auditioning for starts in Breeders’ Cup races, Tomlinson definitely has a one-race-at-a-time approach.
“We’re not going to count our chickens before they’re hatched,” he said.
Rod and Bud Hatfield claimed Harrodsburg for $50,000 in May 2024. The horse was a handful, especially in his pre-race behavior, but has steadily improved his approach since joining the Tomlinson barn. On a sloppy track, Harrodsburg can run with any sprinter: His last three wet-track Beyer Speed Figures are 102, 103, and 107.
Mark Farrar and Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope bought Blessed Flyer for $270,000 at a digital sale in May after the Dialed In colt won a Keeneland maiden race in April. At 31-1, Blessed Flyer rallied into a hot pace and got up by a head in the Bashford Manor, a six-furlong contest Tomlinson guesses will fall on the short side of the colt’s preferred distance range.
“He trains like he’ll go farther,” said Tomlinson. “He looks like that physically, too. He’s not a huge, scopey horse, but he’s a good-sized colt, well over 16 hands now. Everything he does, the longer you go, the more he likes it. His gallop-outs have always been impressive regardless of how far we work him.”
Blessed Flyer has logged three works since ramping up again, most recently breezing a half-mile Aug. 15 in a snappy 47.60 seconds. Harrodsburg worked back Aug. 13, then drilled again Aug. 18.
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