Tracksmith comes into Virginia Derby on upswing

The trainer Joe Sharp spent the summer he finished high school working at Colonial Downs and living in a backstretch dormitory there. Now he is back for Colonial’s first race meeting in six years with a good chance to win its biggest race of the season, Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 New Kent County Virginia Derby.

Sharp’s horse is Tracksmith, one of nine 3-year-olds entered in the nine-furlong race over Colonial’s grass course. The weekend forecast calls for hot, sunny weather and the ground should be firm Tracksmith was cross-entered in the Saranac on Saturday at Saratoga, but Sharp said the Virginia Derby is his spot. Owner Calumet Farm also has morning-line favorite English Bee for the Colonial fixture, the last of four six-figure stakes on a card that starts at 5 p.m. Eastern. The Virginia Derby is carded as race 9 with post time of 9 p.m.

Tracksmith, by Street Sense, was a good 2-year-old, winning his career debut in a turf sprint at Ellis Park before finishing a close second to Henley’s Joy (winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Derby this year) in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile. Tracksmith took a step back in the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, ran evenly over a sloppy Churchill track when given a dirt race last November in the Kentucky Jockey Club, and didn’t run again until June 27.

Fresh off the bench he won a first-level turf allowance for 3-year-olds over the useful colt Bundibunan at Churchill Downs, and captured the $73,000 Frisk Me Now over one mile on the Monmouth turf course with a dominant midstretch run.

“He’s really kind of turned into a man since we gave him the break. Patience paid off,” Sharp said. “He’s become a better, more resilient horse. He’s really easy on himself and mentally sound.”

Sharp also believes Tracksmith, as his pedigree and form suggest, will handle his first try at a distance as far as 1 1/8 miles on Saturday. Coming out of relatively fast-paced races, Tracksmith and jockey Daniel Centeno could get first run on main rival English Bee in a race lacking much real speed.

English Bee along with Solidify and Shootin the Breeze come from the Graham Motion stable, and Motion said all three are likely to start.

“English Bee seems the most likely of the three, but I wouldn’t be running them if I didn’t think they had a shot,” said Motion.

English Bee drops in class from the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, where, Motion said, he failed to stay 1 1/4 miles, and the Grade 2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga, where he was a close fourth over one mile without an apparent excuse.

Solidify fell too far off the pace last out in the Kent, while Shootin the Breeze was gelded after his most recent start.

Credit Swap finished third behind Tracksmith at Monmouth, and along with first-time grass runner Chilly in Charge appears to be the main pace Saturday.

“His gallop-out was really big in his last race and we thought maybe the added distance, where he’s not as rushed early, might be beneficial to him,” trainer Mike Stidham said of Credit Swap.

English import Critical Data made encouraging runs in his first two North American starts and might have bled in the Frisk Me Now since he adds Lasix for Saturday’s race.