Two Ill.-breds show some class

STICKNEY, Ill. – Commissioner ended his career Saturday with a 2 1/2-length win in the Hawthorne Gold Cup, and the next day was shipped directly to WinStar Farm in Kentucky to begin a stud career, but for the winners of the two undercard stakes Saturday at Hawthorne, Recount and Puntsville, racing life goes on.

Both horses – Recount especially – ran above par for the $50,000 Illinois-restricted-stakes class level at which they raced, but while plans are uncertain for Recount, Puntsville is getting a winter rest. Her trainer, Michele Boyce, has 15 stalls at Tampa Bay Downs. Puntsville will be shipped to Florida later this week, and goes for a layoff at farm near Ocala and not back into the Boyce stable.

“There’s a race here at Tampa for her, but I don’t want to get greedy,” said Boyce. “I’m giving her a vacation. She’ll have 60 to 90 days off and then we’ll start back with her.”

Puntsville won the Pershing Stakes, a six-furlong dirt sprint, by 3 3/4 lengths, her time of 1:10 producing an 84 Beyer Speed Figure. Puntsville showed ability in three starts last year at 2, but didn’t race between September and this past July. She ran three good races at Arlington, winning twice, but then got off track when Boyce tried her in a pair of two-turn turf races – her first route starts – at Indiana and Arlington. Puntsville clearly is more effective as a sprinter, and with three straight wins this fall at Hawthorne, she showed that in addition to turf and synthetics, she handles dirt.

“She seems awfully versatile in terms of surface, and she’s kind of coming into her own right now,” Boyce said.

Recount, meanwhile, ran the best sprint race of the Hawthorne meet, zipping the six furlongs of the Blackhawk Stakes in 1:08.96, which produced a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure. Recount was coming off sixth-place finishes in the Perryville at Keeneland and the Gallant Bob at Parx Racing, and while the competition there might have been too tough, slow starts did Recount no favors in either race.

“He ran into some tough horses, but he wasn’t breaking good the last couple times, and that’s not him,” said trainer Jim DiVito. “He broke real sharp again Saturday.”

DiVito had winter stalls at Tampa last season, but will take a small string to Oaklawn this winter. Recount will be stabled there, but also will be considered for the $50,000 Forego Stakes on Jan. 16 at Turfway Park.

Turf horses in dirt features

A pair of entry-level allowance races, the fifth and the seventh, highlight the eight-race Wednesday program at Hawthorne, and in both races handicappers must decide what to do with Brian Williamson-trained horses whose best form has come on turf. The Hawthorne grass-racing season is over now, and recent cards have seen a plethora of horses whose connections are seeking one last payday before year’s end with horses better suited to turf than dirt.

In race 5, Nook looks like just such a horse, with a third-place turf finish last out at Churchill preceded by a dud on the Hawthorne dirt. Nook is 3-1 and very much worth opposing.

In race 7, Williamson has two more horses, Boom Box and Pale Hose, who appear to prefer grass over dirt. These two are priced, respectively, at 4-1 and 5-1, which could create value on one of the horses better suited to racing on the main track.