Uno Emayo brings his consistency to Mecke Stakes

To call the 6-year-old turf specialist Uno Emayo a model of consistency is almost an understatement. At least from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint, it’s hard to find any other words to describe a horse who has posted the same figure, an 88, in his last four starts.

If Uno Emayo runs an 88 again on Sunday, he should be right in the thick of things at the end of the Sunday’s’s main event, the $75,000 Mecke Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile Mecke drew a well-matched field of eight who will compete if the race remains on the grass. Main-track-only entrants and stablemates Hy Riverside and Hy Kodiak Warrior would be well spotted if the headliner comes off the turf.

Uno Emayo began his somewhat unprecedented series of 88 Beyers when rallying to capture the Little Magician starter stakes by 1 1/4 widening lengths on Feb. 18. The same number was good for only an eighth-place finish, albeit against Grade 3 company, in the Appleton Stakes five weeks later. Trainer Lilli Kurtinecz was then rewarded for giving Uno Emayo some much-needed class relief in his next two starts, the drop back to starter company resulting in two more 88 Beyers and a pair of victories by 1 1/4 and 3 1/2 lengths during the spring session.

The stretch-running Uno Emayo will lose the services of jockey Jaime Rendon, who was aboard the New York-bred son of D’ Funnybone for his last two victories, but gets a pretty capable replacement in 2019 spring riding champion Edgard Zayas.

Rendon has chosen to handle Ambassador Jim for trainer Joe Orseno. Ambassador Jim earned an 87 Beyer in capturing a first-level allowance race in his 2019 debut but has started just once since, finishing far back following an eventful trip when stepping up to the next allowance level on March 30.

Nobody in the Mecke recorded a higher Beyer last out than Driven by Thunder, who earned a career-high 94 for his dominant 2 3/4-length victory in a high-priced allowance/optional claimer on June 23. That effort came on the heels of a second-place finish over the main track in the Soldier’s Dancer Stakes for Florida-breds.

Other key contenders include Cowboy’s Hero, Toughest ‘Ombre, and My Point Exactly.

Big day for Jaramillo

Emisael Jaramillo, who rides likely pacesetter War Giant in the Mecke, had a Fourth of July to remember by winning five of the last six races on the holiday card. Jaramillo, second in the jockey standings during the spring session, began his run in the seventh race aboard Kitty Jak, won races 8 and 9 with Grand Journey and Miss Mariu, and closed out the day by taking the late daily double for trainer Mary Eppler on Ice Tea and R Sea Smoke.

The only race Jaramillo did not win during the second half of Thursday’s card was the featured Richard Henry Lee Stakes, which went to Rendon on the favorite, Salute the Colonel. The win was the second straight at 1 1/2 miles on turf for the Patricia Generazio-owned and Orseno-trained homebred. He also captured the Home of the Brave Stakes on Memorial Day. Both races were decided under starter-allowance conditions.

“He won on Memorial Day, and he just won on the Fourth of July, so now I’m hoping there’s going to be a mile-and-a-half race for him on Labor Day,” Orseno quipped after the race. “The key to this horse is getting him to relax, and this jock got along with him well the first time he rode him and did it again today.”