Walder gets a sharp one in My Snookie's Boy
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The offer to train My Snookie's Boy "floored me," said trainer Peter Walder.
My Snookie's Boy will make his 2005 debut and first start for the Walder barn Sunday in Monmouth's $65,000 Frisk Me Now Stakes.
My Snookie's Boy emerged as a star at Monmouth last summer. A $50,000 claim by trainer Allen Iwinski in April 2004 at Gulfstream Park, My Snookie's Boy developed into a solid stakes runner. He gamely battled to second-place finishes behind Lion Heart in the track's major 3-year-old stakes, the Grade 3 Long Branch Breeders' Cup and the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.
Iwinski, battling health problems, has scaled back his stable and no longer has a division at Monmouth. It was he who suggested Walder take over the training.
"It was a great measure of respect on the part of one of my peers," Walder said.
This will be My Snookie's Boy's first start since finishing second in an Aqueduct allowance race in November.
"He's been training fantastic," said Francine Faraci-Walder, Walder's wife, who trains the stable alongside her husband. "He's got very good flesh on him.
"We hope that we are able to continue where Allen left off. He did a very good job with him."
John Velazquez, who will be at Monmouth to ride Melhor Ainda in the Boiling Springs Stakes, has the mount on My Snookie's Boy in what could be a very small field.
The mile and 70-yard race attracted only six runners, and two - Ricardo A and Tap Day - were also entered as main-track-only runners in Saturday's Red Bank Handicap at Monmouth.
If the Red Bank comes off the turf, they would run in that spot, leaving only four horses for the Frisk Me Now: Sinister G, Max Forever, Rogue Agent, and My Snookie's Boy.
Sinister G was considered a Triple Crown contender when he won the 2004 Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park. Those aspirations ended with a 28-length loss in the Wood Memorial. He most recently romped to an allowance victory at Philadelphia Park.
Max Forever has enjoyed success at Monmouth. He is 2-1-0 in 5 starts here, including a victory in the 2003 Long Branch Stakes.
Rogue Agent has only one win in his last 17 starts but has frequently finished in the money in open and statebred stakes in New York.
Restrictions on Delaware horses
As a result of a confirmed case of strangles at Delaware Park, horses stabled at Delaware Park cannot ship to Monmouth Park, according to a new policy issued Friday.
Horses who leave Monmouth and ship to Delaware Park will not be permitted to return. Monmouth will review the policy by June 2.
"It's a necessary precaution that is essential for the protection of horses stabled here at Monmouth," said Dennis Dowd, the track's senior vice president for racing. "It's a difficult decision when you're forced to place restrictions on anyone, but paramount to racing is the health of our equine athletes, and we'll take all the necessary precautions."
In addition, Monmouth reiterated its ongoing policy that all horses that ship in must have a valid health certificate.
North East Bound gets a home in Florida
North East Bound, who earned more than $1.3 million on the racetrack and almost pulled off an upset in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Mile, is starting a new life in Florida as a riding horse.
A 9-year-old gelding by D'Accord, North East Bound is now the family pet of Jesse and Cheryl Parsons and their children on their Cypress Flats Ranch in Sebring, Fla.
"He's doing just great on the farm," Cheryl Parsons said. "We put a yearling filly in his paddock to keep him company, and he's enjoying his new life."
Trainer Bill Perry retired North East Bound last fall after the gelding failed to regain his winning form for two seasons. The owners gave the horse to jockey Jose Velez Jr., who had ridden him in 39 of 50 lifetime starts.
"I got him in December," Velez said, "and I thought I could keep him as a riding horse for my daughter. But he's pretty big, and she wasn't happy about riding him. So I gave him to my friend Jesse Parsons because I knew Jesse and his wife and family would give him a good home."