Woodbine Mohawk Park: Bell expects SBSW starter El Rey to be a top-tier colt

Longtime owner and breeder Myron Bell no longer is on track to watch his horses race, but that hasn't stopped the 82-year-old from staying closely in touch with the competition as well as his own stock. Seated in front of two large televisions Bell can monitor all that's going on throughout North America and get a keen perspective of where his stock sits when compared to the rest.

On Saturday, Bell will watch from Florida as his El Rey, a sophomore with high aspirations, makes his first stakes appearance in 2023 in one of three divisions of the Somebeachsomewhere, the final prep for the C$1 million North America Cup.

"It's not how fast you go it's who you beat," Bell said with clear understanding of the measure of a quality horse.

Days after witnessing a speed explosion at Harrah's Philadelphia on its "Super Sunday" stakes program, Bell came away less impressed by the times and more focused on the task at hand.

"You don't know whether those fast miles will catch up with those horses," Bell said of the sophomores that contested the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes this past Sunday (May 28). "As for El Rey, he trained this morning [Tuesday] and Tony [Alagna] said he was very good."

Bell believes that he has a top-tier colt in the homebred El Rey, a son of Bell's 2013 North America Cup champion and current top stallion Captaintreacherous. The Governor's Cup champion was a winner in five of 12 starts as a 2-year-old in 2022 and came on late in the season with a specialty of out-sprinting horses from far back to gain his victories.

"Sure, I would have liked him to have 10 starts or less," said Bell of the juvenile campaign, "But the fact that he was able to stay at The Red Mile and not have to ship has to be factored in."

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The wear and tear aside, El Rey had returned ready for a long campaign that Bell himself appeared more concerned about than the next few weeks.

"It's a long season and you want to keep a horse going through October," Bell said. Nevertheless, the present is at hand and El Rey will face seven rivals on Saturday at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the C$75,000 second division (race seven) of the sophomore event. With post two, driver Scott Zeron should have the flexibility to work out a trip of his choosing. Coming off a debut where El Rey finished second after cutting the pace at the Meadowlands, Bell was hardly let down.

"I thought he raced very well," said Bell of the pace-setting mile where El Rey was out-sprinted late by the pocket horse Foronce Inmy Life. "The other horse had a conditioning edge, and I thought El Rey fought back in the stretch after being passed."

On Saturday El Rey meets some tougher competition, with the streaking Write Me A Rose (post eight) looking for his fourth straight win following an impressive score in the C$138,000 Ontario SBOA event on May 20 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Shipping north of the border are a pair of geldings that competed last Sunday at Harrah's Philadelphia and finished second in Sire Stakes competition, namely Bamboozler (post three) and Annapolis Hanover (post six). The fast Ants Marching has captured three of five starts this year for trainer Nancy Takter and picks up Yannick Gingras to drive (post four) in this Somebeachsomewhere division.

Two undefeated sophomores collide in the first C$75,000 division of the Somebeachsomewhere carded as race three, with No Control (post two) meeting Fulton (post six) in the field of eight. No Control has shown improvement with each start and enters the Somebeachsomewhere following a 1:50 3/5 career-best clocking in an overnight event on May 19 at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Fulton, last year's Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion, has returned for trainer Linda Toscano this year and captured a pair of Sire Stakes events in preparation for the Somebeachsomewhere and likely the North America Cup trials on June 10.

Last year's Metro Stakes winner Stockade Seelster makes his second start as a sophomore for trainer Dr. Ian Moore, and the son of State Treasurer drew well (post four) in the seven-horse third Somebeachsomewhere division going in race nine. With eight wins in 11 starts as a juvenile, Stockade Seelster returned with a second-place finish behind Write Me A Rose in the SBOA stake and should be set up nicely for the big races to come.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob McIntosh has brought back the homebred Moment Is Here impeccably this year. The gelded son of All Bets Off took a 1:49 record in his final stakes prep on May 27 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and drew post five outside Stockade Seelster in this division.

The Somebeachsomwhere is part of an 11-race card at Woodbine Mohawk Park Saturday that kicks off at 7:00 P.M. (EDT) and includes three divisions of the Graduate Series for 4-year-olds and one Miss Versatility preliminary leg for older trotting mares.