by Mike Curry

Switching surfaces has never been an issue for Summer Doldrums and on Friday at Presque Isle Downs he added a stakes victory on a synthetic surface to his record with a three-quarter-length score in the $174,125 Presque Isle Mile Stakes.

The four-year-old Street Cry (Ire) colt won stakes on dirt and grass as a three-year-old in 2007 for trainer Richard Violette Jr. and owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence. Summer Doldrums won a one-mile allowance/optional claiming race by 12 lengths on the Tapeta Footings synthetic surface at Presque Isle on June 8 and powered to his first stakes win in more than a year in the Presque Isle Mile.

Sent off as the 11-to-10 favorite, Summer Doldrums was reserved off the pace by Dale Beckner as Johnie Bye Night set a strong tempo through an opening quarter in :23.06 and a half-mile in :45.47.

Summer Doldrums launched his winning bid from the inside on the backstretch, powered to the lead from along the rail, and surged to a clear advantage in early stretch. Runner-up Forty Grams finished eagerly to mount a challenge but Summer Doldrums dug in gamely to prevail in 1:35.97, a track record for Presque Isle, which opened in 2007.

“He just floated along,” Beckner said of Summer Doldrums, who earned his first stakes win since the Colonial Turf Cup Stakes (G3) on June 16, 2007.

Forty Grams, ridden by Rex Stokes III, was 2 1/2 lengths clear of third-place finisher Archers Alyancer.

“I was really pleased with my horse," Stokes said. "I thought I might catch the winner in the stretch, but I couldn’t.”

Three-time Canadian champion Judiths Wild Rush stalked the pace and faded to sixth in the seven-horse field. Independent George, winner of the 2007 Presque Isle Mile, was scratched from the race by trainer Graham Motion.

Summer Doldrums improved to six wins in 17 career starts, including a win in the 2007 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct, and boosted his earnings to $853,746. Bred in Kentucky by Gentry Stable, Summer Doldrums is out of stakes-placed winner Dance for Dixie, by Unaccounted For.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor