NEWS

Three-year-olds look to take next step in Holy Bull

Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 3:09 PM

WEST SIDE BERNIE

Pat Lang photo

by Jeff Apel

Graded stakes winners Beethoven and West Side Bernie will try to solidify their status as Triple Crown contenders on Saturday in the $150,000 Holy Bull Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.

West Side Bernie concluded his juvenile season with a runner-up finish to Big Drama in the Boyd Gaming’s Delta Jackpot Stakes (G3) at Delta Downs. Big Drama will not make a planned start in the Holy Bull Stakes because of a shin injury.

West Side Bernie earned his first stakes victory in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes (G3) on September 27 at Turfway Park. Trained by Kelly Breen for owners George and Lori Hall, the Bernstein colt posted a sixth-place finish in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on October 25 during the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park prior to running in the Delta Jackpot Stakes.

Beethoven enters off a win in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) on November 29 at Churchill Downs. The Sky Mesa colt made his stakes debut in the Kentucky Jockey Club after winning two of his first four starts for trainer John Ward Jr. and owner John Oxley.

Louisiana-based jockey Calvin Borel, who rode Beethoven to victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, has the return call on Saturday.

“This is a colt that really fits Calvin,” Ward said. “I told him, ‘This is your kind of horse. He gives me heart attacks, but he’s your kind of horse.’

“Calvin never rushes a horse away from the pole in a workout. He loves to wait and wait. It makes me worry, but he and this horse eventually turn it on.”

Beethoven and West Side Bernie are part of an 11-horse field that includes stakes winner Stately Character. Other contenders includes stakes-placed winner Bear’s Rocket; Rockland, a Smarty Jones colt who has won two of his three career starts; and Danger to Society, a highly regarded colt trained by Ken McPeek who is unbeaten in two starts.

Gerald Procino trains Stately Character, the winner of the Foolish Pleasure Stakes on September 27 at Calder Race Course. The Pleasant Tap colt enters off a third-place finish in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race in his season debut on January 8 at Gulfstream.

Bear’s Rocket made all seven of his starts last season at Woodbine. The Lion Heart colt finished third in the 2008 Colin Stakes at the Toronto track for trainer Reade Baker and owner Bear Stables.

Lansdon Robbins’s and Samuel Delaney’s Danger to Society won a 1 1/8-mile allowance race in his previous start on January 8 at Gulfstream. The Harlan’s Holiday colt prevailed in a one-mile maiden special weight race in his racing debut on November 19 at Churchill.

Rockland is unbeaten in his previous two starts for trainer Michael Matz and owner Emory Hamilton. The chestnut colt won a one-mile and 70-yard maiden special weight race on November 5 at the Meadowlands prior to winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance race in his previous start on December 20 at Calder Race Course.

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY assistant editor

Holy Bull S.