Cinnabunny Takes on Stakes-Winning Stablemates in $100,000 Primonetta

BALTIMORE – Trin-Brook Stables, Inc.’s 7-year-old gelding Forewarned, an 11-time career winner with multiple stakes victories in New York and Ohio, will continue chasing an elusive first victory in Maryland in Saturday’s $100,000 Native Dancer at Laurel Park.

The 54th running of the 1 1/8-mile Native Dancer for 3-year-olds and up and 34th edition of the six-furlong Primonetta for fillies and mares 3 and older are among five $100,000 stakes on the second of consecutive Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays.

Also on tap are the first three stakes scheduled for Laurel’s world-class turf course – the Henry S. Clark and Dahlia at one mile, the latter for females, and the 5 ½-furlong King T. Leatherbury, all for 3-year-olds and up. The Clark, Dahlia and Primonetta are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series that launched its 2022 season April 16 at Laurel.

Post time for the first of 10 races is 12:40 p.m.

Owned and trained by Uriah St. Lewis, Forewarned has won two of his last four starts, both 1 1/8-mile Aqueduct stakes – the Dec. 19 Queens County and April 2 Excelsior, the latter by a head in his most recent effort.

“He’s doing great, fantastic. He’s coming in in good shape,” St. Lewis said. “He’s just one of those old-fashioned, hard-knocking horses.”

In his race prior to the Excelsior, Forewarned closed from mid-pack to be second by a nose behind Galerio in the 1 1/16-mile John B. Campbell Feb. 19 at Laurel. The son of Flat Out is winless in nine tries over the local surface, also finishing second to 2021 Pimlico Special (G3) winner Harpers First Ride in the 2020 Native Dancer.

“He just missed that stake at Laurel. One more jump and he wins it. Then he came back in New York and won that stake,” St. Lewis said. “He’s training good and we’ll take a shot. He’s just a happy, happy horse and he has a guy who’s happy to ride him, and that combination is deadly.”

Dexter Haddock, like St. Lewis based at Parx, will be aboard for the sixth straight race, a stretch that began in the Richard W. Small last November at Laurel where they ran fourth behind subsequent Grade 3 winner Cordmaker. They drew Post 2 in a field of seven at co-topweight of 126 pounds.

“He’s got somebody that has confidence in him now, the jockey, and that makes such a big difference,” St. Lewis said. “Before, guys were getting on him and [going through the motions] and [Dexter] got on him and he rode him and said, ‘I love him.’ I said, ‘If you do the right thing you can stay on him,’ and he’s doing the right thing.

“Just break and keep him close, and don’t let him drop 25 lengths off of it,” he added. “The horse is happy. He’s real happy, and he loves running. He’s a big horse, so he can carry the weight.”

Bred in Ohio, Forewarned has won the 1 ¼-mile Best of Ohio Endurance three straight years starting in 2019. St. Lewis purchased him for $40,000 during Fasig-Tipton’s 2018 Midlantic December mixed sale at the Maryland State Fairgounds in Timonium.

St. Lewis has not been afraid to take big swings with Forewarned, running him in such races as the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) in 2021, Pimlico Special in 2020 and 2021, and Cigar Mile (G1), Woodward (G1) and Whitney (G1) in 2019.

“He seems like he’s getting better, but he was always good,” St. Lewis said. “I thought so much of this horse that he could have won races like the Jockey Club and the Whitney. He got beat [9 ½] lengths by McKinzie in the Whitney, and the jockey just sat on him around the racetrack instead of riding him and making a race out of it.

“He loves to train, and he loves to race. I’d love to have a barn full of him,” he added. “So long as he is within striking distance, I think he has a very, very good shot to win the race.”

Steven Walfish’s 7-year-old gelding Workin On a Dream ran fifth in the Campbell for Laurel-based trainer Robin Graham, his only time off the board in five starts. In the others he won a one-mile off-the-turf optional claiming allowance last November at Laurel and finished second in the Small and Robert T. Manfuso to end 2021 and the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial last out March 19.

Trainer Bruno Tessore entered the Proud Stable, Inc. pair of Rough Sea and Big Venezuela. Rough Sea has run second in back-to-back starts at Laurel, most recently April 3 by less than a length to multiple stakes winner Clubman, while Big Venezuela comes back 16 days after running fourth to Excellorator in a Laurel allowance.

Plot the Dots, an optional claiming allowance winner going 1 1/8 miles first off the claim for leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez March 26 at Laurel, Ain’t Da Beer Cold and Bird King round out the field.

Cinnabunny Takes on Stakes-Winning Stablemates in $100,000 Primonetta

Runnymoore Racing’s 5-year-old mare Cinnabunny, who came within a length of Grade 3 success before securing her first stakes triumph last year, will face six rivals including stakes-winning stablemates Street Lute and Princess Kokachin in Saturday’s $100,000 Primonetta at Laurel Park.

Cinnabunny was bumped twice late and still got within three-quarters of a length of 18-time winner Lady’s Island in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl (G3) in December 2020 at Gulfstream Park. She became a stakes winner in the Sept. 26 Flashy Lady at Remington Park before being entered in Keeneland’s November breeding stock sale.

Runnymoore’s Greg and Caroline Bentley spent $240,000 on the chestnut daughter of Golden Lady and sent her to Cal Lynch at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.

“[Racing manager] Joe Cassidy asked me if I’d be interested in training her and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ She’s a stakes winner, graded-stakes placed, Pennyslvania-bred and Maryland-sired, so there’s a lot of options for her,” Lynch. “She’s a filly that came out of her last race really well and we’re excited about her for the year. We’re very excited about her.”

More than 5 ½ months passed before Cinnabunny ran for her new connections, finishing fourth by 5 ¼ lengths behind multiple stakes winner Hey Mamaluke in the 6 ½-furlong Penn’s Landing March 7 at Parx. The runner-up was another multiple stakes winner, Jakarta, who has placed in three graded-stakes including this year’s Inside Information (G2) and Barbara Fritchie (G3), the latter at Laurel.

“We gave her the race there at Parx. She was coming off a layoff and we had her at about 80 percent. We were just at the point in training where we wanted to get a race into her and set her up for the summer,” Lynch said. “We want a summer and fall with her.

“She’s a lovely filly, and since the race she’s had some good works I’d say better than she was going into the race at Parx. Her works since she’s come out of there it’s like the switch has gone back on and she’s been training very well,” he added. “She’s gained weight and she loves her running pens and paddocks here at Fair Hill. It seems to be doing her mind a world of good. She’s content. Her last [few] works have impressed me more than just about anybody else in the barn right now, to tell you the truth.”

Jorge Ruiz is named to ride Cinnabunny from Post 5 in a field of seven. She is also cross-entered against 10 rivals in the seven-furlong Unique Bella April 25 at Parx.

“She’s just a lovely, big filly. We get this year with her and then I think she’ll go to the breeding shed maybe next year, depending on where she’s at. But that’s the plan,” Lynch said. “We’re very excited about her going forward.”

Lucky 7 Stables’ Street Lute is an eight-time stakes winner that has been worse than third just three times in 16 career starts and never in nine tries at Laurel. The 4-year-old filly won the Xtra Heat and Wide Country at Laurel to open 2021, then captured an off-the-turf Stormy Blues in mid-June at Pimlico and the Tax Free District in September at Delaware Park. She hasn’t run since finishing third in back-to-back Laurel stakes, the Maryland Million Distaff to champion Hello Beautiful and Nov. 27 Safely Kept.

Eric Rizer’s Maryland homebred Princess Kokachin takes a two-race win streak into the Primonetta, taking a conditioned six-furlong optional claiming allowance and open 5 ½-furlong allowance by 7 ¼ combined lengths. The front-running Graydar filly won the Politely last November and has placed in two other stakes at Laurel, where she is 7-for-9 lifetime.

Bush Racing Stable, Liberty House Racing, BlackRidge Stables and George Saufley’s Kaylasaurus exits the same March 13 allowance as Princess Kokachin, where she ran second by three-quarters of a length. She beat Princess Kokachin in two prior meetings, winning the Willa On the Move in December and finishing second in the Jan. 29 What a Summer, less than a length in front of Princess Kokachin. Kaylasaurus stretched out to seven furlongs for the Fritchie (G3), where she was fourth by less than two lengths.

Also entered are 2021 Cheryl S. White Memorial winner Prodigy Doll, fifth in the Fritchie; Hope Has a Name, a winner of two of three starts this year to improve to 4-for-8 lifetime at Laurel; and Paisley Singing, third in the 2021 Politely and Willa On the Move.