After meeting twice on dirt, round three of the Joe vs. Shake Em Loose series will take place May 21 in the $100,000 James W. Murphy Stakes on the Preakness (G1) undercard at Pimlico Race Course.
J R Sanchez Racing Stable's Shake Em Loose, owned and trained by Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, won the first meeting with Joe, edging the Maryland-bred even-money favorite by 1 3/4 lengths in the Private Terms Stakes March 19 at Laurel Park. Joe took the rematch April 16 in the Federico Tesio Stakes in front of stablemate Mr Jefferson who took second by a head, with Shake Em Loose third.
The Tesio is a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Preakness, but Joe's owner/breeder Stuart Grant, who races as The Elkstone Group, opted not to supplement into Maryland's signature race. Sanchez-Salomon did consider the Preakness, but after working his gelding Sunday said he would enter the Murphy.
Sanchez-Salomon claimed Shake Em Loose for $16,000 and he has since won three of five starts. The son of Shakin It Up sold for $1,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2020. He drew post 8 and will be ridden by Jevian Toledo.
"He's a horse that's still learning a lot," Sanchez-Salomon said. "He's doing better and better, day by day, training-wise and everything. He's mentally still growing up a lot. Knock on wood, nothing happens to him. He's very sound, very clean everywhere. You never know from one day to the next but he is good now.
"I'm pretty excited to run him on the turf," Sanchez-Salomon said. "He's got a lot of pedigree for it. I think the competition will be softer, too."
Grant had a degree of difficulty in mind when choosing a path for Joe, who is trained by Michael Trombetta. Joe debuted with a loss on turf Oct. 24 then reeled off three straight solid wins, running second in the Private Terms and winning the Tesio. He was named Maryland's champion 2-year-old male of 2021.
"We're very happy with Joe," Grant said. "He's training really well. He's developing as a horse. I guess our view is, he's going to be a good, fun horse. He'll be really competitive on overnight stakes, he should be competitive at a grade 3 level. Frankly, right now. I just don't think he's a grade 1 horse. And I don't want to, just for my own ego, throw him in a place where he doesn't belong."
He will be ridden from post 10 by Victor Carrasco and is rated the 3-1 second choice on the morning line.
Sanchez-Salomon said he is looking forward to the next round of the series with his in-state rival.
"That will be fun, to compete against Joe again," he said. "Hopefully, we'll have a better trip this time (than the Tesio), and we'll see."
Also entered in the Murphy are Donegal Racing's Ready to Purrform who has won two of his three starts; Mark Ashby and William Gotwals' Epic Luck; Bird Mobberley's Local Motive; Tag Stables' Uncaptured Spirit; Hickory Made Stables' World of Fools; Jeremy Brooks' homebred Wow Whata Summer; two-time turf winner Determined Kingdom; Charles Blanford's Crabs N Beer; and the Danny Gargan-trained Riot House, who enters the Murphy off a pair of turf wins at Gulfstream Park.
Multiple Stakes Winner Carotari Tops Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes
With four stakes wins and 17 in-the-money finishes in 24 starts, William Branch's Carotari is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the 17th running of the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs at Pimlico Race Course.
Carotari, trained by Brian Lynch and to be ridden by Luis Saez, will be making his 2022 debut in the Jim McKay. He completed last year's campaign with an allowance victory at Keeneland going 5 1/2 furlongs and scored under Saez in the five-furlong Janus Stakes on the New Year's Eve card at Gulfstream Park. The 6-year-old son of Artie Schiller drew post 2 in the 10-horse field.
Living The Dream Stables' 6-year-old Seven Scents, trained by Brad Cox, will be making his 40th career start in the Jim McKay. A five-time winner at the distance, he drew post 3 and is the 4-1 second choice on the morning line.
"He's a horse we claimed and won at Keeneland," Cox said. "Five-eighths, I think that will suit him well."
The McKay also drew Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Bank; Gordon Keyes' homebred Grateful Bred; Raul DelValle's 8-year-old Arthur's Hope; Paradise Farms' Mr. Hustle; Crown's Way Racing and NBS Stable's Smokin' Jay; The Wolfman, making his turf debut; Hollis, the beaten favorite in the March 19 Whitmore Stakes (G3); and C.L. Hess Jr.'s Concrete Glory.
Cilla Returns in Skipat Stakes
Kicking off her fourth start of the 2022 season is P. Dale Ladner's Louisiana-bred Cilla, who will make a bid for the $100,000 Skipat Stakes May 21.
Trained by Brett Brinkman, the 4-year-old daughter of California Chrome is a graded stakes winner at Saratoga Race Course in the 2021 Prioress Stakes (G2). She won her first two starts of the 2022 season, both at Delta Downs, in the Orleans Stakes and the LA Bred Premier Matron Stakes, however her last time out was a sixth-place finish in the April 9 Madison Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
So far she has crossed the wire first in seven of 15 starts and has earnings of $481,000.
Looking to pull ahead of Cillia in the Skipat is Lucky 7 Stables' Street Lute, who has yet to capture her first graded stakes. Having placed first in exactly half of her 14 starts, the 4-year-old daughter of Street Magician has won numerous non-graded stakes including the Stormy Blues Stakes, Smart Halo Stakes, and the Tax Free Shopping Distaff Stakes.
Trained by John Robb, the Maryland-bred filly will look to add to her earnings of $576,260 on Saturday.
Other entries include Tee N Jay Stable's Oxana; Runnymoore Racing's Cinnabunny, Team Hanley and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Joy's Rocket, Bush Racing Stable, Liberty House Racing, BlackRidge Stables, and George Saufley's Kaylasaurus, The Hakim's Stable's Glory Dia, Stud Los Leones' Cheetara, Three Diamonds Farm's Time Limit, and C J I Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm's Fille d'Esprit.
Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 10Entries: James W. Murphy S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Determined Kingdom (VA) UNKNOWN 118 Phil Schoenthal 15/1 2 2Local Motive (MD) J. D. Acosta 122 John E. Salzman, Jr. 8/1 3 3Uncaptured Spirit (FL) Angel Suarez 118 Mark Shuman 12/1 4 4Wow Whata Summer (KY) John R. Velazquez 118 James L. Lawrence, II 15/1 5 5Ready to Purrform (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Brad H. Cox 5/2 6 6Epic Luck (PA) Aubrie Green 122 Lynn A. Ashby 30/1 7 7Riot House (KY) Luis Saez 118 Danny Gargan 4/1 8 8Shake Em Loose (KY) Jevian Toledo 122 Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon 8/1 9 9Crabs N Beer (MD) Jaime Rodriguez 118 Jamie Ness 12/1 10 10Joe (MD) Victor R. Carrasco 122 Michael J. Trombetta 3/1 11 11World of Fools (KY) Tais Lyapustina 118 Lawrence M. Smith 50/1
Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 12Entries: Jim McKay Turf Sprint S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Bank (KY) Joel Rosario 120 Steven M. Asmussen 12/1 2 2Carotari (KY) Luis Saez 120 Brian A. Lynch 9/5 3 3Seven Scents (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Brad H. Cox 4/1 4 4Arthur's Hope (NY) Antonio Lopez 120 Marco P. Salazar 20/1 5 5Mr. Hustle (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Michael J. Maker 10/1 6 6Smokin' Jay (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Kelsey Danner 6/1 7 7Grateful Bred (MD) Jevian Toledo 120 Madison F. Meyers 6/1 8 8The Wolfman (MD) Victor R. Carrasco 120 Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon 30/1 9 9Hollis (KY) Reylu Gutierrez 124 John Alexander Ortiz 6/1 10 10Concrete Glory (PA) Angel Cruz 114 Brian M. Brooks 30/1
Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 7Entries: Skipat S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Street Lute (MD) Jevian Toledo 120 John J. Robb 10/1 2 2Oxana (PA) Paco Lopez 120 Timothy A. Hills 8/1 3 3Cinnabunny (PA) Jorge Ruiz 122 Cathal A. Lynch 15/1 4 4Joy's Rocket (FL) Joel Rosario 120 Steven M. Asmussen 10/1 5 5Kaylasaurus (PA) Horacio Karamanos 122 Timothy C. Kreiser 4/1 6 6Cilla (LA) Tyler Gaffalione 124 Brett A. Brinkman 7/2 7 7Glory Dia (KY) Angel Castillo 120 Mario A. Dominguez 20/1 8 8Cheetara (CHI) Jose L. Ortiz 120 Ignacio Correas, IV 10/1 9 9Time Limit (NY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Michael J. Maker 6/1 10 10Fille d'Esprit (MD) Xavier Perez 120 John J. Robb 4/1
