As in many walks of life, family values matter in horse racing.
Emulating the 2011 feat of older full sister All About Allie, Be My Caroline won the 37th running of the Rainbow Miss on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. Leading from gate to wire under Jareth Loveberry, the 3-year-old daughter of Storm and a Half-Be Good Molly nosed out even-money favorite Easter Indy with Wolf City 4 1/2 lengths farther back in third.
Jimmie Sanders, of Marshall, and brother Roy Gene Sanders, of Little Rock, both own and bred the filly (nephews of Willis Horton, the Marshall horseman who raced back-to-back champions Will Take Charge and Take Charge Brandi). Both raced All About Allie, a four-time Oaklawn stakes winner trained by David Whited; Roy Gene Sanders was the listed owner of 2003 Rainbow Miss winner Impetuous Molly, trained by Cole Norman.
As proof of changing times, Be My Caroline ran for a larger purse ($75,000) than the combined winners' shares of the 2003 and 2011 races.
"I told my brother (who was out of town) that if she could get in front, I thought she could stay there," said Jimmie Sanders. "But the No. 2 filly (Easter Indy) got closer and closer as they came to the wire."
The brothers thought enough of Be My Caroline to enter a stakes race first time out, placing third in November's $50,000 Lady Razorback Futurity at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. A tenacious maiden winner by a nose Feb. 8 at six furlongs, Be My Caroline showed no signs of rust after almost seven weeks off, working a "bullet" three furlongs in 36.60 seconds Wednesday.
After a long association with jockey-turned-trainer Whited, the Sanders brothers are now aligned with Texas-based trainer Allen Milligan, a past Oaklawn champion.
"Our plans all along were to run her in the Lady Razorback Futurity and if she didn't win that, she'd still have her maiden conditions for Oaklawn," Sanders said. "We wanted to run her (against older state-bred females) in the Downdustyroad (won by 5-year-old Pistolpackinpenny March 6) but the weather was so bad that Allen thought she might not be fit enough and didn't want to try her then."
Breaking from post three, Be My Caroline quickly opened four lengths on the Rainbow Miss field through a half-mile in 45.42 seconds. Easter Indy, second throughout from post two, applied pressure on the turn, by which time the pair was eight lengths clear of the nearest filly.
Winning the closest Rainbow Miss in 15 years, Be My Caroline went a fast-rated six furlongs in 1:11.57 and paid $14.20, $5.40 and $3.60. Easter Indy, a Jan. 19 debut winner at Oaklawn for John and Libbie Thiel of Donaldson and brothers Joe and Bill Martin of Royal, completed a $39.80 exacta. Wolf City, owned by James Glover of North Little Rock and trained by Kenny Smith, rounded out an $86.20 trifecta.
Be My Caroline has collected $86,500 from three starts, all against Arkansas-bred fillies. What's more, the family tree remains intact: Be Good Molly, her dam, is in foal to Mucho Rocket and expected to deliver "any day now," Sanders said. Now 17, Be Good Molly (by 1988 Arkansas Derby winner Proper Reality) also has a yearling filly by Portobello Road training in Texas.
With the track's maiden races now worth more than many past runnings of the Rainbow Miss, the Sanders brothers plan their entire racing operation around the Oaklawn season.
"The money is so good here," Jimmie Sanders said, "that you can't afford to run anywhere else."
Hartman show: Trainer Chris Hartman opened daylight over defending champion Steve Asmussen in the Oaklawn standings with four winners on Saturday's 10-race card. Now leading Asmussen 25-18 with nine racing days left, Hartman won three in a row for James Rogers' Black Hawk Stable, the fourth- through sixth-race $1 pick-three of Walt ($4.20), Storm Devil ($6.80) and Mal Guapo ($5.60) returning $18.20. The Hartman-trained Miss Reditore ($16.40) won the second race, the first of two winners for leading jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. Cliff Berry and Shaun Bridgmohan also rode winners for Hartman, who wheeled back Storm Devil and Mal Guapo after last-out claims.
Sports on 03/29/2015