After a 7th place debut where Cactus Closer raced for the early lead and quickly burned out, trainer Dale Romans decided to try the turf. “We like to bring them up here, these young horses and try them on the turf. It’s the only place in America you can work on the grass with a maiden, so we took him over there, worked him, and he had a beautiful work” said Romans after the race.
The work was 4 furlongs on August 21st on the Oklahoma turf track across from the street from the Saratoga main track. With the inside lane reserved for stakes horses, Cactus Closer had to run with the dogs out (the cones to mark a wider lane to limit wear on the inside lanes of the turf course). Running without a partner, the work was 48 seconds flat and ranked 6th of the 65 horses that ran that distance/surface that day.
The huge work led to the entry in Sunday’s first Race at Saratoga. A Maiden Special Weight at 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. With Junior Alvarado aboard, Cactus Closer went straight for the lead running the quarter in 22.37 and the half in 44.82. Lou’s Room and jockey Manny Franco, who was fresh off his win in yesterday’s Travers Stakes, challenged from the outside and briefly traded head bobs for the lead. Cactus Closer was game down the stretch and pulled ahead by a neck at the line to score the maiden win in 1:01.78.
Congratulations to partners Jeff Bloom and Edwin Barker on the win and it was extra special for partner Charlie Monfort. The Colorado Rockies owner was unable to attend the first two wins that his first horse, Rockies Balboa, collected, so this was the first win he was able to see in person. The weekend’s first races at Saratoga also created a unique double with ties Denver sports. The winner owner of the first race on Saturday was former Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson who scored his first win as an owner with Club Reign in a Maiden Special Weight.