John Capek, who with his wife, Carla, founded Rodeo Creek Racing, hoping to have a lot of fun this summer at Racecourse Saratoga. Good timing may start rolling on July 21 when Blazing Sevens one of 10 horses they have with trainer Chad Brown, running in the $135,000 Curlin Stakes.
A win there and maybe a trip to the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) on August 26.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him again on the track,” Capek said July 15.
Blazing Sevens finished the second game, defeated by National treasures in Preakness Stakes (G1) May 19 at Racecourse Pimlico in his final start on May 20.
On Saturday, the Blazing Sevens, with gymnast Peter Levia on board, ran four long distances in: 49.91 seconds on the main track at Saratoga. He works in the company with accretion a 4-year-old is staked from the Brown coop, who is timed at the same time.
They are listed as the 108th fastest time out of 166 at long distances on an extremely busy workday.
“The horse did a great job,” Brown said at his barn near Oklahoma Training Road. “He’s had some time to recover from that tough race and he looks set to come back fresh and strong.”
Brown was thinking of competing for the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) prize at the Spa on July 22 but opted to enter Curlin, the tournament for horses that have not won a classified sweepstakes. at one mile or more in 2023. Both races are for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 mile.
Blazing Sevens hasn’t won since he won the mile-long Champagne Stakes (G1) last fall at the age of 2. Despite winning in 2023, the foal has steadily progressed through every race this year.
One of the reasons Brown made his choice was his desire to get one of his riders. Irad Ortiz Jr. and Flavien Prat, both of whom have ridden the Blazing Sevens in the past, wouldn’t have been available if Brown had gone the way of Jim Dandy.
Brown says Prat will ride the Blazing Sevens in Curlin on Friday.
John Capek has owned horses for 15 years since the early 2000s but has left to focus on his position at Abbott Laboratories, where he was executive vice president of Ventures for the past 17 years.
He and his wife founded Rodeo Creek—named after a street they had their home in California—in 2021. Blazing Sevens, son of good magic , named after a jackpot bet in blackjack. John Capek said his wife hit it more than once. Both are hoping to hit the biggest Saratoga jackpot of the season with the Blazing Sevens.
John Capek said: “He has done very well at Preakness and we are very much looking forward to him continuing to improve. “The Curlin helped him have a great time with Travers. We feel fortunate to be in the situation we are in. He has put his heart and soul into his coaching.”
