Albaugh Household Stables’ Howling Time was loud and clear Oct. 31 at Churchill Downs. The juvenile Not This Time colt out of the Arch mare Werewolf drew off in the stretch to capture the $200,000 Street Sense Stakes on Halloween, rolling past Red Danger to win by 3 1/4 lengths. He remains undefeated in two starts.
“It’s pretty fitting a horse with a Halloween theme wins today,” trainer Dale Romans told Churchill Downs media via phone from Southern California. “I’m just glad it was ours. He won impressively in his debut last month. He’s shown us in his training and his pedigree that he should like stretching out in distance. So, winning at six furlongs on debut was very impressive. Then, to come back and do that today showed how talented he is.”
Howling Time broke his maiden first time out Sept. 25 over the same track. He was bet down to the 9-5 favorite Sunday as he stretched to 1 1/16 miles Joe Talamo back aboard. Breaking from post 5 in the field of seven 2-year-olds, Howling Time rated in fourth down the backstretch in the clear. Sport Pepper set the pace and clocked early quarter-mile fractions of :24.65, :49.31, and 1:14.32 as Red Danger raced in second.
Leaving the final turn, Howling Time ranged into contention from the outside and drew even with Red Danger, who took over from the fading Sport Pepper. The two battled gamely together down the stretch but Howling Time relished the extra distance and drew clear for the victory inside the final furlong. The final time on the fast track was 1:44.68.
“Turning for home I could feel I had a lot of horse underneath me,” Talamo said. “Around the turn, I smooched at him and he just took off. It’s always special to win for these connections. This horse was very impressive today and really ran well around two turns for the first time.”
Pink Hazard was second 4 lengths forward of Pink Knobs, one other Romans trainee who raced in fifth early.
Howling Time, good in two begins, elevated his earnings to $190,600. A begin within the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Membership Stakes (G2), a part of the Highway to the Kentucky Derby level collection, over the identical course and distance Nov. 27 may very well be subsequent.
The connections of Howling Time within the trophy presentation for the Road Sense Stakes
The Albaugh household, with Barry Berkelhammer as agent, bought Howling Time for $200,000 out Paramount Gross sales’ consignment to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
“This horse was a later buy at Keeneland final 12 months,” mentioned Jason Loutsch, racing supervisor for his father-in-law, Dennis Albaugh. “We’ve got to present the credit score to Dale as a result of he was within the again ring on the time and referred to as us to say we needed to have this colt. We knew what he did on his debut was spectacular as a result of Dale would not essentially have them cranked all the way in which to win first out. Then, he labored properly out of it and was actually spectacular at the moment going two turns for the primary time.”
Springhouse Farm bred Howling Time in Kentucky. The colt is the second foal and second winner for his dam Werewolf, whose third foal is a weanling colt by Air Force Blue . Werewolf was bred to Bolt d’Oro for 2022.
Sandstone Romps in the Rags to Riches
Susan Moulton’s 2-year-old filly Sandstone dictated the pace on her way to a stakes-record 10 3/4-length win in Sunday’s $197,500 Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Sandstone leads throughout in the Rags to Riches Stakes
The 1 1/16-mile event was the second straight win for the Street Sense daughter, who last out Oct. 3 won a maiden race going a mile at Churchill for trainer Kenny McPeek. Sandstone was fifth on debut May 28 at the same track sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs.
“Sometimes we don’t always have the most stellar summers but come around in the fall,” McPeek said. “This is a big filly and really impressive. She’s big but she has a lot of speed. She’s fast and very well built. That was a really nice effort.”
Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode four winners on the card, Sandstone led the compact field of four through early fractions of :24.51, :48.55, and 1:13.11 with 3-5 favorite Yuugiri no more than a length off her right hip. Yuugiri, a 7 1/4-length debut winner at Churchill Downs Sept. 17, drew even with Sandstone leaving the far turn but the winner responded to that challenge at the three-sixteenths pole and displayed an impressive turn of foot along the rail under mild urging from Hernandez.
Sandstone, the 5-2 second betting choice, turned back Yuugiri at the top of the stretch and drew away inside the final furlong to stop the clock in 1:44.18.
“I saw going into the race that my filly could go to the lead if she needed to,” Hernandez said. “When I saw no one making an early move I was confident she’d run a good effort from there.”
Yuugiri was second 15 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place Mama Rina , another McPeek trainee who was second in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) last month at Churchill Downs and fourth in the Darley Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland earlier this month.
The Rags to Riches serves because the native prep race to the $400,000 Golden Rod (G2) Nov. 27, a part of the Highway to the Kentucky Oaks level collection.
Sandstone improved her earnings to $199,960. McPeek, agent, bought her for $165,000 out of Gainesway’s consignment to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
The filly was bred in Kentucky by Mark and Cindy Stansell. She is the final reported foal out of the Seattle Slew mare Seattle Shimmer, who has additionally produced the grade 2-placed winners Sway Away and Shaken and has eight winners from 10 starters.
Video: Rags to Riches S. (BT)
Video: Road Sense S. (BT)
