There’s no place like home, especially when it comes to winning.
Lexington native Bob Stewart hopes to experience the thrill of victory when he sends Ultimate Cameron behind the gate in Thursday night’s $232,750 Moni Maker
Stakes at the Red Mile. It will not be an easy task; the Moni Maker features the top five finishers from the $750,000 Hambletonian Oaks on August 7 at the Meadowlands.
Ultimate Cameron is the 7-2 third choice in the morning line odds. She has won three of six races this year and earned $531,620 for Stewart and owner Diamond Creek Farm (Adam and Chris Bowden) of Paris, Kentucky.
“Hopefully, it will be a good night,” Stewart said. “It’s my home track and Adam Bowden lives here in Lexington now. No question, it’s great to win anywhere, but it’s more fun and more satisfying to win at home.
“This is set up as a very good race,” he added. “It’s as good a filly three-year-old race as there’s been all year, that’s for sure, as far as the quality.”
Ultimate Cameron is a daughter of Yankee Glide out of the mare Cameron Hall. Stewart won the 2002 Kentucky Filly Futurity at the Red Mile with Cameron Hall.
In June, Ultimate Cameron won the $540,290 Elegantimage Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack.
“We trained her Saturday and she was very good,” Stewart said. “She seems to be enjoying this break in the weather; it’s a little cooler than it’s been. We drew a good post, so we’re anxiously awaiting [the race]. Nothing seems to bother this filly. She seems to take everything in stride. She’s just a professional racehorse.
“She really has never raced badly. We wouldn’t trade places with anybody, that’s for sure.”
Bar Slide, who won the Oaks by 1-1/2 lengths over Ultimate Cameron, is the 5-2 morning line favourite in the Moni Maker. She is co-owned by Georgetown’s Fredericka Caldwell, who along with David Caldwell bred Moni Maker. Thursday’s race honors Moni Maker, who was twice voted harness racing’s Horse of the Year (1998 and 1999) and retired as the sport’s all-time leader in earnings, with $5.58 million
.
“That would be special; that would be nice,” Caldwell’s daughter, Elizabeth, said about the chance to win the Moni Maker with Bar Slide. Elizabeth Caldwell selected Bar Slide as a yearling. “It’s going to be a tough race.
“It’s been a fun ride so far,” she added. “In horse racing, you never know what’s going to happen. It’s a humbling experience most of the time. When you win, you have to really savor it.”
Also part of the 12-horse field for the Moni Maker is multiple-stakes-winner Glide Power, who is 3-1 in the morning line. Springtime Volo, Behindclosedoors, and Bramalea Hanover joined Bar Slide and Ultimate Cameron in the Hambletonian Oaks’ top five. With a dozen fillies in the race, two horses will start from the second tier.
“We’ll line up and see what happens,” Stewart said. “You throw two trailers in there and it’s hard to see in your mind how the race will go. There will be someone that doesn’t get a good trip, hopefully it won’t be mine.”
Here is is a look at the $232,750 Moni Maker Stakes field in post position order with listed drivers and trainers:
1. Cantab It All, Daniel Dube, Jimmy Takter
2. Glide Power, Brian Sears, Jan Johnson
3. Behindclosedoors, Peter Wrenn, Chuck Sylvester
4. Ultimate Cameron, Trevor Ritchie, Bob Stewart
5. Springtime Volo, Dan Shetler, Jan Johnson
6. Bramalea Hanover, Ron Pierce, Robert McIntosh
7. Ally Gal Ridge, Don Irvine Jr., Ron Burke
8. Bar Slide, Tim Tetrick, Joe Holloway
9. Christiana Hanover, Riina Rekila, Rekila
10. Impressive Kemp, Michael Vanderkemp, Noel Daley
11. Jesses Messenger, Ryan Stahl, Kent Sherman
12. Bone A Fide, Ricky Macomber Jr., Ron Burke
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.