Taco Tuesday, a four-year-old gelding by Cantab Hall, will make his first start out of Rob and Patti Harmon’s stable in the 1 1/4-mile, $68,000 Open Handicap Trot at Yonkers Raceway July 30. The change comes after Rob Harmon received an unexpected call from the trotter’s owner, Vince Laurenzo, after Taco Tuesday galloped most of the mile in the Hambletonian Maturity July 15.
“I got a phone call on Sunday the day after he raced at The Meadowlands from Vince. He wanted to know if I would take him and start training him. I told him that would be great,” Harmon explained. “I never met him before. I still haven’t met him, only talked to him on the phone. He has some good horses. He wants to race at Yonkers, so that was probably the big key there.”
Before coming to Harmon’s stable, Taco Tuesday won 10 of 42 races and banked $290,937. Laurenzo bought Taco Tuesday out of the Harrisburg sale last fall for $90,000 and the trotter has switched stables several times since. Now, Harmon is happy to have Taco Tuesday settling into his barn.
“He’s a nice horse. You wouldn’t even know he’s in the barn. Clean legged, doesn’t do one thing wrong. That’s a good horse,” he said.
For Harmon, the process of getting an established older horse in the stable is a multi-step one. He examines blood work, watches replays, and gets a feel for the horse. Mainly, he aims to make the transition as easy as possible for the horse and tries to keep them on the same routine.
“The first thing I always do, I always pull their blood. I want to see what they are, especially when they’re racing good, I like to maintain the blood to where they are. Then I watch a video to see how he is,” Harmon said. “This horse is pretty good, just wears an open bridle and he’s pretty simple. The good thing about that is, to me it’s easy to follow what they’ve been doing.”
Harmon’s stable is in the midst of a strong year. He has sent out 42 winners from 252 starts at Yonkers with another 57 placing. His horses have earned $929,367 at the Hilltop Oval this season.
“We’re doing good. Every winter I always do pretty decent. Usually after April or May I start shifting horses to Tioga because they either get tired or they run out of their classes, but knock on wood, horses have been holding on and we’re trying to stay there and race more,” he said.
Taco Tuesday is a 12-1 morning line in his debut for Harmon after qualifying in 1:52.4 at The Meadowlands July 22. He posted a final quarter in :27.4 and finished fourth behind Crazy Wow, Tuonoblu Rex, and JL Cruze. Jim Morrill, Jr. drove in the gelding’s first move for Harmon and the trainer was happy.
“Jimmy said he was really manageable, just went around there and he trotted 1:52.4,” Harmon said. “It just seems like he gets a little hot behind the gate, but that’s up to the drivers. And a lot of those guys already know the horse.”
Taco Tuesday’s trouble behind the gate will be his biggest hurdle when he starts from post six in the Open Trot this Sunday. Taco Tuesday’s biggest asset is his early speed and a first-tier post position helps that, but getting away cleanly is just as important.
“It looks like he’s best when he goes toward the front, but it’s tough with him. You have to baby him off the gate because you don’t want him to run, try to keep him calm. But that first step off the gate is what we need to get in front of those good horses, too,” Harmon reasoned.
Jordan Stratton will drive Taco Tuesday this Sunday. It will be Stratton’s first time sitting behind the gelding since they paired up to win a 1-mile, $40,000 Preferred Handicap at Yonkers April 15. After the early scratch of Springbank Sam, 10 horses will challenge Taco Tuesday, including 2-1 morning line favourite and last week’s Open Handicap Trot winner Homicide Hunter.
“There’s horses that are nice in there. No one looks like a throw out. We just need a lot of luck in the mile-and-a-quarter race, that’s all.”
Post time at Yonkers Sunday is 11:30 a.m.
(with files from SOA of NY)