Bridgmohan wins 3, including on Attribute by 14 1/2 lengths; Landeros finally gets back home to win on Valentine Wish

‘He was very impressive. He is a horse with a future,’ Bridgmohan on Attribute

Shaun Bridgmohan stayed home in Kentucky for the first time this summer because he believed he could win the more races here than Saratoga. And Saturday at Ellis Park, he won three and added a pair of seconds in five mounts.

Bridgmohan now is 7 for 32 at the meet. His last win Saturday was for major client Brad Cox, whose meet-best record improved to 11 wins in 23 starts after the 2-year-old filly Katie’s Reward captured the eighth race at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

The jockey also seems to be back in the fold with 2016 Ellis champion trainer Steve Asmussen, for whom Bridgmohan won the third race on WinStar Farm’s very nice and extraordinarily-bred 3-year-old maiden Attribute and the sixth race on the $10,000 claimer Candir. Bridgmohan’s seconds also were for Asmussen, who is gaining in the standings on Cox with nine winners, albeit out of many more starters (59, of which 13 are seconds).

“You can never go wrong doing that,” he said of riding for the meet’s two winningest trainers.

Attribute, a son of Gainesway Farm’s world-renowned stallion Tapit and out of the  fine millionaire Leah’s Secret, won by by 14 1/2 lengths over Fault Line, covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.42 while cruising home. It was Attribute’s first start wince finishing fourth Nov. 20 at Churchill Downs in his debut.

“That horse ran absolutely great today,” Bridgmohan said. “Very, very nice horse. I rode him first time out, and he obviously hadn’t run for a while. Today he was very impressive. He is a horse with a future. He did everything I asked him to do. I got after him a little bit, he got to idling around. I just said, ‘I’ll keep your mind on your business.’ He was very responsive and ran really, really well.”

Dawn and Ike Thrash’s favored Katie’s Reward had raced once before, finishing second at Churchill Downs June 24 on dirt. She prevailed by two lengths at Ellis over the late-running Ippodamia’s Girl.

“She ran very well first time out, obviously,” Bridgmohan said. “Thanks to Brad for giving me the opportunity to break her maiden and win on her. Won a couple for Steve today, which I also have to thank him. He gave me an opportunity to win a few today.”

Bridgmohan was Asmussen’s go-to rider a decade ago, teaming with multiple Grade 1 winner Kodiak Kowboy, Louisiana Derby winner Pyro and a plethora of other major winners.

Landeros finally makes it back home

Jockey Chris Landeros gave new meaning to the racetrack saying “getting home in time.” Landeros rode at Saratoga Thursday for his father in law, trainer Ian Wilkes, but because of storms in the northeast didn’t make it back to Kentucky and Ellis Park until shortly before the eighth race. He was seventh on Gymnastic in that race but then took the featured ninth race, a $41,000 allowance, for the Vicki Oliver-trained Valentine Wish, a two-length winner over Wolf Gourmet in the 1 1/16-mile grass race.

On Friday, Landeros missed out on a pair of Ellis winners because of weather-induced flight issues.

“Sometimes it goes that way,” he said. “I was fortunate to get out of New York today, though. I rode Thursday, and everything was on time. We got a call at 1 in the morning. My wife woke me up and said, ‘Chris, the flight’s canceled.’ We were on Southwest. We called Southwest and it took us an hour and a half to get to somebody, because it was so busy and overwhelmed with people changing their flights. The earliest we could get out on Southwest was Sunday morning.  So we tried American. We even thought about driving. We wouldn’t have made it. It’s 14 hours.

“Thank God I have some good people behind me. They said, ‘Chris, you aren’t getting out tonight (Friday). There are some bad storms coming. Go out in the morning.’ So that’s what we did. We flew out (Saturday) morning. We got lucky; two seats left on the plane. We flew to Philadelphia, and then we were delayed three hours. It was unfortunate I missed the second and third race. Just bad luck. But, hey, you know what? I got to spend some quality time with my family. We stayed in Saratoga because we couldn’t get out of Albany. So I went to the sales all day Friday with Ian. I got a different perspective of the sport, that’s for sure. I loved every bit of it. Hey, we could have been stuck in a lot worse places.”

Landeros watched from afar as two of his mounts won at Ellis, including the Wilkes-trained Giant Payday, with Jon Court picking up the mount.

“That’s OK. I’m hoping I can get him back,” he said the mount. “Ian knows the situation. We’ll see what happens. Jon rode a heck of a race on him. He’s a horse we’re just starting to figure out and knowing what he likes.”

Is it painful watching his horses win without him? “It’s not,” Landeros said. “I wasn’t hurt. My family is OK. My father in law is a very, very good guy. He’ll take care of you and he knows the situation. I was happy for Jon. He’s having a heck of a summer. I texted him a little while ago and said, ‘I hope when I’m 57, I look just like you.”

Sprinting out: Meet-leading rider Corey Lanerie, Court, Brian Hernandez and Robby Albarado were out of town to ride at Mountaineer Park for its West Virginia Derby card. Court, whose 17 wins are second in the rider standings behind Lanerie’s 22, continued his hot streak by winning the $750,000 West Virginia Derby aboard front-running Colonelsdarktemper, trained by Court’s father in law, Kentucky-based Jinks Fires, and owned by auto-racing great A.J. Foyt. Colonelsdarktemper, the Indiana Derby runner-up, won by a length over Game Over, with Kentucky Derby runner-up and 2016 Ellis Park Juvenile winner Lookin At Lee third under Lanerie. Hernandez was fifth on the Randy Morse-trained Silver Dust and Albarado ninth on the Dale Romans-trained Impressive Edge.

The Cox-trained La Piba, with Lanerie up, won the $75,000 West Virginia Senate President’s Cup on grass by a neck over the Brendan Walsh-trained Corby and Court. Corby was second and La Piba third in the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf Stakes won by Inveniam Viam.

The Asmussen-trained Gun Runner, ridden by Louisville resident Florent Geroux, captured Saratoga’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths over 2015 Travers winner Keen Ice.

Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg’s streak of four straight wins at Ellis ended when Indian Trick was fifth in the fifth race.

Wiener-dog qualifiers: The first half of the field has been set for the Aug. 26 Wiener Dog Derby, with Donna Smiley’s Ellie Smiley shooting up the outside fence to edge Mike Hayes’ Itty Bitty in the first heat. In the second heat, Erin Nixon’s O-Lee ran to his practice session, overcoming decidedly short legs to prevail over Milo Seals. The top two in both heats advance. The final two qualifiers will be this coming Saturday, Aug. 12.