Stakes Get Higher After Orman Wins His First

The Rock Hard Ten crew -- owners Ernie Moody, Mercedes Vila and Madeleine Paulson, and trainer Jason Orman -- wasn’t able to run in the Kentucky Derby or win the Preakness, but Saturday another of their 3-year-olds, Laura’s Lucky Boy, won the $100,000 Will Rogers Stakes at Hollywood Park.

For the 35-year-old Orman, the Will Rogers was his first stakes win.

“Too bad it didn’t come a week ago [in the Preakness], but I’ll still take it,” said Orman, who was flying to New York Saturday night to train Rock Hard Ten for the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

Orman’s only other stakes starts came from Rock Hard Ten, who ran second -- then was disqualified to third -- in the Santa Anita Derby, missed the Kentucky Derby because of an earnings requirement and finished second, 11 1/2 lengths behind Smarty Jones, in the Preakness.

Pat Valenzuela, who rode Laura’s Lucky Boy to his third consecutive win, has the mount on Rock Hard Ten in the Belmont, Orman said, but last week the California Horse Racing Board announced a month-long suspension for Valenzuela that starts June 1. Valenzuela would need to successfully lobby the racing board for a later start to his suspension, or seek a ruling in the courts, to ride in the Belmont.

Asked who might ride Rock Hard Ten in place of Valenzuela, Orman said: “Any of 10 guys.”

The Preakness was only the fourth start for Rock Hard Ten, who won his first two races.

“The extra distance of a mile and a half in the Belmont should help my horse,” Orman said.

Because of Smarty Jones, Philadelphia Park outdrew Belmont Park by about 1,000 people Saturday. The 7,500 at Belmont came for a nine-race card, including the Peter Pan Stakes. The estimated 8,500 in suburban Philadelphia were there early, long before the track’s first race, for a 1 1/2-mile gallop by Smarty Jones, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and could become racing’s 12th Triple Crown champion with a victory in the Belmont.

Trainer John Servis, who’s preparing Smarty Jones at his home track for the Belmont, may not send the colt by van the 100 miles to Belmont Park until a day or two before the race.

A few candidates for the Belmont disqualified themselves with poor efforts in the Peter Pan, while Purge may have run himself into the race with a 6 3/4-length win. Falling by the wayside were Swingforthefences, who was a well-beaten second; Master David, who ran third; and Friends Lake and Sinister G, who were seventh and eighth, respectively.

Ridden on Saturday by John Velazquez, Purge hadn’t run since his fifth-place finish to Smarty Jones in the Arkansas Derby on April 10.

“We didn’t really plan on running in the Belmont, so we’ll play it by ear,” Pletcher said. “I would say that anything is a possibility. I thought we were taking an easier route going to Arkansas. Unfortunately, we ran into the best 3-year-old in the country, and probably the best 3-year-old we’ve seen in a long time.”

Besides Smarty Jones, Rock Hard Ten and possibly Purge, the Belmont field is expected to include Eddington, Royal Assault, Tapit and Birdstone, who worked five furlongs Saturday at Saratoga in 1:02 3/5. The Cliff’s Edge, scratched from the Preakness because of a bruised foot, has an outside chance to run.

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One of the winners in Hollywood Park’s record pick-six payoff Wednesday was a 67-year-old Detroit man who bet a $360 ticket at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The bettor and Brad Anderson, from Arlington, Ohio, collected $1,312,808.60 apiece, before taxes, after picking six consecutive winners.

The Detroit winner, who declined to give his name in an interview with the Palm Beach Post, said that he had won $9,500 earlier in the day when one of his horses was moved up after a disqualification in a race at Belmont Park. The bettor said he was alive with four horses going into the final race at Hollywood. Chickster, who went off at the longest odds of the four, paid $20 to win.