Wolfson, Rose charges prepare for upcoming starts

Last updated: 12/20/09 8:21 PM

Jessica is Back will try for
a graded win in the Stage Door Betty
(Jim Lisa Photos)

Trainer Marty Wolfson had a half-dozen stakes runners from his stable on the track Sunday
morning at Calder Race Course for workouts, including JESSICA IS BACK (Put It
Back) and MOTOVATO (Proud Citizen)
tuning up for graded
stakes at the venue next Saturday.

Stakes victress Jessica is Back breezed an easy half-mile in :50 4/5 over the
fast dirt as the five-year-old gears up for
the $100,000 Stage Door Betty H. (G3). The chestnut mare will have a shot at
turning the tables on Sweet Repent (Repent) in the 1 1/16-mile test after
falling short to that rival in the November 14 Elmer Heubeck Distaff H. on
Florida Million day. Jessica is Back was the odds-on favorite in the Elmer Heubeck
Distaff but had to settle for second as Sweet Repent rallied past her in
the stretch to win.

Jessica is
Back returned on December 6 with a dominating 5 3/4-length allowance score.

Dual stakes winner Motovato was timed in :50 for four furlongs as a tune-up for the $100,000 Kenny Noe Jr.
H. (G3) going seven furlongs. The four-year-old bay will be making his first start since finishing second as the
favorite in the October 17 Spend a
Buck H. (G3) on Festival of the Sun day.

Grade 2 runner-up YOU AND I FOREVER (A.P. Indy), whom Wolfson also had nominated for the Kenny Noe
Jr., logged a sharp half-mile in :48 1/5, but will bypass Saturday’s race.

“We’ll wait for the ($100,000) Hal’s Hope
(G3) with him,” said Wolfson,
referring to the one-mile event at Gulfstream Park on opening day, January 3.

Wolfson’s other stakes runners on the Sunday morning worktab were multiple
Grade 3 winner IT’S A BIRD (Birdonthewire), who clocked four furlongs in :51 3/5;
dual stakes victor PICKAPOCKET (Mecke), who posted four panels in :48 1/5; and
juvenile THANK U PHILIPPE (Proud Accolade), who traveled a half-mile in :51. All
three finished second in stakes events in their last
starts.

It’s a Bird finished second as the odds-on favorite in the Carl G. Rose
Classic on Florida
Million day and Pickapocket was runner-up to heavy favorite Soldier’s Dancer
(Lost Soldier) in
the Bonnie
Heath Turf Cup one race earlier on the program. Thank U Philippe shipped to New
York for his last start,
finishing second to highly-regarded Buddy’s Saint (Saint Liam) in the November 7 Nashua
S. (G2) at
Aqueduct.

“I’m looking for an allowance race for (Thank U Philippe), early in the
Gulfstream meet and then
maybe the (January 23) Holy Bull S. (G3),” Wolfson said. “If things go well for It’s a Bird, he’ll probably go
to the (February 6) Donn (G1) and
I’ll just have to find the right spot for Pickapocket.”

Joanie’s Catch is set to go
in the Sandpiper
(Jim Lisa Photos)

Wolfson wasn’t the only trainer sending out runners to work in advance of
next weekend’s stakes action. Conditioner Barry Rose had a trio of his family’s homebred stakes runners on the
track Sunday morning
posting workouts.

PRINCE JOSHUA (First Tour) breezed three furlongs in :36 3/5 as he readies
for his try in the Kenny Noe Jr. The three-year-old gelding captured the Select
S. at Monmouth Park and the Naked Greed S. at Calder this season, and was most
recently seen just missing by a neck in the Jack Dudley Sprint H.

Multiple stakes-placed MAKE ME ZACH (First Tour), also gearing up for the
Kenny Noe Jr., covered four furlongs in :50 3/5. The dark bay four-year-old is
still looking for that first elusive black-type score following a third in the
Icecapade S. in September. The gelding ran eighth and last in last year’s
edition of the Kenny Noe Jr.

Two-year-old filly JOANIE’S CATCH (First Tour), winner of the Brave Raj S.,
is on track for the $75,000 Sandpiper S. at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday after
drilling a half-mile in a bullet :47 4/5. The chestnut miss traveled to Delta
Downs for the December 4 Delta Princess S. (G3) in her last start, running
third, and was runner-up in both the Joe O’Farrell Juvenile Fillies and My
Dear Girl division of the
Florida Stallion S. prior to that one.