A convincing winner of back-to-back stakes races in Florida, Calder dirt specialist Electrify will be seeking his first graded win Oct. 13 as the 122-pound highweight in the $100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap (gr. III).
A field of 12 has been assembled for the 1 1/16-mile main track event at Calder, part of a stakes-filled "Festival of the Sun" program worth $1.6 million.
Padua Stables' homebred Electrify, a 4-year-old Delaware Township gelding, has been on top of his game in his past two starts. He's been patiently returned to action this season by trainer Edward Plesa Jr. following a break of nearly eight months. In his last start, Electrify stalked the pacesetter and gradually pulled away to win Calder's 1 1/16-mile Am Behaving Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths on Sept. 8. Two months earlier he captured Calder's off-the-turf Mecke Handicap at nine furlongs by a similar margin.
Elvis Trujillo, Calder's leading rider this season, was aboard for both of those victories and has the mount once again for the Spend a Buck.
Electrify kept good company as a 3-year-old, including a fifth-place finish in the 2006 Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth, but he does his best running at Calder, where he has won six of nine starts and accumulated earnings of $289,620. The chestnut's overall record stands at 7-3-1 in 17 starts while banking $425,430.
Only one other starter in the Spend a Buck field comes into the race off a win. That would be Edmund Gann's Olympic, who has defeated allowance foes in back-to-back starts at Calder for trainer Marty Wolfson. The 5-year-old Danzig horse stretches out from seven furlongs for his first stakes try.
Several others -- among them the 6-year-old Bob's Proud Moment and the 7-year-olds Supervisor and Whos Crying Now -- have been knocking on the door in overnight stakes at Calder this season.
The 4-year-old Rehoboth, a six-time winner at Calder, is winless in nine starts this year for trainer Frank Gomez.
$100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap (gr. III, Race 6, 3:08 p.m.), 3 & Up, 1 1/16 Miles
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
1. Summer Book (FL), 117, Cornelio H. Velasquez
2. Olympic (KY), 115, Eddie Castro
3. Bob's Proud Moment (FL), 115, Manuel Aguilar
4. Pop Goes the Tiger (FL), 115, Juan C. Leyva
5. Whos Crying Now (FL), 116, Channing Hill
6. Fortunate Trail (FL), 113, Jose Lezcano
7. Zoobstick (FL), 115, Eduardo O. Nunez
8. Yes He's the Man (FL), 113, Julio A. Garcia
9. How's Your Halo (FL), 115, Manoel R. Cruz
10. Electrify (FL), 122, Elvis Trujillo
11. Rehoboth (FL), 115, Eibar Coa
12. Supervisor (FL), 115, Roberto Alvarado, Jr.
Electrify seeks his first graded win in the Spend a Buck.
