Bred in Kentucky, Mt. Carson is out of the Cox's Ridge mare Mt. Gibson Gold. The chestnut colt is trained by Rodney Jenkins, who is in the midst of having a great meet at Pimlico, winning with nearly 40% of his starters."He likes the mud," noted Jenkins. "He won a 100 K in the mud." Mt. Carson paid $9, $5.20, and $3.80. Gators N Bears returned $6.20 and $420. Only the Best paid $3.80. The 7-3 exacta paid $43.80.Mt. Carson now has a 4-2-1 record from nine starts and earnings of more than $190,000. Last year he won the Dover Stakes at Delaware Park. Earlier this year he ran third in the $50,000 Horatious Stakes at Laurel Park. He came into the Hirsch Jacobs off a non-winners of two allowance victory at Delaware Park.(Chart, Equibase)
David Reynolds' homebred Mt. Carson earned his first stakes win of the year in the $100,000 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes for 3-year-olds at Pimlico Saturday. Jockey Ramon Dominguez put the Lord Carson colt in a stalking position early, then swung out wide in the lane prior to pulling away from the field to defeat Gators N Bears by 2 1/4 lengths. Only the Best broke on top in the eight-horse field, but was quickly overtaken by Love Sam for the early lead. Love Sam set a quick opening quarter of :22.96 in the six-furlong race. Only the Best, with Patrick Valenzuela aboard, was just off the leader and the tandem had a few lengths on the rest of the field.After a half-mile in :45.82, Mt. Carson entered the fray from just off the pace and collared Love Sam. He hit the five-furlong mark in :58.23 on his way to the line. Gators N Bears rallied for second with a ground-saving trip under Ryan Fogelsonger. Only the Best held on for third. The final time was 1:10.85."I let him sit in behind the speed duel," Dominguez said. "He drifted off the inside going around the turn 'cause the going is getting a little heavy down on the rail. I had a clear shot at the top of the stretch and he just exploded and won with something left."Fogelsonger said, "I was stuck on the inside for a while, but the rail opened up and I took a shot at running down the leader. We got by, but unfortunately, so did someone else."Get Smarter, the 2-1 favorite in the field of eight, finished sixth."There's not much to say," said jockey Jose Santos. "He was just not handling this track at all."
