In his previous start on dirt, Front Pocket Money won the six-furlong Jersey Shore Stakes (gr. III) July 23 at Monmouth Park and he will return to that surface in the Nov. 21 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes.
After two turf tries where he picked up two more stakes-placings, Kirk and Judy Robison’s Front Pocket Money will be back on dirt—and back at that familiar six-furlong distance—when he starts in the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint on a Monday card at Mahoning Valley Race Course. The sprint is restricted to 3-year-olds.
Trained by Steve Asmussen, the Jersey Shore marked the stakes debut for the Uncle Mo gelding, who led at every call and scored a three-quarter-length victory that day. After that effort, Front Pocket Money registered back to back third-place finishes sprinting on the turf, first in the Allied Forces Stakes Sept. 11 at Belmont Park then in the Woodford Stakes presented by Keeneland Select (gr. IIIT) Oct. 8 at Keeneland.
Bred in Kentucky by Christina Kelly, Front Pocket Money is out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Turbulent Times.
Also among the accomplished horses entered are Florida-bred Awesome Banner, who most recently won restricted stakes in Florida. In what would be his 10th start of the season, the Jacks or Better Farm homebred looks to be in the form that saw the Awesome of Course colt open the year with victories in the Hutcheson (gr. III) and Swale (gr. II) stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Ohio-bred Mo Dont No will put his three-race win streak on the line as the top local representative in the field. Loooch Racing Stable’s Mo Dont No has won three stakes this season for Ohio-breds while racing at Thistledown and Mahoning Valley.
The field also includes Nicaradalic Rocks, who will break from the rail fresh off his victory in the Maryland Million Sprint Handicap.
Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Monday, November 21, 2016, Race 7Entries: Steel Valley Sprint S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Nicaradalic Rocks (MD) Angel Serpa 124 Kieron Magee 8/1 2 2Riding in the Wind (OH) Marco A. Ccamaque 124 Jose L. Lopez 30/1 3 3Awesome Banner (FL) Tyler Gaffalione 124 Mark E. Casse 8/5 4 4Will Munnings (KY) Walter De La Cruz 124 William H. Fires 15/1 5 5Bandwidth (KY) Paco Lopez 119 Jason Servis 3/1 6 6Second Shot (WA) Ricardo Mejias 117 Jose A. Romero 20/1 7 7Front Pocket Money (KY) Florent Geroux 124 Steven M. Asmussen 5/2 8 8Mo Dont No (OH) Luis H. Colon 124 Jeffrey A. Radosevich 10/1
