Bound for Nowhere Wins Shakertown for Second Time
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Bound for Nowhere (outside) catches Imprimis to win the Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland
Bound for Nowhere is more than a Shakertown Stakes (G2T) fixture. The four-time competitor in the 5 1/2-furlong race is now also a two-time winner.
The 7-year-old horse by The Factor , who first won the Shakertown in 2018, stormed down the center of the Keeneland course to catch Imprimis by a nose in a thrilling renewal of the $200,000 turf dash April 3. The stakes victory was one of four for the team of trainer Wesley Ward and jockey Joel Rosario in the first two days of the Keeneland spring meet. Ward also owns Bound for Nowhere.
Rosario was patient in Saturday's Shakertown, settling him in the rear half of the pack, four to five lengths off the pace, as 92-1 longshot Johnny Unleashed set fractions of :21.42 and :44.60 under pressure from The Critical Way . Still sixth with a furlong to go, he accelerated late, tagging Imprimis at the wire.
The Critical Way held third, while Johnny Unleashed weakened to fourth. 30-1 American Beauty was fifth in the field of 12.
The winner was timed on good turf in 1:02.19. He paid $6.60 to as the favorite.
"I was way outside from the draw. It looked like a little bit of speed, but he can come from off the pace too," the winning jockey said.
Ward praised Rosario, while also acknowledging Julio Garcia, the former rider who piloted Bound for Nowhere to the horse's first Shakertown triumph. Garcia is Bound for Nowhere's regular morning exercise rider.
"He's a really hard horse to train," Ward added. "He's got a lot of issues that he's overcome. Just minor deals, but major setbacks when you're trying to keep him at this level."
Bred in Kentucky by Wayne Lyster, Gray Lyster, and Bryan Lyster, Bound for Nowhere is one of seven winners out of the Alydeed mare Fancy Deed, who also produced the stakes-placed Brinkley. Bound for Nowhere was a $310,000 purchase by Cromwell Bloodstock from Ashview Farm's consignment to the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Imprimis, who broke through the starting gate before the start and was reloaded, ran valiantly to narrowly miss winning his second Shakertown, but his trainer, Joe Orseno, was upset after the race. He noted that his trainee bled through his nostrils. The last-place finisher in Saturday's Commonwealth Stakes (G3), Hidden Scroll , also bled.
Kentucky is one of a number of jurisdictions this year that is prohibiting the use of the diuretic Lasix in graded stakes races, irrespective of the age of the horses, as the industry moves toward the elimination of raceday medication. Last year many of these same jurisdictions began prohibiting Lasix in races for 2-year-olds in a start to the phase-out of the medication.
Kentucky has also expanded the prohibition on Lasix to include all of its stakes.
The medication is used in racehorses to control respiratory bleeding. Some of its critics believe it can enhance performance and is overused.
"They're taking the best horses in the country and they're penalizing them," Orseno said. "My horse bled today—physically coming out of his nose. How is that good for the public's perception of Lasix? That's what I want to know. It's not fair to take a horse like this and make 'em bleed. It's just not fair."