Howling Time Captures Street Sense Stakes on Halloween

Albaugh Family Stables' Howling Time  was loud and clear Oct. 31 at Churchill Downs. The juvenile Not This Time   colt out of the Arch mare Werewolf drew off in the stretch to capture the $200,000 Street Sense Stakes on Halloween, rolling past Red Danger  to win by 3 1/4 lengths. He remains undefeated in two starts.

"It's pretty fitting a horse with a Halloween theme wins today," trainer Dale Romans told Churchill Downs media via phone from Southern California. "I'm just glad it was ours. He won impressively in his debut last month. He's shown us in his training and his pedigree that he should like stretching out in distance. So, winning at six furlongs on debut was very impressive. Then, to come back and do that today showed how talented he is."

Howling Time broke his maiden first time out Sept. 25 over the same track. He was bet down to the 9-5 favorite Sunday as he stretched to 1 1/16 miles Joe Talamo back aboard. Breaking from post 5 in the field of seven 2-year-olds, Howling Time rated in fourth down the backstretch in the clear. Sport Pepper  set the pace and clocked early quarter-mile fractions of :24.65, :49.31, and 1:14.32 as Red Danger raced in second.

Leaving the final turn, Howling Time ranged into contention from the outside and drew even with Red Danger, who took over from the fading Sport Pepper. The two battled gamely together down the stretch but Howling Time relished the extra distance and drew clear for the victory inside the final furlong. The final time on the fast track was 1:44.68.

"Turning for home I could feel I had a lot of horse underneath me," Talamo said. "Around the turn, I smooched at him and he just took off. It's always special to win for these connections. This horse was very impressive today and really ran well around two turns for the first time."

Red Danger was second four lengths ahead of Red Knobs, another Romans trainee who raced in fifth early.

Howling Time, perfect in two starts, increased his earnings to $190,600. A start in the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby point series, over the same course and distance Nov. 27 could be next.

The Albaugh family, with Barry Berkelhammer as agent, purchased Howling Time for $200,000 out Paramount Sales' consignment to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

"This horse was a later purchase at Keeneland last year," said Jason Loutsch, racing manager for his father-in-law, Dennis Albaugh. "We have to give the credit to Dale because he was in the back ring at the time and called us to say we had to have this colt. We knew what he did on his debut was impressive because Dale doesn't necessarily have them cranked all the way to win first out. Then, he worked well out of it and was really impressive today going two turns for the first time."

Springhouse Farm bred Howling Time in Kentucky. The colt is the second foal and second winner for his dam Werewolf, whose third foal is a weanling colt by Air Force Blue  . Werewolf was bred to Bolt d'Oro   for 2022.

Sandstone Romps in Rags to Riches

Susan Moulton's 2-year-old filly Sandstone  dictated the pace on her way to a stakes-record 10 3/4-length win in Sunday's $197,500 Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs. 

The 1 1/16-mile event was the second straight win for the Street Sense   daughter, who last out Oct. 3 won a maiden race going a mile at Churchill for trainer Kenny McPeek. Sandstone was fifth on debut May 28 at the same track sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs.

"Sometimes we don't always have the most stellar summers but come around in the fall," McPeek said. "This is a big filly and really impressive. She's big but she has a lot of speed. She's fast and very well built. That was a really nice effort."

Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode four winners on the card, Sandstone led the compact field of four through early fractions of :24.51, :48.55, and 1:13.11 with 3-5 favorite Yuugiri  no more than a length off her right hip. Yuugiri, a 7 1/4-length debut winner at Churchill Downs Sept. 17, drew even with Sandstone leaving the far turn but the winner responded to that challenge at the three-sixteenths pole and displayed an impressive turn of foot along the rail under mild urging from Hernandez.

Sandstone, the 5-2 second betting choice, turned back Yuugiri at the top of the stretch and drew away inside the final furlong to stop the clock in 1:44.18.

"I saw going into the race that my filly could go to the lead if she needed to," Hernandez said. "When I saw no one making an early move I was confident she'd run a good effort from there."

Yuugiri was second 15 1/4 lengths ahead of third-place Mama Rina , another McPeek trainee who was second in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) last month at Churchill Downs and fourth in the Darley Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland earlier this month.

The Rags to Riches serves as the local prep race to the $400,000 Golden Rod (G2) Nov. 27, part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks point series.

Sandstone improved her earnings to $199,960. McPeek, agent, purchased her for $165,000 out of Gainesway's consignment to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

The filly was bred in Kentucky by Mark and Cindy Stansell. She is the last reported foal out of the Seattle Slew mare Seattle Shimmer, who has also produced the grade 2-placed winners Sway Away and Shaken and has eight winners from 10 starters. 

Video: Rags to Riches S. (BT)

Video: Street Sense S. (BT)