Shake Em Loose and Joe Meet Again in James W. Murphy

After meeting twice on dirt, round three of the Joe  vs. Shake Em Loose  series will take place May 21 in the $100,000 James W. Murphy Stakes on the Preakness (G1) undercard at Pimlico Race Course.

J R Sanchez Racing Stable's Shake Em Loose, owned and trained by Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, won the first meeting with Joe, edging the Maryland-bred even-money favorite by 1 3/4 lengths in the Private Terms Stakes March 19 at Laurel Park. Joe took the rematch April 16 in the Federico Tesio Stakes in front of stablemate Mr Jefferson  who took second by a head, with Shake Em Loose third.

The Tesio is a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Preakness, but Joe's owner/breeder Stuart Grant, who races as The Elkstone Group, opted not to supplement into Maryland's signature race. Sanchez-Salomon did consider the Preakness, but after working his gelding Sunday said he would enter the Murphy.

Sanchez-Salomon claimed Shake Em Loose for $16,000 and he has since won three of five starts. The son of Shakin It Up   sold for $1,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale in 2020. He drew post 8 and will be ridden by Jevian Toledo.

"He's a horse that's still learning a lot," Sanchez-Salomon said. "He's doing better and better, day by day, training-wise and everything. He's mentally still growing up a lot. Knock on wood, nothing happens to him. He's very sound, very clean everywhere. You never know from one day to the next but he is good now.

"I'm pretty excited to run him on the turf," Sanchez-Salomon said. "He's got a lot of pedigree for it. I think the competition will be softer, too."

Grant had a degree of difficulty in mind when choosing a path for Joe, who is trained by Michael Trombetta. Joe debuted with a loss on turf Oct. 24 then reeled off three straight solid wins, running second in the Private Terms and winning the Tesio. He was named Maryland's champion 2-year-old male of 2021.

"We're very happy with Joe," Grant said. "He's training really well. He's developing as a horse. I guess our view is, he's going to be a good, fun horse. He'll be really competitive on overnight stakes, he should be competitive at a grade 3 level. Frankly, right now. I just don't think he's a grade 1 horse. And I don't want to, just for my own ego, throw him in a place where he doesn't belong."

He will be ridden from post 10 by Victor Carrasco and is rated the 3-1 second choice on the morning line.

Sanchez-Salomon said he is looking forward to the next round of the series with his in-state rival.

"That will be fun, to compete against Joe again," he said. "Hopefully, we'll have a better trip this time (than the Tesio), and we'll see."

Also entered in the Murphy are Donegal Racing's Ready to Purrform  who has won two of his three starts; Mark Ashby and William Gotwals' Epic Luck ; Bird Mobberley's Local Motive ; Tag Stables' Uncaptured Spirit ; Hickory Made Stables' World of Fools ; Jeremy Brooks' homebred Wow Whata Summer ; two-time turf winner Determined Kingdom ; Charles Blanford's Crabs N Beer ; and the Danny Gargan-trained Riot House , who enters the Murphy off a pair of turf wins at Gulfstream Park.

Multiple Stakes Winner Carotari Tops $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes

With four stakes wins and 17 in-the-money finishes in 24 starts, William Branch's Carotari  is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the 17th running of the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs at Pimlico Race Course.

Carotari, trained by Brian Lynch and to be ridden by Luis Saez, will be making his 2022 debut in the Jim McKay. He completed last year's campaign with an allowance victory at Keeneland going 5 1/2 furlongs and scored under Saez in the five-furlong Janus Stakes on the New Year's Eve card at Gulfstream Park. The 6-year-old son of Artie Schiller  drew post 2 in the 10-horse field.

Living The Dream Stables' 6-year-old Seven Scents , trained by Brad Cox, will be making his 40th career start in the Jim McKay. A five-time winner at the distance, he drew post 3 and is the 4-1 second choice on the morning line.

"He's a horse we claimed and won at Keeneland," Cox said. "Five-eighths, I think that will suit him well."

The McKay also drew Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Bank ; Gordon Keyes' homebred Grateful Bred ; Raul DelValle's 8-year-old Arthur's Hope ; Paradise Farms' Mr. Hustle ; Crown's Way Racing and NBS Stable's Smokin' Jay ; The Wolfman , making his turf debut; Hollis , the beaten favorite in the March 19 Whitmore Stakes (G3); and C.L. Hess Jr.'s Concrete Glory .

Cilla Returns in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes 

Kicking off her fourth start of the 2022 season is P. Dale Ladner's Louisiana-bred Cilla , who will make a bid for the $100,000 Skipat Stakes May 21.

Trained by Brett Brinkman, the 4-year-old daughter of California Chrome   is a graded stakes winner at Saratoga Race Course in the 2021 Prioress Stakes (G2). She won her first two starts of the 2022 season, both at Delta Downs, in the Orleans Stakes and the LA Bred Premier Matron Stakes, however her last time out was a sixth-place finish in the April 9 Madison Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.

So far she has crossed the wire first in seven of 15 starts and has earnings of $481,000.

Looking to pull ahead of Cillia in the Skipat is Lucky 7 Stables' Street Lute , who has yet to capture her first graded stakes. Having placed first in exactly half of her 14 starts, the 4-year-old daughter of Street Magician   has won numerous non-graded stakes including the Stormy Blues Stakes, Smart Halo Stakes, and the Tax Free Shopping Distaff Stakes.

Trained by John Robb, the Maryland-bred filly will look to add to her earnings of $576,260 on Saturday.

Other entries include Tee N Jay Stable's Oxana ; Runnymoore Racing's Cinnabunny , Team Hanley and Parkland Thoroughbreds' Joy's Rocket , Bush Racing Stable, Liberty House Racing, BlackRidge Stables, and George Saufley's Kaylasaurus , The Hakim's Stable's Glory Dia , Stud Los Leones' Cheetara , Three Diamonds Farm's Time Limit , and C J I Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm's Fille d'Esprit .

Entries: James W. Murphy S.

Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 10

• STK
• 1m
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo
• 4:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Determined Kingdom (VA)	UNKNOWN	118	Phil Schoenthal	15/1
2	2Local Motive (MD)	J. D. Acosta	122	John E. Salzman, Jr.	8/1
3	3Uncaptured Spirit (FL)	Angel Suarez	118	Mark Shuman	12/1
4	4Wow Whata Summer (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	James L. Lawrence, II	15/1
5	5Ready to Purrform (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	5/2
6	6Epic Luck (PA)	Aubrie Green	122	Lynn A. Ashby	30/1
7	7Riot House (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Danny Gargan	4/1
8	8Shake Em Loose (KY)	Jevian Toledo	122	Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon	8/1
9	9Crabs N Beer (MD)	Jaime Rodriguez	118	Jamie Ness	12/1
10	10Joe (MD)	Victor R. Carrasco	122	Michael J. Trombetta	3/1
11	11World of Fools (KY)	Tais Lyapustina	118	Lawrence M. Smith	50/1

Entries: Jim McKay Turf Sprint S.

Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 12

• STK
• 5f
• Turf
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:51 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Bank (KY)	Joel Rosario	120	Steven M. Asmussen	12/1
2	2Carotari (KY)	Luis Saez	120	Brian A. Lynch	9/5
3	3Seven Scents (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	4/1
4	4Arthur's Hope (NY)	Antonio Lopez	120	Marco P. Salazar	20/1
5	5Mr. Hustle (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Michael J. Maker	10/1
6	6Smokin' Jay (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Kelsey Danner	6/1
7	7Grateful Bred (MD)	Jevian Toledo	120	Madison F. Meyers	6/1
8	8The Wolfman (MD)	Victor R. Carrasco	120	Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon	30/1
9	9Hollis (KY)	Reylu Gutierrez	124	John Alexander Ortiz	6/1
10	10Concrete Glory (PA)	Angel Cruz	114	Brian M. Brooks	30/1

Entries: Skipat S.

Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, Race 7

• STK
• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 2:08 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Street Lute (MD)	Jevian Toledo	120	John J. Robb	10/1
2	2Oxana (PA)	Paco Lopez	120	Timothy A. Hills	8/1
3	3Cinnabunny (PA)	Jorge Ruiz	122	Cathal A. Lynch	15/1
4	4Joy's Rocket (FL)	Joel Rosario	120	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
5	5Kaylasaurus (PA)	Horacio Karamanos	122	Timothy C. Kreiser	4/1
6	6Cilla (LA)	Tyler Gaffalione	124	Brett A. Brinkman	7/2
7	7Glory Dia (KY)	Angel Castillo	120	Mario A. Dominguez	20/1
8	8Cheetara (CHI)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Ignacio Correas, IV	10/1
9	9Time Limit (NY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Michael J. Maker	6/1
10	10Fille d'Esprit (MD)	Xavier Perez	120	John J. Robb	4/1