LRL: Tartabull looks for next step in Md. Juvenile * The Racing Biz

“There are some old wives’ tales in racing that you can believe, and some that you can’t,” trainer Chad Summers said the day after Tartabull scored his first win at Laurel Park on Oct. 25. “The first foal is smaller, for whatever reason, that’s quite true. I don’t know why that’s the case, but the first foal out of the mare, regardless of her size, is always a little on the small side.”

Tartabull may be small, but he’s packed with pedigree and potential heading into Saturday’s $125,000 Juvenile Stakes at Laurel Park.

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The Juvenile, like the co-featured $125,000 Juvenile Filly Stakes, is contested at seven furlongs and is limited to Maryland-bred or sired and Virginia-bred or sired two-year-olds.

The first post time is 12:00 PM ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” bets, each offering a low 12% takeout percentage.

By super sire Tapit, Tartabull is the first foal out of the wildly popular Anna’s Bandit, a West Virginia-bred who won 17 of 39 starts and earned $806,655 for breeder and trainer Jerry Robb. Jockey Xavier Perez teamed with Anna’s Bandit for 15 of those wins.

“I’m over the moon knowing that in Maryland I get to ride a little horse that means so much to me,” said an emotional Perez after taking Tartabull to a rally victory. “I’m grateful for that [Summers] I have sent him to us, and let me ride him and enjoy him.

Summers planned to debut Tartabull at Laurel on June 28, but a quarantine situation in New York forced him to withdraw. A race at Belmont was incomplete and Tartabull finally started at Saratoga on July 5 and finished third behind the impressive Ewing.

“He lost his mind a little bit in the paddock with the pony and everything else, and Ewing came back and flattered the form and won the Saratoga Special,” Summers noted.

With racing in Maryland closed for the summer and Summers reluctant to race Tartabull in a stakes at Colonial, the trainer chose another start at Saratoga and Tartabull finished fifth.

“We had him running seven-eighths,” Summers said of the second attempt. “I felt like he was trying. They split the race and we obviously ended up in the tougher division.”

The winner of that heat, Talkin, went on to finish second in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in New York. Third-place finisher Further Ado also captured his next two starts, including Churchill’s Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club.

The third time was the charm for Tartabull. Owned by Al Gold’s Gold Square LLC, Tartabull avoided a loose horse at the start, found an inside position on the backstretch, professionally changed course back to the rail under Perez and rode home to win that state-sired event.

“The incident outside the gate, and then he was running in heels,” Summers noted. “He went through a hole and that’s not easy for two-year-olds. I think the experience helped him. He was more impressive than the final number. All in all it was a pretty good effort.”

That race convinced Summers to keep Tartabull at Laurel Park, where he lies in Robb’s barn and is pampered by Robb’s assistant, Jessica Lindsey.

“Tartabull is actually in Anna’s stall,” said Lindsey, who was an integral part of Anna’s Bandit’s success. “He’s a guy. He’s very handsome. Anna was very.” [where] we worked for her. She was the queen.”

“You could see in the winners circle how much they love Anna’s Bandit,” Summers said of Lindsey and Perez. “It was great. For me it was an easy decision to leave the horse with Laurel for the Juvenile. I think he will appreciate the seven-eighths. It’s the next logical step.”

Summers is satisfied with Tartabull’s preparation.

“He rode very well with that horse, Power Grid, who came back last week and won a fee race,” Summers said of the Robb-trained two-year-old who currently points to Aqueduct’s Jerome Stakes.

Mount Peru Farm’s Code of Silence was installed by Ed DeRosa as the 7-2 morning line favorite Horse racing nation.

The Blofeld gelding, a half-brother to stakes winner Tattooed, finished a tough sixth in the Fasig-Tipton Maryland Million Nursery on Oct. 11 before rebounding with a win against State Girls the following month.

“He’s like a diesel engine,” said trainer Tim Keefe before the Maryland Million. “It takes some time to get going. He’s a big boy. He looks a lot like Tattooed.”

Angel Cruz retains support for Code of Silence.