Bob Marco scores in an allowance Jan. 28 at Laurel Park (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)
Laurel Park News & Notes
LAUREL, Md.— Helen Marshall’s Bob Marco, a front-running winner of four straight races, looks to make it five in a row as he steps up to stakes company for the first time against eight rivals in the $100,000 John B. Campbell at Laurel Park.
The 1 1 8-mile Campbell for 4-year-olds and up is the first of four stakes worth $600,000 in purses on a 10-race Winter Carnival program co-headlined by the $200,000 General George (G3) and $200,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3), the latter for females, each sprinting seven furlongs.
Claimed for $20,000 out of a runner-up finish last June at Laurel, Bob Marco ran fourth in his debut for trainer Kieron Magee. The 5-year-old Arrogate gelding was second in back-to-back starts before embarking on his win streak, which has come by 25 ¾ combined lengths.
A $250,000 yearling purchase claimed out of his second start from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Bob Marco has raced exclusively on dirt for Magee after making 11 of 12 starts on grass or synthetic surfaces prior to the claim.
“I thought he needed the dirt and that’s why we took him, for dirt. He just turned around,” Magee said. “The first couple races weren’t his best and he just kept getting better and better. He started getting all this speed, and now that’s him. He’ll go hell for leather as long as he can.”
Bob Marco opened up by as many as 18 lengths after six furlongs in a starter optional win Dec. 16 and took a 12-length lead into the stretch of his season debut Jan. 28, both going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel. All four wins during his streak have come under five-pound apprentice Martina Rojas.
“Martina loves him. She comes by the barn just to visit him,” Magee said. “Helen Marshall is so funny. When he won the last race, she said to [track photographer] Jim [McCue] in the winner’s circle, ‘Do me a favor. Put my name down as Helen Marco. Bob is my husband.’”
In 2019, Magee claimed Artful Splatter after six unsuccessful grass races, and she promptly reeled off five consecutive wins including the 2020 Geisha. That fall she would win the George Rosenberger Memorial at Delaware Park, also on dirt.
“We did the same thing with Artful Splatter,” Magee said. “She was running on the grass when we got her. We took her off the grass and she just kept on winning.”
Magee also nominated Bob Marco to the General George but wanted to keep him around two turns. He has raced shorter than one mile just twice in 22 starts, the most recent a six-furlong starter optional claimer Nov. 4 at Laurel that he won by 4 ¼ lengths.
“There are some nice horses in the General George, and he would have gotten a lot of pressure. I just thought the better shot we had was going longer,” Magee said. “As good as he’s doing, now is the time to take a chance. He’s a cool horse. He trains in the morning like he runs in the afternoon.”
Bob Marco, second choice on the morning line at 5-2, drew outermost Post 9 in the Campbell, which drew a field that includes Grade 3 winner Double Crown, Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Forewarned, and stakes winners Ain’t Da Beer Cold, 2-1 program favorite Be Better, Yodel E. A. Who and Vance Scholars. Martini Martin and It’s Sizzling Time are also entered.
“It probably isn’t the best spot,” Magee said. “Since he likes to go to the lead we’re going to have get over, which won’t be a problem for him, but it would have been a shorter trip toward the inside. He’s quick enough and we have plenty of time to get over.”
