LAUREL, Md.—Runnymoore Racing’s 5-year-old mare Cinnabunny, who came within a length of Grade 3 success before securing her first stakes triumph last year, will face six rivals including stakes-winning stablemates Street Lute and Princess Kokachin in Saturday’s $100,000 Primonetta at Laurel Park.
Cinnabunny was bumped twice late and still got within three-quarters of a length of 18-time winner Lady’s Island in the six-furlong Sugar Swirl (G3) in December 2020 at Gulfstream Park. She became a stakes winner in the Sept. 26 Flashy Lady at Remington Park before being entered in Keeneland’s November breeding stock sale.
Runnymoore’s Greg and Caroline Bentley spent $240,000 on the chestnut daughter of Golden Lady and sent her to Cal Lynch at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.
“[Racing manager] Joe Cassidy asked me if I’d be interested in training her and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ She’s a stakes winner, graded-stakes placed, Pennyslvania-bred and Maryland-sired, so there’s a lot of options for her,” Lynch. “She’s a filly that came out of her last race really well and we’re excited about her for the year. We’re very excited about her.”
More than 5 ½ months passed before Cinnabunny ran for her new connections, finishing fourth by 5 ¼ lengths behind multiple stakes winner Hey Mamaluke in the 6 ½-furlong Penn’s Landing March 7 at Parx. The runner-up was another multiple stakes winner, Jakarta, who has placed in three graded-stakes including this year’s Inside Information (G2) and Barbara Fritchie (G3), the latter at Laurel.
“We gave her the race there at Parx. She was coming off a layoff and we had her at about 80 percent. We were just at the point in training where we wanted to get a race into her and set her up for the summer,” Lynch said. “We want a summer and fall with her.
“She’s a lovely filly, and since the race she’s had some good works I’d say better than she was going into the race at Parx. Her works since she’s come out of there it’s like the switch has gone back on and she’s been training very well,” he added. “She’s gained weight and she loves her running pens and paddocks here at Fair Hill. It seems to be doing her mind a world of good. She’s content. Her last [few] works have impressed me more than just about anybody else in the barn right now, to tell you the truth.”
Jorge Ruiz is named to ride Cinnabunny from Post 5 in a field of seven. She is also cross-entered against 10 rivals in the seven-furlong Unique Bella April 25 at Parx.
“She’s just a lovely, big filly. We get this year with her and then I think she’ll go to the breeding shed maybe next year, depending on where she’s at. But that’s the plan,” Lynch said. “We’re very excited about her going forward.”
Lucky 7 Stables’ Street Lute is an eight-time stakes winner that has been worse than third just three times in 16 career starts and never in nine tries at Laurel. The 4-year-old filly won the Xtra Heat and Wide Country at Laurel to open 2021, then captured an off-the-turf Stormy Blues in mid-June at Pimlico and the Tax Free District in September at Delaware Park. She hasn’t run since finishing third in back-to-back Laurel stakes, the Maryland Million Distaff to champion Hello Beautiful and Nov. 27 Safely Kept.
Eric Rizer’s Maryland homebred Princess Kokachin takes a two-race win streak into the Primonetta, taking a conditioned six-furlong optional claiming allowance and open 5 ½-furlong allowance by 7 ¼ combined lengths. The front-running Graydar filly won the Politely last November and has placed in two other stakes at Laurel, where she is 7-for-9 lifetime.
Bush Racing Stable, Liberty House Racing, BlackRidge Stables and George Saufley’s Kaylasaurus exits the same March 13 allowance as Princess Kokachin, where she ran second by three-quarters of a length. She beat Princess Kokachin in two prior meetings, winning the Willa On the Move in December and finishing second in the Jan. 29 What a Summer, less than a length in front of Princess Kokachin. Kaylasaurus stretched out to seven furlongs for the Fritchie (G3), where she was fourth by less than two lengths.
Also entered are 2021 Cheryl S. White Memorial winner Prodigy Doll, fifth in the Fritchie; Hope Has a Name, a winner of two of three starts this year to improve to 4-for-8 lifetime at Laurel; and Paisley Singing, third in the 2021 Politely and Willa On the Move.
Maryland Jockey Club Press Release
Photo: Cinnabunny winning the Flashy Lady at Remington. (Dustin Orona)
