Twenty Six Black in the Harvey Pack, NYRA Photo
Keith McCalmont
Roger Cimbora, Jr.’s ultra-consistent New York homebred Twenty Six Black will look to make the grade in Sunday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Troy, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Horacio De Paz, the 6-year-old War Dancer gelding finished a closing second to Bring Theband Home in last year’s Troy and will look to go one better on a course he thrives over with a 9-3-3-1 ledger, including two stakes wins.
Twenty Six Black [post 2, Manny Franco] enters from a rallying score under returning rider Manny Franco in the Listed Harvey Pack over course and distance on July 5. There, he was steadied off heels in the early running before settling in sixth-of-8 and seven lengths off-the-pace as Bring Theband Home zipped through an opening quarter-mile in 20.90 seconds over the firm footing. Twenty Six Black made an inside run through the turn and tipped out to the four-path for the stretch run, closing stoutly to take command inside the three-sixteenths and powering away to a 2 3/4-length score.
The winning effort earned Twenty Six Black a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure, his third triple-digit effort to go along with 100 Beyers earned in last year’s Troy and a follow-up score in the local restricted Disco Partner last August.
“He ran well last year in the Troy and hopefully will again this year,” De Paz said. “He is deserving of it. It is not going to be a cake walk. There are some solid horses in there that he has to run against, but he couldn’t be going into it any better.”
Twenty Six Black has worked back three times over the Spa main track, including a bullet half-mile in 47 flat August 2, fastest of 149 efforts at the distance.
“Showed life in his breeze last week. It was typical for him a week out and he looked good,” De Paz said. “He went by himself. I don’t think I have someone that will work fast enough with him that’ll survive the work. He’s been working by himself for a while now. He’s just in good form mentally.”
De Paz said he will let Franco – aboard for five of the gelding’s eight wins – decide on what he hopes will be a winning trip.
“I don’t think he’s bothered being inside, but he really accelerates when he’s on the outside and gets going,” De Paz said. “Manny knows him well. He can judge how fast the pace is and he’ll come with a nice run on the outside. I’ll leave it all in Manny’s hands.”
Twenty Six Black, out of the First Dude mare Brazo de Oro, is a full-brother to stakes-placed A Little At First and a half-brother to stakes-placed Can’t Fool Me, the former currently in training with De Paz for Cimbora, Jr. at Saratoga.
Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb’s John the Beer Man [post 6, Kendrick Carmouche] has developed into an elite turf sprinter this year for trainer Rob Atras.
The 5-year-old More Than Ready gelding made a trio of starts in 2024 for Chad Brown, adding blinkers to graduate at third asking in a 1 1/16-mile turf route that May. He was off for more than a year and returned to action as a gelding for Atras in March at Fair Grounds. Initially pointed to a route, Atras called an audible and entered the chestnut in a sprint when their first choice comeback race was rained off the turf.
The decision proved fruitful as John the Beer Man earned a 100 Beyer for a pacesetting victory over next-out allowance winner Murdock ahead of a gate-to-wire 2 1/4-length optional-claiming win over yielding footing on April 25 at Aqueduct Racetrack versus a solid field that included graded stakes-winner Mentee.
He enters from a three-quarter length third in his stakes debut in the Grade 1 Jaipur on June 6 over course and distance. There, he exited post 8-of-10 under returning rider Kendrick Carmouche and was hustled to the front to take command from a sharp-starting Ag Bullet through an opening quarter-mile in 21.19 seconds over the firm turf. John the Beer Man held a one-length advantage through a half-mile in 43.13 as Ag Bullet was asked for her best run and Reef Runner tipped off the rail to launch his bid. John the Beer Man dug in gamely but took an awkward step a furlong from home as Ag Bullet ranged up to his outside as Reef Runner swooped past in the final jumps to win by a half-length over defending race-winner Ag Bullet, who was a neck better than John the Beer Man with another three-quarter lengths back to the wide-rallying Twenty Six Black.
Atras said he was pleased with the strong effort.
“It was a big step up in class, but we were cautiously optimistic and quietly confident that he would run a big race, and he really did,” Atras said. “It was tough to get beat like that, but considering we were going from two starts off a layoff to a Grade 1 it was a pretty remarkable effort. We were really proud of him. That was a solid Grade 1 and the fact that he stepped up like was really exciting.”
However, the Grade 1-winning conditioner noted the slow start and odd step in the stretch may have hampered John the Beer Man.
“He didn’t quite break as sharp as I was hoping and Kendrick had to really get after him,” Atras said. “The pace was fast, and we ended up getting to the front, but we had to work for it. Down the lane, he took a funny step and Kendrick said that all of a sudden the horse saw something and kind of spooked. It looked like he was going to fade and then he stayed on.
“It was a little bit strange, but he is a quirky horse in the mornings, so I’m not surprised that he did that but at the same time he’d never done that in a race before,” Atras added. “Hopefully, whatever he saw doesn’t bother him this time.”
Atras bypassed the Harvey Pack with John the Beer Man, who has worked back three times at Belmont Park, including a half-mile in 50.80 August 4 over the main track.
“He came out of it good,” Atras said. “We ran him in that ‘2X’ and came back in a Grade 1, so we thought we’d give him a little space in-between. Hopefully it was the right move. That last race [the Harvey Pack] was a blistering pace, so that would have been tough to go up against.
“Jesse [Sauter] is down at Belmont and he’s primarily been the guy getting on him every day,” Atras added. “The horse trained at Belmont the whole time and he was happy with the whole environment, so we didn’t want to change anything. We just want to keep everything the same with him when he’s moving in the right direction.”
John the Beer Man is named for Caruso’s lifelong friend John Soler, who serves as the chairman of the board for Micro Matic, a company that provides beverage dispensing equipment and solutions.
The $160,000 purchase from the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale is out of the winning Giant’s Causeway mare Trophy Wife. His second dam is Pleasant Home, winner of the 2005 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Belmont Park.
JAL Racing’s Doncho [post 3, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] holds the 5 1/2-furlong turf North American record of 59.75 seconds set last August in an optional-claiming win at Ellis Park.
Trained by Michelle Lovell, the 5-year-old Mo Town gelding has won 7-of-13 starts and enters off back-to-back wins sprinting five furlongs over firm turf, including a stalking score over next-out Listed stakes-winner Joe Shiesty in the Listed Mighty Beau in June at Churchill and a frontrunning score in the William Garrett Handicap last out on July 10 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Doncho worked a bullet-half mile in 47.40 July 31 over the Churchill Training dirt as he prepares for his Saratoga debut.
A talented field includes Grade 3-winner Dancing Buck [post 1, Jose Ortiz] for trainer Michelle Nevin; Determined Kingdom [post 9, Ricardo Santana, Jr.], who was third in last year’s Troy for trainer Michael Trombetta; multiple stakes-winner Coppola [post 4, Tyler Gaffalione] for trainer Carlos Martin; the Joe Lee-trained dual stakes-winner Works for Me [post 7, Flavien Prat]; dual stakes-winning New York-bred Waralo [post 5, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Chris Englehart; and multiple stakes-placed Rezasrolex [post 8, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Joe Orseno.
The Troy is slated as Race 8 on Sunday’s 11-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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