Prior to the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, FLA on January 15, John Brnjas’ mare NANTUCKET RED had only tried the dirt for a race once; she was well beaten in a sprint at Gulfstream Park in Miami in March 2021. But Brnjas, owner of the successful Colebrook Farms breeding and stallion station in Uxbridge, encouraged trainer Mike Wright to enter his Get Stormy 6-year-old in the Wayward Lass, a 1 1/16 mile dirt stake.
“She got beat 17 lengths in her last start on dirt [last March at Gulfstream], but Mr. [Brnjas] Burness told me this is different dirt at Tampa,” said Wright. Indeed, Nantucket Red worked a crackerjack half-mile at Tampa Bay on Dec. 31 on the main surface in 47 3/5 seconds, second-fastest of 43 that day at the distance.
No doubt Wright and jockey Olaf Hernandez also scrutinized the other seven horses entered in the Wayward Lass and determined that a speed attempt by Nantucket Red could have her loose on the lead from the outset. It was a perfect plan as Hernandez urged Nantucket Red from her rail post to a three-length lead in the first three furlongs and she kept going.
The result was a three-length win in 1:44.53 as a 15-to-1 longshot, defeating one of the favourites, Allworthy.
“That’s one for the underdog,” Wright said. “She went the half-mile in (47.53 seconds), and that was it.”
Nantucket Red had won her previous race Dec. 17 on turf at Tampa Bay for $32,000 claiming and that narrow win was her first for Brnjas since he purchased her from the 2020 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages sale for $35,000. The mare had made 13 starts for Brnjas before arriving at Tampa Bay last month, placing five times at Woodbine and Gulfstream and finishing fifth in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes in 2020.
The Wayward Lass was her sixth career win from 33 starts and the Kentucky-bred has earned $249,909.
And while the stakes win by Nantucket Red was cause for celebration for Wright and team, the veteran Woodbine trainer has embarked on a remarkable streak since he moved horses to Tampa Bay this winter.
Nantucket Red was his fifth winner from his fifth starter and on the following day, Sunday, he made it six for six when More Chances won an $8,000 maiden claiming race for owner Mike Dunslow, who is working as Wright’s assistant this winter.
Wright has Victor’s Destiny entered at Tampa Bay on Jan. 19 for $5,000 claiming.
Story continues below tweet:
The Michael Wright Express continued its amazing run to start the meet, with More Chances capturing the trainer’s sixth consecutive victory. Olaf Hernandez rode the 5-year-old gelding for Wright and owner Mike Dunslow. pic.twitter.com/OD08ued53l
— Tampa Bay Downs Official Account (@TampaBayDownsFL) January 16, 2022
The North American record for a training winning streak is believed to be 16, set by Kevin Patterson in 2019. Prior to that, Woodbine trainer Frank Passero had won 14 straight races.
“He understands [horses]. He takes good care of them and spots them well,” said Dunslow, who trains his own horses at Woodbine.
Wright was named the “Salt Rock Tavern” Trainer of the Month by Tampa Bay Downs after he had won with his first four starters.
“When you come with the right horses, it’s not difficult, I guess,” he said.
The Tampa Bay Downs media office did a feature story on Wright, who is three wins away from 800 career victories, recently:
“It’s fun coming to work. He loves the sport, and he has a good sense of humor,” said trainer Mike Dunslow, who works for Wright here as an assistant.
Jockey Isabelle Wenc, who rode Call Her Joey to a victory for Wright’s wife Gina said, “If I were to have any kind of question, he is somebody I can go to and ask, and he doesn’t even make you feel silly,” said Wenc, a 27-year-old Saskatchewan product who is working for Wright this season as an exercise rider. “It’s fun coming to work because he trusts your opinion. We all butt heads occasionally, but we get along pretty well and have a main goal in mind.”
[Wright’s] streak started on Dec. 17 with a pair of victories, one by (then)-3-year-old gelding Decimator, owned by Colebrook Farms, in a claiming sprint and the next by 6-year-old mare Nantucket Red, also owned by Colebrook, in a 1-mile allowance/optional claiming race on the turf. On Dec. 29, Wright won a claiming sprint with 5-year-old mare Distinctly Blue, who was claimed from the race.
Call Her Joey, claimed by Wright from her previous start on Nov. 5 at Woodbine, is owned by Wright’s wife, Gina Wright.
A clear-cut choice as the Salt Rock Tavern Trainer of the Month for his 4-for-4 start, Wright is in the latter stages of a career that has seen him scale some peaks. In the 1990s, he trained for leading Canadian owner Bruno Schickedanz, with Wright averaging 66 winners a year from 1991-1995, primarily at Woodbine in Toronto.
Their top horse together was the Ontario-bred Scotzanna, who won a pair of Sovereign Awards in 1995 as Canada’s Champion Sprinter and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. Her major victories that year included the Grade II Prioress Stakes at Belmont Park under jockey Robin Platts. “She was a good horse right from the start,” Wright said of the $10,000 yearling auction purchase. “She’s the best horse I’ve ever had.”
Wright, a Manchester, England product, moved with his family to Toronto when he was 14. He sent out his first starter in 1967 or 1968 at Woodbine and has compiled 795 victories. He began competing at Tampa Bay Downs during the 2013-2014 season. It marked a pleasant change from cold winters spent at Woodbine and Laurel in years past.
“We went on a cruise to Mexico, and when we got back I said ‘Let’s stay here (Florida) for a while.’ We bought a house and now my wife lives here year-round while I go back to Woodbine in the summer.”
Wright’s son, Michael Wright, Jr., won a Sovereign Award in 1998 as Canada’s Outstanding Trainer. Younger son Andrew helps his father throughout the summer at Woodbine, while a daughter, Natalie, works at a golf course in Maryland.
Wife Gina’s brothers, Dale and Gary Capuano, are trainers, with Gary having trained 1997 Kentucky Derby runner-up Captain Bodgit.
Wright’s reputation for patience results in usually getting the best efforts from his horses
Wright also understands people. A groom, Michael Whitelaw, who has been with him for decades, says “he treats me like his son.”
Although his pace has slowed, Wright is having too much fun to contemplate retirement. “You have to keep going, because if you stop, all of a sudden it’s over. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve always liked the game, and I like to be here in the mornings.”
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
