Puntrooskie, under a heady ride by Patrick Husbands, made the grade in Saturday’s $150,600 Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Donald MacRae for his D-Mac Racing Stable and co-owners Michael Lay and Mike Loughry, Puntrooskie made the transition from claimer to graded stakes winner by toppling a talented field of six in the 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta sprint for three-year-olds and upward.
MacRae claimed the five-year-old son of In Summation for $40,000 on May 27 out of a good second-place run to San Nicola Thunder on the Woodbine turf. A winner of the Woodstock Stakes in 2014, Puntrooskie was third in last season’s edition of the Bold Venture and also showed his class with a second-place run in the Grade 3 Vigil.
After winning his first start for new connections, an allowance sprint with Eurico Rosa da Silva up, MacRae tapped Husbands for the mount in the Bold Venture with da Silva electing to ride sophomore speedster Noholdingback Bear rather than 2014 champion sprinter Calgary Cat.
Western Elegance was away quickest of all in the Bold Venture but it was Noholdingback Bear, who set a track record of 1:14.44 for 6 1/2-furlongs last time out, that took command.
Noholdingback Bear battled through splits of :23.18 and :45.52 under pressure throughout from Choctaw Chuck as Puntrooskie stalked from fourth position sitting just outside of Calgary Cat. Husbands urged Puntrooskie into contention through the turn as Choctaw Chuck faded, putting more pressure on Noholdingback Bear, while Calgary Cat began to get untracked from fourth position. However, it was Puntrooskie, with a relentless stretch run, who wore down Noholdingback Bear to secure a ½-length win. Calgary Cat kept on for show money, 2 ¼-lengths in front of a rail-rallying Western Elegance. Puntrooskie stopped the clock in 1:16.06.
Husbands was pleased to have landed the mount on the talented dark bay.
“He was racing against the best sprinters on the grounds, but I rode him with confidence,” said Husbands. “I had a lot of horse and I just tried to ride Eurico (aboard Noholdingback Bear) as tight as possible. A clean ride, tight, and not let his horse get a suck of wind down the lane. My horse turned out to be the best horse today.”
Puntrooskie is now undefeated in two starts for new connections.
“He’s a horse we had been watching for awhile,” said MacRae. “He’s run against the best here before and only been beat three or four lengths and we thought if we could improve him a bit (he could win).”
Puntrooskie, bred in Florida by John David O’Farrell, J. Michael O’Farrell, Jr. and Our Sugar Bear Stable, banked $90,000 in victory while improving his record to 5-6-5 from 29 starts
He paid $18.10, $4.60 and $2.30, combining with Noholdingback Bear ($2.30, $2.10) for a $37.80 (4-2) exactor. A 4-2-6 triactor (Calgary Cat, $2.10 to show) was worth $80.
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