Dominant Winter
Performers Poised for Huge Seasons
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (Friday, March 27, 2015) – The
final winter series’ conclude this Saturday at The Meadowlands and it should
come as no surprise that the two names that have headlined the winter meet take
center stage once again.
JL Cruze (coupled with Razor Ramone) will begin as the 2/5
morning line favorite in the $59,800 Shiaway St. Pat Final, while Rockeyed
Optimist has been installed as the 1/5 morning line choice in the $59,000 Clyde
Hirt Final. Both are poised to sweep their respective series.
For JL Cruze, to say he has exceeded his trainer, Eric Ell’s
expectations, would be an understatement. Originally a $30,000 Harrisburg
yearling, JL Cruze went back through the Harrisburg sales ring this past fall
at the mixed sale. In hindsight, the final price this time, $32,000, can
be considered a bargain.
“I can say now that he has surprised us,” said Ell.
“When we nominated him to this winter series’ (at The Meadowlands) we didn’t
know if he could go with those, looking back, I guess I wish we would have
staked him more for the rest of the season. But when he came to us, there
was no way to know he would be this good.”
As far as this Saturday goes, Ell is expecting another big
effort from JL Cruze. “He has had a great week. He has shown a
hitch in his giddy-up at times, so we backed off him a bit and he
responded. He has been jogging well and is ready to go.”
After Saturday, the plan is to send his gelding to Pocono
for the last two legs of the Bobby Weiss series. “We missed the first two
weeks of the Weiss, but hopefully he can do the job in the last two legs and
make the Final.”
The immediate future is more clear than the long term plans
for JL Cruze. “After the Weiss, we’ll definitely point him to The
Graduate series and when The Meadowlands re-opens in the fall maybe we will
find something there. He isn’t staked too much, but next year will be
different.”
Ironically, the connections of Rockeyed Optimist find
themselves in a very similar position as Eric Ell, but are happy with the game
plan they have mapped out as well.
“(Rockeyed Optimist) just keeps getting better,” said
trainer Steve Elliot. “With each start he just seems to be more within
himself. He’s been a pleasure, just a really nice horse.”
Elliot is not sure why he wasn’t more popular went he went
through the sales ring as a yearling. “I’m not sure why he didn’t
sell. At the time everyone was down on Jersey-breds, so maybe that was
it. When we first got him he would just sulk in the corner of his
stall. We thought he bled, so we put him on Lasix and he went
backwards. So we took him off it and turned him out. When we
brought him back he was a totally different horse. He’s healthier and
happier.”
The long-term future plans for Rockeyed Optimist are still a
bit up in the air, but Elliot has no problem with that. “The owners told
me to map out a schedule as if I owned the horse, which is just great.
They didn’t pressure me to stake him into races where he would be going up
against gorillas. We’ve been able to manage him well. He’ll go to
the Graduate series and then from there we’ll see. I wasn’t sure if he
could go with the Free-For-All types until last week when he paced in
1:48.3. That means he is almost right at that level speed-wise
already. He isn’t staked much this year, but we’ll have a fresh horse as
a five year old and as long as he keeps progressing, we’ll give him the
opportunity to be a Free For All pacer next year.”
The Clyde Hirt and Shiaway St. Pat headline the Saturday
card at The Meadowlands, with post time at 7:15 P.M.
