American Smooth wasn’t one of the favorites Saturday for the inaugural Sprint Elite Cup race at Fonner Park.
But owner Dan Sears was optimistic about his chances.
“I thought he had a good shot,” Sears said.
Sears’ optimism paid off as American Smooth took the lead heading into the stretch and won the 6 1-2 furlong race in 1:19.20 over Swift as I Am who was a length behind.
Jockey Kevin Roman said trainer Isai Gonzalez had American Smooth ready to run.
“I had the favorite which was the two (Swift As I Am) inside me,” jockey Kevin Roman said. “I got the jump on him. When I asked my horse, he gave me a pretty good kick. He’s won three in a row. Izzy does a good job of keeping those horses happy. It’s hard to do, especially when you go from running optional claiming and now you’re running in a stake and you have horses shipping in. It’s not an easy task.”
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Sears, who is from Blair and had tornadoes just south of his house on Friday, was thankful the rain held off on Saturday afternoon.
“I thought it was going to rain,” Sears said. “My girlfriend kept telling me it’s supposed to rain a bunch this afternoon. I said, ‘Well, we’ll see what happens.’ The only time I think he’s run on wet turf he ran a second and he ran a ninth. I didn’t like that ninth.”
Sears and Gonzalez claimed American Smooth, a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Malibu Moon and Our Khrysty, on Dec. 20 for a $5,000 claiming price.
“I claimed it down at Delta Downs, and he won by 11 lengths that day,” Sears said. “Ran him back in two weeks and he won by a good margin that time.”
Since the claim, American Smooth has earned $55,640. He’s now won seven of 27 career starts. That includes the last three outs at Fonner Park after he finished second in his first out at Fonner behind Hacker on March 16.
Roman was originally scheduled to ride Its a Wrap for Gonzalez in the Sprint Cup, but he was scratched the morning of the race.
“Its a Wrap got scratched and I got the opportunity to ride him,” Roman said. “I had a perfect spot. A couple of guys went to the lead. When you have more than three guys on the lead they’re all going to burn each other out which turned out pretty well for me.”
American Smooth paid $18.20, $8.20 and $4.60. Swift as I am paid $4.80 and $3.20 while Our Cornerstone paid $3.20 to show.
The win was worth $18,600 for American Smooth. That brings his career earnings to $112,626.
And now American Smooth and his connections with have their names in the Fonner Park record books forever as the first winner of the Elite Sprint Cup.
“First time to run the stake here and I was the first one to win it,” Roman said. “That’s something they can’t take away from me. Me and Izzy are going to be the first ones right there.”
It was also Roman’s fourth win of the day. He opened the card by winning the first three races for trainers Kelli Martinez, Dave Anderson and Gonzalez.
“Kelli Martinez and Dave Anderson gave me an opportunity,” Roman said. “You try to do the best you can.”
Firespitten Kitten wins Special Stakes
Firespitten Kitten didn’t have a good trip when he finished third in the Baxter Stakes on April 13.
This time, with Larren Delorme on board again, was different.
“Larren rode him perfect,” trainer Jesse Compton said. “We got a bad trip in the stakes before this. He kind of got in tight. Today we were on the outside so they couldn’t do that.”
Firespitten Kitten outdueled Goin Owen down the stretch to win the 69th running of the $25,000 Fonner Park Special Stakes for colts and geldings by 1 1-2 lengths. He finished the six-furlong race for Nebraska-breds in 1:14.20.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this horse,” Compton said. “When (casino gambling) got voted in, Chad McKay went and bought a mare on the Keeneland sale, brought it back, foaled it out. This is the first crop for the Keeneland babies.”
Firespitten Kitten paid $9.00, $4.40 and $3.40. Goin Owen paid $4.60 and $2.80 while Mission Is a Go paid $4.00. The son of Speightster and High Wire Kitten has now won three of his six career starts.
The win was worth $15,400 and brought Firespitten Kitten’s career earnings to $36,664.
Compton said he’s got some good young horses back on his farm near Shelby that he hopes will perform as well as Firespitten Kitten.
“It helps when the first one wins like this,” Compton said. “We’ve got four brothers and sisters, babies on the ground. Hopefully Nebraska grows as our stable grows.”