Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John) and He's Comin in Hot (Early Flyer), one-three in their respective debuts at Keeneland Apr. 9, square off again in Saturday's GIII Sanford S. at Saratoga–this time both as last-out stakes winners. The former was purchased privately by trainer Larry Rivelli for Richard Ravin and Patricia's Hope LLC after overcoming trouble in his unveiling for John Hancock and Blue Checker Thoroughbreds, and proved a wise investment when besting a field that included Paynes Prairie (Tale of Ekati) (second) and Uncle Vinny (Uncle Mo) (sixth) in Belmont's Tremont S. June 5. Rivelli told the TDN earlier this week that Cocked and Loaded has been training forwardly in Chicago since that outing.
Douglas Scharbauer's He's Comin in Hot improved one spot at Churchill May 8 in front of subsequent G2 Queen Mary S. jaw dropper Acapulco (Scat Daddy), and broke through by daylight third out under the Twin Spires June 12. He ran to 4-5 favoritism with an easy front-running victory in the GIII Bashord Manor S. 15 days later.
“In his first race, he broke just ok and then sat back and really didn't get in the race until the last eighth of a mile,” trainer Bret Calhoun offered. “He was very green. I thought he would blow to the front and go on that day. I had really expected him to be professional in his first race because he had been so professional in the morning. In his second race, he ran well, but still not like I had expected. It took him two races [to come around]. Since that time though, he hasn't done anything wrong.”
Six of the 11 juveniles signed on here enter off debut scores. Percolator (Flash Bull) zipped to the front and never looked back at Monmouth June 6, and was flattered when runner-up Full Salute (Speightstown) returned to score impressively last week. Professionalism and off-the-pace experience is always at a premium in early juvenile 2-year-old stakes, and Twirling Cinnamon (Twirling Candy) has just that. Forced to wait for clear sailing in his June 19 Churchill debut, he rallied resolutely to score by a nose over Metal Magic (Yes It's True), who runs in the day's first race.
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