Your Bluffing Claims His Stakes

Your Bluffing has dominated his competition at Laurel Park like few horses have in the past several years. Entering the $85,000 Native Dancer Stakes for older horses yesterday, the 6-year-old gelding had won 11 of 16 starts at the track. Never mind he had only won one of 15 starts elsewhere; Your Bluffing had done everything asked of him at Laurel Park except win a stakes race.

With a patently patient ride by veteran jockey Mario Pino, Your Bluffing finally took care of that bit of business, too, sitting off a withering speed duel between Bailero and Mach Speed and circling the field to beat Aggadan by 1 1/2 lengths.

Trainer Michael Trombetta, who, along with his brother Dino and father Rudolph, owns Your Bluffing, couldn't have looked happier in the winner's circle after the race.

"As good as this horse has been to us, winning a stakes is something he hasn't been able to get, and it was very nice to get it done today," he said. "He keeps on giving his best."

Your Bluffing won only one of eight starts as a 4-year-old but bounced back nicely last year, taking six of 10 starts. Twice he tested stakes waters, finishing sixth in the John B. Campbell Breeders' Cup Handicap and the Charles H. Hadry Stakes.

He closed out 2005 by crushing a small field of allowance horses in a six-furlong sprint and stretched his speed yesterday to run a mile in 1 minute 40.27 seconds as the third choice in the field of six.

"This horse is sharp and keeps showing up; it's hard to do," said Pino, covered in mud after racing behind horses most of the way. "I was just a passenger. I just pointed him in the right direction."

Pino had ridden Your Bluffing to six victories in 11 starts before the Native Dancer, but hadn't been on his back since last April. Regular rider Horacio Karamanos has taken off a month to have arthroscopic knee surgery, and Pino found himself back in the saddle.

"The horse has really matured," Pino said. "He used to be green and unsure but would still win. Now he seems to be finishing each race strong. He is a good horse and with maturity you win races like this."

Racing Notes: Winning apparently runs in the family of Your Bluffing. His 3-year-old half-sister, Yachats, also a daughter of the mare Your'renotlistening, won the eighth race at Gulfstream Park for trainer Todd Pletcher, running 6 1/2 furlongs in a sharp 1:17.94. . . . Pimlico-based trainer Richard Small, looking to keep his 4-year-old filly Cozy Gain racing the turf, has shipped her to Tampa Bay Downs, where she finished second as the favorite in an optional-claiming race. . . .

The long road to the Kentucky Derby began in earnest yesterday as 2005 Breeders' Cup Juvenile champion Stevie Wonderboy opened his 3-year-old campaign by finishing second to Brother Derek in the Grade II $150,000 San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita.

Off at odds of 3-5 in a four-horse field, Stevie Wonderboy accelerated on the far turn in the one-mile race but never threatened Brother Derek, who led from start to finish and won in a time of 1:36.11. Brother Derek, trained by Dan Hendricks and ridden by Alex Solis, finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile but bounced back to win the Grade I Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17.