Good Scheduling Adds To Trombetta's Pleasure

The racing secretaries at Laurel Park and Tampa Bay Downs did trainer Michael Trombetta a favor, although not intentionally, scheduling their stakes races yesterday about a half-hour apart.

The space between gave Trombetta just enough time to enjoy watching on a monitor from Tampa as Peace Town won the $50,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship, before turning his attention toward another 2-year-old, Top Seed, in the $65,000 The Inaugural at the Florida track.

"It's fun," Trombetta said. "Luckily, they're not running at the same time. Sometimes you're in the paddock saddling one and the other is racing."

Top Seed went off as a heavy favorite and whipped his field in The Inaugural, giving Trombetta a stakes double. For good measure, the trainer also won the seventh race at Laurel with a maiden named Glory Gold. Trombetta's assistant, Tana Aubrey, saddled the horses in Maryland.

The victories showed just how strong Trombetta's barn has become since the 42-year-old trainer burst on to the national scene with 2006 Kentucky Derby favorite Sweetnorthernsaint.

That year, Trombetta won 53 races. This year he has won 117 and enjoys the support of owners Peter Angelos, Harry and Tom Meyerhoff and the prestigious Vinery Stables, which co-owns Peace Town.

"I couldn't be happier," Trombetta said. "It has been an amazing transformation. Step one is having clients who are willing to support you with nice horses in your care. Step two is having the right staff to take care of them."

Aubrey is a primary part of that staff in Maryland. For the past nine years, she has worked with Trombetta on the backstretch at Laurel Park. The stable has grown to 40 horses at Laurel, 30 with assistant Melissa Begley at the Fair Hill Training Center and 12 more are in Florida.

"He had five horses when I went to work for him," Aubrey said yesterday in the winner's circle at Laurel.

Asked if she ever thought about striking out on her own, she said, "I thought about it. I know I can do it, but I kind of like my cushy job. I always know what I've got when I come out here in the morning."

One of the horses she has is Peace Town, a rapidly developing son of the former standout racehorse Peace Rules and a quirky but talented mare named Darnestown, who used to race erratically around Maryland tracks.

Against five other runners, Peace Town stalked front-runner Blueberry's Start through a moderate half-mile in 48.08 seconds and took over just past the three-eighths pole on the way to a half-length victory over late-running In the Juice.

Peace Town, ridden by Julian Pimentel, ran the race, listed at about 1 1/16 miles, in 1 minute 44.83 seconds. He has now won three times in five starts.

Trombetta targeted an out-of-town interim race for Peace Town before the Maryland Juvenile Championship, but the colt was stranded in his barn because of an outbreak of equine herpes virus at Laurel. Missing the race didn't matter; in the Trombetta barn, everything appears to be finding a way to work itself out.