Somelikeithotbrown Sizzles in Dinner Party Score

BALTIMORE, MD – Somelikeithotbrown continued trainer Mike Maker’s Preakness Weekend to remember by setting a course record while notching his third career graded-stakes victory in Saturday’s $250,000 Dinner Party Stakes (G2) at Pimlico Race Course.

Winning jockey Jose Ortiz: “I have ridden this horse before in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf as a 2-year-old, and it has been a long time since I have ridden him. He’s matured a lot. He showed me some speed early on, and I got him to relax on the first turn and that was the key. He relaxed nicely and from the half-mile pole to the 3/8ths pole I was just waiting and waiting and when I asked him to go he did.”

Talk Or Listen, Midnight Tea Time, and favorite Sacred Life completed the order.

Winning trainer Mike Maker: “Jose and I talked about it. Last time that horse [Flying Scotsman] broke a step slow, came to our outside and he never settled in the Maker’s Mark and it cost him in the end. I told Jose, ‘If the horse goes, let’s see if we can’t get to the outside of him and see you in the winner’s circle.’”

“He just doesn’t seem to fire his A game at Gulfstream. After [the Dec. 12 Fort Lauderdale], we decided just to give him the winter off and point to this year.”

(On thinking this might have clinched the $50K trainer’s bonus) “Well, Steve Asmussen has a lot more starters and placings so it might be a lot closer than people think.”

“I did like most of our horses. We had a couple of others that ran up the track.”

“We have a lot of options. He’s run well at Saratoga multiple times. He’s a New York-bred, so we’ll look at a couple of those races as well.”

This is the first win of Somelikeithotbrown’s 5-year-old season. The son of Big Brown improved his record to 19-7-4-2 and has earned $842,838 for Skychai Racing LLC and Sand Dollar Stable LLC

Somelikeithotbrown returned $7.60 to win, $4.80 to place, and $4.00 to show.