El Dinero Cashes in Palmisano; Blue Fire Turns Tables in Wright
NEW ORLEANS (Jan. 10, 2025) — Two Louisiana-bred stakes races ran Saturday at Fair Grounds, Louisiana-bred dirt sprints, the $100,000 Gary P. Palmisano Memorial and the $100,000 Bob F. Wright Memorial.
El Dinero, with Jareth Loveberry aboard, wins the 4th running of the Gary P Palmisano Memorial Stakes on a sloppy track at Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans, LA. Hodges Photography / Jan Brubaker
In the Gary P. Palmisano Memorial, Tav Enterprises’ El Dinero returned to the Fair Grounds winner’s circle. The three-time local stakes winner broke a beat slow, chased the pack while advancing wide on the far turn, then produced a powerful sustained rally to run down race leader Hay Jude, crossing the finish line three-quarters of a length in front. Sir Wellington finished third.
Trained by Pat Devereux Jr. and ridden by Jareth Loveberry, El Dinero covered six furlongs in 1:10.34 over a “good” track.
“He puts everything into his races,” Loveberry said. “Today he laid it all on the line to run down Hay Jude.”
Sent off as the 7-5 favorite, El Dinero paid $4.80, $2.60 and $2.40.
“I’m so proud of him,” Devereux said. “We wanted to win (this race) last year but it didn’t work out. We’ll probably run one or two more times in this cycle before giving him a break and preparing for next fall.”
El Dinero’s career record now stands at 26-7-8-4, with earnings of $540,640.
Blue Fire, with Jose Ortiz aboard, wins the 4th annual Bob F Wright Memorial Stakes on a muddy track at Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans, LA. Hodges Photography / Jan Brubaker
After finishing behind Secret Faith in her previous two starts, Blue Fire turned the tables to win the Bob F. Wright Memorial Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths over the odds-on favorite. Owned by Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel and trained by Steve Asmussen, Blue Fire stopped the clock at 1:10.09 for six furlongs over a muddy track.
Blue Fire was given a tactically savvy ride by jockey Jose Ortiz. After leading the pack through the far turn, Ortiz looked back repeatedly to locate Secret Faith, then guided Blue Fire into the middle of the track, where Secret Faith was attempting to launch her run, blunting a serious challenge.
“When we approached the quarter pole I looked up and tried to find out where (Secret Faith) was,” Ortiz said. “I knew it was a two horse race.”
The 2025 Crescent City Oaks winner, who finished second in the Eight Belles (G2), now owns a career record of 10-5-3-0 with earnings of $420,120.