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Seymourdini wins the State Dinner Stakes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Iris Smith’s Seymourdini is doing well after his impressive victory in Monday’s State Dinner at Belmont Park, trainer Linda Rice said.<\/p>\n The son of Bernardini, who was purchased at auction as a 2-year-old for $900,000, won by an impressive 10 \u00bd lengths to improve to 3-for-3 in his 4-year-old campaign, including back-to-back wins against allowance company at Laurel Park.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was coming off two big efforts in Maryland and I had been pointing him towards the [Grade 3] Westchester on Derby Day, but when I found that Connect would be making his first start of the year, I opted out of that spot and took him back to Maryland to get him more seasoning and get him on track,\u201d Rice said. \u201cThe [State Dinner] was a naturally good spot for him. But the race had a lot of speed, so I was nervous about that. But he certainly performed well.\u201d<\/p>\n Seymourdini won two straight races after finishing as the runner-up in his first two career starts, leading to a spot in the 2016 Grade 2 Woody Stephens in which he finished seventh. Rice said he spiked a temperature coming out of that race and was given the summer off to recover from pneumonia. She said the six-month break helped Seymourdini’s maturation process.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/ins><\/span><\/p>\n <\/ins><\/p>\n Rice said there is a strong possibility Seymourdini could next race in Saratoga with the Grade 1, $600,000 Forego on August 26 a likely landing spot. Due to her preference for one-turns, Rice said the seven-furlong Forego could help set up a future start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso on September 23 when racing returns to Belmont Park.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can figure out how to get to the [Grade 1] Cigar Mile [on December 2 at Aqueduct Racetrack] unscathed, it would be nice in a perfect world,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u201cHe’s shown talent for a long time,\u201d Rice said. \u201cThere’s been a lot of starts and stops getting him to where he is now. I think he’s matured physically and mentally into a pretty good horse. He has always had a lot of raw talent, but between his physical issues that came up, we had a few hurdles to get past. But as a 4-year-old, he’s ready for bigger and better things.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n