Horse Racing

Lynch Hoping There Is A Wendell Fong Laurel Park Stakes Win In Her Future




Still seeking her first career win as a trainer, Maryland’s own Natalia Lynch couldn’t imagine a better horse getting it done in a better place than Gold Square’s Wendell Fong in Saturday’s $100,000 Fire Plug at Laurel Park in Maryland.

Lynch, 26, has a long association with Wendell Fong going back to when she was working as an assistant to trainer Jeremiah Englehart, overseeing his Laurel string. Lynch helped prepare the now 5-year-old son of Flat Out for his debut, which he won in the final month of 2018, as well as his lone stakes victory in the 2019 Gold Fever at Belmont Park.

After getting a class break in his last two starts, Wendell Fong returns to stakes company looking to reward Lynch’s devotion and dedication. Lynch is winless with four seconds from 16 starters since going out on her own last summer; Wendell Fong will be No. 17.

“He got sent to me before his first start and he just kind of became the barn favorite real quick. He’s got a real cool personality. He’s just one of those special horses,” Lynch said. “I don’t think there could be a more fitting horse for me to get my first win.”

Lynch began galloping horses while at Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County and continued while pursuing a nursing degree, first at Towson University and then at Shepherd University in West Virginia.

She worked for trainers Graham Motion at Fair Hill and Brendan Walsh in Florida, eventually hooking on as the top exercise rider and assistant for Englehart’s Laurel string, overseeing 29 horses during the winter. The daughter of a horse dentist, she also worked for trainers Brittany Russell and Phil Schoenthal in Maryland and Jim Bond in New York.

“Just to see the horse win would be more amazing to me than anything else,” Lynch said. “For me it’s cool because I came from Laurel and it’s kind of like full circle to see my name back there as a trainer. It means a lot.

“I love it. I feel like it’s always kind of what I’ve worked for,” she added. “I always put a lot of pressure on myself but when you see your name in the program it’s about 10,000 times more pressure than before. But it’s been really good and my support system has been awesome. There have been days where if I don’t believe in myself, they believe in me. So it’s helped.”

Wendell Fong ran in the Woody Stephens (G1), Amsterdam (G2) and Count Fleet (G3) while still with Englehart, finishing behind the likes of Hog Creek Hustle, Shancelot and Whitmore. He made one start for Robertino Diodoro before landing back with Lynch when she went out on her own.

After two off-the-board finishes, Wendell Fong rediscovered his form running second by 1 ½ lengths behind fellow stakes winner Taco Supream in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 3 at Laurel, where he has a 2-1-0 record in four tries.

“We were all very, very happy with that. It was really good to see him come and get his confidence back and he came out of that race very well. He seems a little bit more like the old horse he used to be,” Lynch said.

“I think that’s kind of what makes him special. I think he went under the radar for a little bit,” she added. “You look at the company he was running against. He was running against Mind Control and Whitmore and definitely never really hit an easy field. Even though he didn’t win, he was still running great races.”

Sheldon Russell will ride Wendell Fong from Post 1 in a field of seven.

To achieve Lynch’s breakthrough win, Wendell Fong will have to beat a solid collection of sprinters led by Hillside Equestrian Meadows’ Laki, nose winner of the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course, his sixth career stakes win. Three of his others have come at Laurel, where he was second in the Frank Y. Whiteley and fourth in the Dave’s Friend to cap 2020.

Silvino Ramirez’s Share the Ride, last out winner of the six-furlong Fall Highweight (G3) Nov. 29 at Aqueduct. The 6-year-old gelding won the Mr. Prospector last summer at Monmouth Park, a race where Wendell Fong ran fourth, and was beaten a head when second to Majestic Dunhill in the Bold Ruler (G3) in October.

Penguin Power, a multiple stakes winner at Charles Town with 13 career victories who ran third by two lengths in the Dave’s Friend; upset Maryland Million Sprint winner Karan’s Notion; Lebda, winner of Laurel’s Miracle Wood and Private Terms last winter; and New York-bred stakes winner Arthur’s Hope complete the field.





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