De Francis Dash Tops Four Sunday Stakes Worth $450,000
Quartet of Graded Winners Among Aug. 4 Caesar’s Wish Noms
LAUREL, MD – Greg Compton, Mark Dean and Mike Cohea’s Auto Glide, riding a four-race win streak, chases a second consecutive stakes victory Sunday when he makes his Maryland debut in the $100,000 Deputed Testamony at Laurel Park.
The 28th running of the 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up is the third of four stakes worth $450,000 in purses on a 10-race program headlined by the listed $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Auto Glide earned stakes credentials in the 1 1/16-mile Battery Park July 7 at Delaware Park, rallying for a nose victory over Shaft’s Bullet, who also returns in the Deputed Testamony. Three of Auto Glide’s wins during his streak have come by a half-length or less.
“He’s really done extremely well since the last race,” said Compton, who also trains the 4-year-old bay son of Tiznow. “He hasn’t missed an oat and he’s just been training right along. No problems, no hiccups, and it looks like he just bounced out of the race. He couldn’t be any better.”
Auto Glide won one of nine starts before being claimed by Compton for $30,000 out of a runner-up finish Jan. 27 at his winter base of Oaklawn Park. He ran third, beaten two lengths by next-out winner Southern Sunset, in his first start for Compton before getting on his current streak.
“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you this is exactly what we had in mind when we claimed him, but we’re not going to give it back or anything like that,” Compton said. “We claimed him down there because he was a horse with conditions and he looked like a very useful horse, and he’s just gone above and beyond what we really thought when we claimed him.”
Laurel’s summer meet-leading rider Jaime Rodriguez gets the call from outermost Post 6 on Auto Glide, whose best running thus far has come from off the pace. Though experienced around two turns, Auto Glide has yet to go as far as 1 1/8 miles.
“It certainly looks that way,” Compton said of Auto Glide’s running style. “We’re not going to try to change anything. He seems like he’s content to sit and then make one big run, so that’s probably what we’ll be doing on Sunday.
“I think the mile and an eighth will be perfect for him. It shouldn’t be a problem,” he added. “It looks like there’s a couple of speed horses in there so we should have an honest pace, so we’ll sit back and he’ll do his thing. If he’s good enough hopefully he’ll get to the wire first.”
Ken McPeek, trainer of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness (G1) runner-up Mystik Dan, entered RT Racing Stable’s Frosted Departure, a two-time stakes winner that ran third in the 2023 Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn. The speedy son of Frosted put together two straight wins including Oaklawn’s Lake Ouachita May 5 before a fifth-place finish in the June 1 Blame (G3) last time out.
Paul Fowler Jr.’s Shaft’s Bullet won the one-mile Harrison Johnson Memorial March 16 at Laurel in his stakes debut and was fifth next out in the April 13 Native Dancer to promoted 2023 Maryland Million Classic winner Ain’t Da Beer Cold, also entered in the Deputed Testamony.
Rounding out the field are Repole Stable’s Be Better, the defending champion that has placed in three subsequent stakes and exits a fifth in the historic Pimlico Special (G3) May 17, and 2022 Claiming Crown Iron Horse winner Time for Trouble, third to multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire First Mission in the March 23 Essex (G3) and most recently fourth by 1 ½ lengths in the June 8 Suburban (G2) at Saratoga.
Compton will also send out Willy D’s in Sunday’s $100,000 Concern for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs, a colt he co-owns with Danny Brown and Charis Brenneman. The bay son of two-time champion and 2010 Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky ran second at odds of 67-1 to subsequent multiple stakes winner Valentine Candy in the 5 ½-furlong Regret last December and was a front-running optional claiming allowance winner going a mile and 70 yards May 23 at Delaware three starts back.
“He’s a very useful horse,” Compton said. “He’s knocked at the door in some of these stakes races. He did run second to a really nice horse of [Hall of Fame trainer Steve] Asmussen’s in his first start at Oaklawn in Valentine Candy. I think seven furlongs should be perfect for him. It’s a race that looks like it’s loaded with a lot of speed and I would think he’s going to be a little off of it. He’s a big, long-striding horse and if they go at each other pretty hard at the beginning I think he should be rolling late.”
The Deputed Testamony pays homage to the last Maryland-bred winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), who upset Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sunny’s Halo in 1983. Bred and raced by Bonita Farm and Francis P. Sears and trained by Bill Boniface, Deputed Testamony also won the Haskell (G1) and Pimlico’s Federico Tesio during his 3-year-old season.
Quartet of Graded Winners Top Caesar’s Wish Noms
Graded-stakes winners Affirmative Lady, Foggy Night and Hidden Connection and Brazilian Group 1 winner Evidencias are among 18 nominees to the $100,000 Caesar’s Wish Sunday, Aug. 4 at Laurel Park.
The 1 1/16-mile Caesar’s Wish for fillies and mares 3 and up is joined on the program by a pair of $100,000 stakes scheduled for the turf – the 1 1/8-mile Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds and 1 1/16-mile Searching for 3-year-old fillies.
Amo Racing USA’s Affirmative Lady has gone unraced in more than 14 months since finishing 11th in the 2023 Kentucky Oaks (G1) one start after capturing the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). The 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate has been training steadily for her return with six consecutive bullet works at Delaware Park for trainer Michael Stidham.
James Wigan and Denford Stud’s Evidencias won the 2022 Especial Colina Verde and 2023 25 de Janeiro in her native country and has made six starts in North America, running second or third in each of the last five including the 1 1/8-mile Ladies Jan. 6 at Aqueduct.
Pine Brook Farm’s Foggy Night won three of seven starts in 2023 including the Delaware Oaks (G3) and Cathryn Sophia and was sixth in a 6 ½-furlong allowance July 8 at Parx, her first start in eight months. Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds’ Hidden Connection won the 2021 Pocahontas (G3) in her second career start and is winless in four tries this year, finishing second to multiple graded-stakes winner Raging Sea in Keeneland’s 1 1/16-mile Doubledogdare (G3) April 19.
Also prominent among nominees are stakes winners Beguine, Cats Inthe Timber, Intrepid Dream, Majestic Creed, Malibu Beauty, Saddle Up Jessie and the graded-stakes placed Frosty O Toole and Morning Matcha.
Most popular among horsemen is the Bald Eagle Derby with 27 nominations led by the trio of 2023 Summer (G1) winner Carson’s Run, June 29 Manila (G3) runner-up Deterministic and stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed Spirit Prince from trainer Christophe Clement. Stakes winners Crystal Quest, Desvio and Trevesso and Grade 3-placed Hammerstein are also nominated.
The Searching drew 18 nominees including Stidham-trained Distorted d’Oro, unbeaten in two career starts; Style Points, third in Gulfstream Park’s Sweetest Chant (G3) and Tampa Bay Downs’ Florida Oaks (G3) over the winter for the Clement barn; and dirt stakes winers Call Another Play, Direct the Cat and Roanan Goddess.
Entries will be taken and post positions drawn Monday, July 29 for all three stakes.
Notes: Jockey Jean Briceno doubled Friday aboard Claudee Boy ($5.60) in Race 2 and Compass Rises ($9.40) in Race 4 … Trainer Jamie Ness added two wins to his summer meet-leading totals with Two by Two ($6.20) in Race 6 and Irish Exit ($6.80) in featured Race 7 … Madison Avenue Racing Stable, Inc. and Jagger, Inc.’s 5-year-old Irish Exit, one of two horses entered for a $55,000 tag and half of the favored entry with Grade 3 winner Magic Michael, collared 78-1 long shot Karan’s Notion in mid-stretch and went on to win the third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going one mile in 1:38.33 over a fast main track.