No Show Sammy Jo Extends Win Streak in $100,000 All Along
Loon Cry Flies Late for $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash Win
LAUREL, MD – Hillwood Stable’s Post Time, a multiple graded-stakes winner that was Grade 1-placed in his prior two starts, returned to his home track for the first time in seven months and overpowered four rivals with a commanding 11 ½-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Polynesian to at Laurel Park.
The 20th running of the one-mile Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up was the last of three $100,000 stakes to kick off the calendar year-ending fall meet stakes schedule, preceded by No Show Sammy Jo’s popular triumph in the All Along and Loon Cry’s score in the Sensible Lady Turf Dash, both for fillies and mares 3 and older on the grass.
Post Time ($2.10) was alone under jockey Sheldon Russell as they came through the stretch, crossing the wire in 1:36.98 over a fast main track to win by 11 ½ lengths and remain perfect in seven career starts at Laurel.
“My eyes welled up as he came down all by himself. It was wonderful,” Hillwood’s Ellen Charles said. “We were happy, and he was happy.”
Frightland, also trained by Brittany Russell, was quickest from the gate and set the pace for his late-running stablemate going the first quarter-mile in 23.80 seconds pressed by Ain’t Da Beer Cold and opening up by nine lengths following a half in 47.03. Post Time broke last and trailed early but Sheldon Russell put the 4-year-old Frosted colt into contention, moving up to third along the inside.
Jockey J.G. Torrealba and Frightland were still clinging to a short lead rounding the far turn when Post Time came off the rail and moved alongside followed on his right by Debit Card. The three ran evenly to the top of the stretch with Post Time between horses until Russell called on the 1-9 favorite and he asserted his class, gaining separation once straightened for home and rolling home under a hand ride.
Curlin’s Malibu, the longest shot on the board at 35-1, came running late for second, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Debit Card, followed by Frightland and Ain’t Da Beer Cold. Riccio, last out winner of the off-the-turf Find Aug. 18 at Laurel, was scratched.
Bred in Maryland by Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman and Milton Higgins III and part of Laurel-based Russell’s string at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., Post Time earned $60,000 for the win to push his bankroll to $997,910. He has never been worse than third in 13 starts, nine of them wins.
Post Time last raced at his home track in the Feb. 17 General George (G3), his first graded win, which was followed by a victory in Aqueduct’s Carter (G2). In his last three starts he ran second in the Westchester (G3) and Met Mile (G1) and third in the Whitney (G1), the latter two at Saratoga.
“We’ve had the most wonderful time traveling with Post Time. He’s just a lovely horse to be with,” Charles said. “He always does his best. The friends that I travel with … we just have a great group that go together and it’s really fun.
“The Met Mile was amazing and actually [in] the Whitney, he was so close to being second. It was just very, very exciting to watch him,” she added. “He likes to travel, too. He’s just a wonderful horse to be around.”
Looking ahead, the connections are considering a start in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar. Post Time has two wins and two seconds in four tries at the distance.
“I just have to keep pinching myself that it’s really going to happen,” Charles said. “It’s amazing. A little boy from Maryland has really done the job.”
The Polynesian is named for the 1945 Preakness (G1) winner that put together a record of 27-10-10 with purse earnings of $310,410 from 1944-47, 16 of his victories coming in stakes. Named the U.S. champion sprinter in 1947, he went on to a successful stud career most notably as the sire of Hall of Famer Native Dancer, the 1953 Preakness winner, and grandsire of 1966 Preakness winner Kauai King.
No Show Sammy Jo Extends Win Streak in $100,000 All Along
Bridlewood Farm and Madaket Stables’ 4-year-old filly No Show Sammy Jo, making just her fifth career start and first in stakes company, overtook pacesetter Cut From Class in mid-stretch and went on to a 1 ¼-length victory in the $100,000 All Along.
Ridden by Jorge Ruiz for trainer Graham Motion, No Show Sammy Jo ($3) covered 1 1/8 miles over a firm Kelso turf course in 1:47.54 to extend her win streak to four races dating back to her June 2023 graduation at Belmont Park.
“This really set up well,” Motion said. “We got a little backed up over the summer when a couple of her races came off the grass. She won pretty nicely last time, and this just seemed like a really good spot to get some black type for her.”
Ruiz had No Show Sammy Jo settled on the rail in third as Cut From Class ran a quarter-mile in 24.10 seconds and a half in 48.55 with Motion-trained Brazilian Group 1 winner For Flying in second. Ruiz tipped off the inside approaching the stretch and powered through the lane to reel in Cut From Class and have plenty left to hold off a late bid from late-running Italian Group 1 winner Atomic Blonde, who edged 19-1 long shot Circle Home by a neck for second.
“She is so good,” Motion said. “When a horse is that good, they can kind of put themselves wherever they want. I think that gives Jorge a lot of options.”
Cut From Class, For Flying, She’s Dancing and Blood Orange completed the order of finish. Multiple stakes winner Malibu Beauty, entered for main track only, was scratched.
No Show Sammy Jo did not race at 2 and made two starts last year, finishing fourth in her debut prior to her maiden victory. She did not race again until May 19, wen she rallied for a neck victory going one mile on the Aqueduct turf. Last time out, she rolled to a 5 ½-length victory Aug. 24 at Colonial Downs.
“I really hadn’t thought beyond today,” Motion said. “We wanted to get through this, but I think she’s got a graded stake in her future, for sure.”
The All Along is named for the French-bred filly that won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Rothmans International, Turf Classic and Laurel’s Washington D.C. International in the span of 41 days in 1983 en route to becoming the first foreign-based horse to be voted U.S. Horse of the Year. A winner of nine races and more than $3 million in purses from 21 starts, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990.
Loon Cry Flies Late for $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash Win
Waterville Lake Stables homebred Loon Cry came flying on the far outside down the stretch to sweep past the field and draw clear to a one-length win in the $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash.
It was the third consecutive win and second straight in a stakes for Loon Cry ($10.80) following the Sweet Briar Too, also going six furlongs on the grass, Aug. 3 at Woodbine. The winning time was 1:08.44 over a firm Fort Marcy turf course.
Loon Cry was unhurried early as All That Magic broke alertly and took the 10-horse field through fractions of 23.34 and 45.60 seconds. Jockey Mychel Sanchez, who won a maiden special weight earlier on the card aboard 3-year-old filly Audacious for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, swung out to take a run at the leaders and Loon Cry responded with a dramatic rush to earn her seventh career win.
Queen of the Mud, favored at 9-5, finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Loon Cry’s Christophe Clement-trained stablemate Love Appeals. Hay Stack, All That Magic, Blame Day, L Street Lady, Shoshanah, Ms. Bucchero and Anaita followed, with also-eligibles Alla Breve, Carolina Hideaway and Isabel Alexandra scratched.
“There was some good speed in the race so [Clement] told me to just get a good break out of the gate and get good position. I was able to do that and save a lot of ground and after the way she’s breezed she gave me a really strong gear to the front,” Sanchez said. “I think she’s a fighter. When she goes to the front she was really, really running and then once she knew she won she slowed down like, ‘I got it.’”
Turf sprinter Sensible Lady took consecutive runnings of Pimlico’s The Very One in 2012 and 2013, two of her seven wins in 14 starts at 3 and 4. The Street Sense filly was trained by Tim Salzman for Three Lyons Racing, who purchased her for $9,500 as a 2-year-old at Ocala’s April sale. She went on to earn $436,640 from 22 starts. From May 2012 to June 2013, the filly won six stakes while racing at Pimlico, Colonial Downs, Penn National and Saratoga and placed in three others during the 10-race streak.