Multiple Stakes-Winning 6YO Goes Five Furlongs Sunday at Laurel
Stakes-Winning Stablemate Johnyz From Albany Sharp in Sunday Breeze
LAUREL, MD – Multiple stakes winner Alwaysinahurry, owned by Maury Povich’s Mopo Racing, will be facing a stakes-quality field in his second start off a year layoff when Laurel Park’s summer meet resumes Friday.
Alwaysinahurry breezed five-eighths of a mile over a fast Laurel main track Sunday in 1:02.20 ahead of a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs that also drew fellow stakes winners Golden Candy, Karan’s Notion, Classier and Exculpatory.
The 6-year-old Alwaysinahurry won the 2021 Concern, 2022 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial and 2023 Frank Y. Whiteley sprinting on the Laurel dirt, the latter last April in his most recent victory. He went exactly 12 months between starts when he returned to be sixth in a similar allowance spot May 25 at historic Pimlico Race Course after having run fourth by less than a length to multiple stakes winner Sir Wellington in an open Delaware Park allowance the previous spring.
“He definitely needed that last race,” trainer Phil Capuano said. “He hadn’t run in a year prior to that. I gave him a little time off after the Delaware race and then when we brought him back in the winter, we just had to take care of a couple things with him. I’m hoping second race off the layoff he’ll have improved.”
Purchased for $70,000 in the fall of 2019, Alwaysinahurry owns a career record of 7-6-4 from 27 starts with $448,902 in purse earnings. He has been third or better in nine of 15 lifetime tries at Laurel with four wins.
“He’s an old war horse. He doesn’t owe us anything, that’s for sure,” Capuano said. “He still loves his job, he loves to train, so we’ll see how it plays out.”
Alwaysinahurry worked in company with Louis Ulman and Stephen Parker’s stakes-placed 5-year-old mare Whiteknuckleflyer, who is entered in Race 5 Friday, a second-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and older scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the All Along turf course.
“She’s another one that ran a couple weeks ago first time off the layoff,” Capuano said. “She’s doing all right. She’s kind of a closer and so far, the turf hasn’t really played to her strengths. It’s been pretty speed-favoring. If she can get a good break, get a good trip, I think she’ll be tough.”
Capuano also sent out Charles Reed’s Maryland homebred Johnyz From Albany for a five-furlong breeze in 1:01, fastest of nine horses. Winner of the Maryland Million Nursery and second to multiple graded-stakes winner and Met Mile (G1) runner-up Post Time in the Maryland Juvenile as a 2-year-old in 2022, Johnyz From Albany has not raced since finishing seventh in an optional claiming allowance Dec. 29 at Laurel.
“He’s not far from running. I’d say probably early to mid-July, second week of July, he’d probably be ready to run,” Capuano said. “We just gave him the winter off. He just had a hard summer campaign and fall so I thought it would be best to give him some time off. He’s been coming back good, looks good [and is] feeling good so we’ll just kind of see what happens with him this year.”
After going 2-2-1 from five starts at 2, Johnyz From Albany ran nine times at 3 with a record of 2-3-1 and pushed his lifetime bankroll to $263,070.
“He’s been doing good, so hopefully he can pick up where he left off last year. If he improves a little bit, I think he’ll be tough going forward,” Capuano said. “He’s been working good and doing everything pretty easy so far. As he’s gotten older, he’s gotten more mature and relaxed a lot. Hopefully we’ll see that culminate in the afternoon.”
Notes: The husband and wife combination of jockey Sheldon Russell and trainer Brittany Russell teamed up for a pair of winners Sunday, Jolly Boss ($5.60) in Race 1 and Magically Vanished ($4.20) in Race 4 … Jockey Jaime Rodriguez also doubled aboard Mission Man ($8) in Race 3 and Goodnightgodbless ($8.80) in Race 8 … Repole Stable’s 3-year-old filly Magically Vanished, a $310,000 daughter of Good Magic making her career debut, romped by 18 ¾ lengths in 1:47.87 on a fast main track and was claimed for $20,000 by Charles A. Frock … 4-year-old gelding Mission Man, a younger half-brother to multiple stakes winners Caravel and Witty bred, owned and trained by Liz Merryman, took the lead in mid-stretch and edged clear by 1 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up. The winning time was 1:42.06 over a firm Fort Marcy turf course … Race 5, a starter optional claimer going one mile on the Kelso turf course, featured a dead-heat for the win between a rallying The Last Scip ($4.60) and 9-year-old pacesetter Majestic Eagle ($5.20) … Richard Burnsworth’s Faster Gator ($3.80), a 2-year-old son of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Vekoma, drew off to win his unveiling in Race 6, a five-furlong maiden special weight in 59.42 seconds as the 4-5 favorite … There will be carryovers of $1,325.31 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) and $685.10 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) when live racing resumes Friday, June 28. Post time is 12:25 p.m.