Olivia’s Legacy favored on the Lassie morning line
Kerness K goes for 11th straight victory
LAUREL, MD—The two fastest 2-year-olds to race in Maryland this year meet in Saturday’s $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Maryland Million Nursery at six furlongs.
Both Walt’s Notion and Aruba Ariba have earned 76 Beyer Speed Figures, the top in the state, and they drew alongside each other in the starting gate.
Louis Ulman, Walter Vieser II, and Michael Scheffres’s Walt’s Notion, the 4-5 favorite on Horse Racing Nation’s morning line, is the field’s only two-time winner. He captured his debut at Delaware Park on August 14 with a 71 Beyer, then finished a close second in the restricted First State Dash Stakes there on September 11.
“The first time when he broke his maiden, it looked like he was kind of looking around,” noted trainer Phil Capuano. “He just really wasn’t focused out there. On the gallop-out in the stake, he just stuck right next to that horse, and didn’t really keep on going. He came back, and he really wasn’t blowing. He didn’t act like he was tired.”
Thus, Capuano equipped Walt’s Notion with blinkers for his most recent start, the James F. Lewis III Stakes at Laurel on October 3.
The horse responded well to the change, wiring the field by 1 ¼ lengths.
“For a Great Notion, a lot of them are hot-blooded and -tempered,” Capuano told track publicity after the James F. Lewis III. “He’s very quiet. He’s one of those you almost think he’s half asleep. He doesn’t turn a hair to anything.”
Paco Lopez will ride Walt’s Notion, who will break from post 9.
Trainer Jerry Robb is the winningest active trainer in Maryland Million history, and he’ll hope to add to that total with No Guts No Glory Farm and CL Stables’s Aruba Ariba (9-2 ML, Xavier Perez, post 10), who dominated a waiver maiden race at Laurel on October 9. The Holy Boss gelding won by 9 ¾ lengths as the odds-on favorite.
SAB Stable’s Monster Mitch (5-1 ML, Charlie Marquez, post 6) has started only once, but he made a strong impression by beating Aruba Ariba in a five-furlong waiver maiden on September 13.
“I thought the distance might get him beat,” said trainer Hugh McMahon. “Because he’s big, it takes him a while to get it together leaving the gate.”
McMahon has noticed a more mature Monster Mitch in recent weeks. “I think he’s come on since that race. Sometimes, after the first race, the light goes on, and I think that’s the case with him.”
Monster Mitch is a son of Great Notion, out of three-time stakes-winner Las Setas, a mare trained by Monster Mitch’s breeder, Katy Voss.
“When we purchased him, Katy Voss told me we had a good one,” McMahon said. “She reiterated that after he won. And the guy who was getting on him at Katy’s farm said we had a good one. So he did something to impress people before.”
Trainer Jamie Ness counters with Eclipseness (15-1 ML, Mychel Sanchez, post 8), a gelding he bred and owns under the Jagger Inc. name. Blofeld’s son won his third start, a $25,000 maiden claimer at Delaware on October 9.
“I’ve always thought he has a lot of talent,” Ness admitted. “He’s still putting it all together. There’s still more there. Hopefully, he’s growing up and ready to take his best shot.”
Hope Jones’s Derry Moon (15-1 ML, Vincent Cheminaud, post 3) came from well off the pace to win his career debut for trainer Cal Lynch.
Charles Blanford and Teresa Haupt’s Uncle K O (20-1 ML, Forest Boyce, post 1) finished fourth in his career debut at Delaware on September 30. Trainer Anthony Pecoraro believes the Uncle Lino gelding “will get better as they go a little further.”
Stakes-placed Futile Gesture, El Pantera, Call It, and Sip of Manhattan also entered. Remembertheword and Metallican are on the Also Eligible list.
*Olivia’s Legacy favored on the Lassie morning line
Blanford and Haupt’s Olivia’s Legacy, never out of the exacta in four starts, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the $100,000 Glenangus Farm Maryland Million Lassie for juvenile fillies at six furlongs.
Trained by Pecoraro, Olivia’s Legacy won her most recent start, a non-two allowance race at Delaware on September 25.
“I had been training her before she had ever run to stand behind horses and take dirt,” Pecoraro said about that rallying victory. “I was disappointed that she lost the two she lost, but that’s horse racing. When I trained her with some other horses [before her debut], she was the biggest of them all. She did everything very well. She’s been very easy to train. I think [she’s] coming up to her biggest performance.”
Just a Smooch (4-1 ML, Carol Cedeno, post 5) looked sharp, winning her debut in a $50,000 maiden claimer over muddy Delaware on October 3.
“I was surprised that she showed that speed,” said trainer Lynn Ashby. “In her works, she showed that she could close on horses. I was delighted.”
Just a Smooch prepped for the Lassie with a bullet five-eighths breeze at Delaware on October 16.
“I gave her some company to run down, and she got to them,” Ashby recalled. “Then she galloped out really nicely. We’re ready.”
Ashby is impressed by Just a Smooch’s demeanor. “Her attitude is that she’s the one. She just has that strut to her. Once she understands what you want, she’s great. Carol has always been on this filly. Her gallop-outs have touted her.”
Hamilton Smith bred, owns, and trains Talking Foolish (9-2 ML, Jevian Toledo, post 3), a Blofeld filly who finished third in the Smart Halo Stakes on October 3. That afternoon, Talking Foolish appeared to bear out on the backstretch and into the turn, so Smith will add blinkers for the Lassie.
“That’s the main reason [for blinkers],” Smith said. “She never gave [jockey Taylor Kingsley] a chance to ride in that race. We’ve worked on her since then, made a few changes, and it looks like she’s doing pretty well right now.”
Talking Foolish breezed a half-mile in blinkers on October 18, clocking a quick 47.60.
Stakes-placed Mountain Mamba joins the maiden winners Blo Your Mind, Belle Shot, and Whose Notion, along with the maidens Legend’s Girl, Alta Vista Chapel, Adding Dixie, and Bourbon N Music.
*Kerness K goes for 11th straight victory
Kerness K, currently America’s winningest horse in 2026, seeks his 11th consecutive win in the $50,000 Willow Oaks Farm Starter Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at seven furlongs.
Kerness K, a winner in 10 of 12 starts this year, must carry 129 pounds as the 4-5 favorite on the morning line. Martin Chuan rides from post 11.
Trainer Jamie Ness and Morris Kernan Jr. purchased Kerness K for $70,000 as a yearling. They earned a couple of stakes placings with the horse before he was claimed for $40,000 following his final start in 2024.
Ness waited for an opportunity to reclaim Kerness K, and he did so for $7,500 after a win at Laurel on March 13, which marked the start of his current run of success.
“Everything went right,” Ness said about the streak. “We won a couple by a nose, a neck, a head. His last race was very impressive. I like the seven-eighths distance. It seems like he wants to drop back and make a big run. He’s been a solid horse. He trains great, he runs great. We space his races just right. I expect a good effort.”
When asked whether he felt any extra pressure saddling such a heavy favorite on a long winning streak, Ness replied, “It’s more excitement than pressure. Win or lose, we’ve got our sights set on the Claiming Crown at Churchill. Those are the two goals. We’ve got to get by this one.”