Seven-Furlong Sprint for Maryland-Bred/Sired 3YO Fillies Sunday
Jockey Julio Hernandez Sweeps Early Double in Friday Hat Trick
LAUREL, MD – Multiple stakes winner Miss Harriett, bred and owned by David Baxter’s Narrow Leaf Farms, steps out of open company for the first time since her stunning upset of the 2023 Maryland Million Lassie in Sunday’s $75,000 Miss Disco at Laurel Park.
The seventh running of the seven-furlong Miss Disco for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-old fillies is one of two stakes on a 10-race program headlined by the $100,000 Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the Dahlia turf course.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Miss Harriett is a half-sister to Baxter-bred Keep Momma Happy, winner of the 2012 Maryland Million Nursery in his career debut. The daughter of Blofeld matched her sibling’s feat in a 62-1 shocker of last fall’s six-furlong Lassie, winning by a neck as the lone first-time starter in a field of 13.
“This race fits us perfect,” said trainer Brandon McFarlane, who is based at historic Pimlico Race Course. “It’s a good spot – good distance, good company, [and] she’s won over there. It’s just right for her.”
Miss Harriett has raced six times this year with two wins, including a popular three-quarter-length triumph in the seven-furlong Wide Country Feb. 24 at Laurel. From there she was sent to New York, where she ran fourth in the six-furlong Cicada March 16 before returning to Maryland for her two-turn debut in the Weber City Miss, where she ran third.
McFarlane cut Miss Harriett back to six furlongs for her graded debut in the May 17 Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico, and last out tried her on turf in the 5 ½-furlong Stormy Blues June 16, enduring a troubled trip where she was unable to establish the front-running style indicative of her best races.
“Two times ago it wasn’t exactly the race we wanted but I wanted to run her at her own track and that was the only chance. When you’ve got a horse like this it’s kind of tough because there’s only certain spots you can go in. Literally there’s no other races besides those races,” McFarlane said.
“But we did want to try her on the turf, and she ran pretty good and she galloped out really nice. She didn’t have the greatest trip and she didn’t get beat far for everything,” he added. “I knew all along that this was the race we were going for, so a little turf to dirt angle won’t hurt anything, either.”
Forest Boyce, aboard in the Stormy Blues, gets the return call from Post 2 in a field of six as the 124-pound highweight, giving from four to six pounds to her rivals.
“This will definitely be a little class relief, and a smaller field, too. It’s perfect,” McFarlane said. “She’s doing well, she’s happy, she’s eating up, [and] she came out of the last race good. I like the way she’s going into it.”
Repole Stable’s Overly Dramatic, bred in Maryland by Determined Stud, will be making her sixth career start and stakes debut in the Miss Disco for trainer Brittany Russell. The Into Mischief filly went unraced at 2 and was sixth in a pair of starts over the winter at Gulfstream Park, one on the turf, for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
Since coming north, Overly Dramatic has won two of three races starting with a 4 ¾-length waiver maiden claiming triumph March 15 sprinting six furlongs. Third May 16 at Pimlico behind Kilo Road and next-out winner Goodnightngodbless, who dead-heated for first, Overly Dramatic returned with a determined three-quarter-length optional claiming allowance score going 5 ½ furlongs June 7 at Laurel.
“This filly, there’s not much to her,” Russell said. “She’s not a real big filly but she trains like a good filly. Sometimes that happens with these racehorses. She’s got it, mentally, and she’s trained really well. I think it’s a good spot to take a step up into stakes company.
“These racehorses come in all shapes and sizes and she might be small, but she’s just tough. She wants to do it, and you see that in her training every day,” she added. “You see it in her breezes, and it was good to see it in the afternoon especially in that [last] race.”
Russell’s husband, Sheldon Russell, rides from Post 4 in what will be Overly Dramatic’s longest race on dirt. Her lone turf start came at one mile.
“The thing about it is it’s around one turn, so I feel fine with it,” Brittany Russell said. “She’s training sharp so she’ll probably be forwardly placed, but I think if she can settle in and get that first quarter under her, hopefully, she’ll keep going.”
Daughter of Time, most recently third in the six-furlong Maryfield June 29 at Monmouth Park; My Brazilian Girl, sixth in the one-mile Tepin June 29 on the Churchill Downs turf in her lone start this year; and Go Sherry Go and Enemynumbernine, respectively fifth and 10th behind Miss Harriett in the Lassie, complete the field. My Brazilian Girl is cross-entered in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight on the turf Sunday at Ellis Park.
Bred in Maryland by Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Miss Disco was a multiple stakes winner during her racing career but is best known as the dam of Hall of Famer Bold Ruler, winner of the Preakness (G1) and Horse of the Year in 1957 and sire of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. She was named Broodmare of the Year in 1958.
Notes: Jockey Julio Hernandez swept Friday’s early daily double aboard Beyond the Pale ($10.80) in Race 1 and Fightertown ($8.40) in Race 2, completing his hat trick with Hasting Farm’s even-money favorite Jean Valjean ($4) in featured Race 7, a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on a firm All Along turf course. The 5-year-old gelding completed the distance in 1:00.83 to register his second straight win … Rainy Skies ($5.40) surged to the lead in mid-stretch and went on to capture Race 8, an entry-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up, his third win in five starts since being claimed by trainer Kieron Magee. The winning time was 1:38.65 for one mile on a fast main track … The 20-cent Rainbow 6 was solved Friday for a $5,300.72 jackpot payout after 9-year-old Tom Hagen ($12.60) wired the Race 9 finale in 1:40.77 for 1 1/16 miles on the Dahlia turf course. There will be a carryover of $1,213.76 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) for Saturday’s nine-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.