Agreed gives sharp debut effort
LAUREL, MD – Brimming with confidence after booting home 19-1 shot I Can Do It earlier in the day, jockey Alexander Crispin took no prisoners aboard pacesetting No Cents in Friday’s featured seventh race at Laurel Park, a $56,000 conditioned allowance at six furlongs.
“I was looking at the program and saw a really nice horse,” Crispin said about No Cents, who won the James F. Lewis III and Heft Stakes at Laurel as a 2-year-old in 2020. “Once he popped out of the gate, I just let him do his thing. He made it look easy.”
Trained by Cal Lynch, No Cents made his first start of the year on Friday and was fresh from the opening jump. Immediately two lengths clear of his closest pursuer, No Cents sauntered uncontested through splits of 22.87 and 46.35 and had plenty left in the drive to deny Talented Man by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:10.96 over a sealed, sloppy track.
“I got a confident horse that does everything nice,” Crispin continued. “It’s like being in a team together, making it work. Everything goes well when both are confident.”
Foaled in New Jersey, No Cents is a homebred owned by Isabelle de Tomaso and Hope Jones. After winning those two stakes, No Cents endured a tough stretch, winning only one of his next 20 starts despite earning eight stakes placings.
No Cents won his penultimate start of 2024, a conditioned allowance at Laurel on Oct. 10, then polished off his 6-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in a high-level allowance here on Dec. 6.
A Goldencents half-brother to stakes-placed dirt sprinter Pianzi, No Cents has won seven of 28 starts for $472,280.
*Agreed gives sharp debut effort
Agreed looked very proud of himself as track photographer Jim McCue took his winner’s circle photo.
Some might say he smirked at the camera as if to say, “I told you so.”
Making his career debut in the fifth race, a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds at six furlongs, favored Agreed ran to his backing, rallying up the inside under jockey Sheldon Russell to beat fellow Uncle Mo-sired first-time starter Pediatrician by 2 ¾ lengths.
A homebred owned by Repole Stables, Agreed impressed trainer Brittany Russell from the moment he walked into the paddock.
“When you watched all these guys getting saddled in this race, he’s walking around here with his head down like a pony,” Russell said. “Super quiet, and the rest of them are jumping around, acting funny. You love to see that. He was quiet, classy, and he ran.”
Agreed broke tardily from the rail post, but Sheldon Russell allowed the bay gelding to settle into a sweet rhythm as Bernie the Star and Pediatrician carved out fractions of 23.15 and 47.66 seconds.
Agreed advanced along the inside without urging to race in the inner pocket, and his rider remained motionless until inside the quarter pole. Turning for home, Agreed altered course sharply inside Bernie the Star and produced a strong stretch kick to complete the distance in 1:13.30.
Brittany Russell wasn’t surprised by Agreed’s professionalism. “You’re always a little concerned with a first-time starter [breaking from the rail], but since he showed up, he’s worked every week, he’s been really easy, he’s handled everything. If you’re going to have to do it, this is the type of horse that should handle it.”
Despite the slow start, her confidence soared as the race unfolded.
“I actually loved the trip,” she said. “Sheldon knows what to do. [Agreed] was tugging on him pretty good, but it was a good learning experience.”
From a pedigree perspective, Agreed has plenty of options.
He is a half-brother to Grade 3-placed dirt router Billal out of a Bernardini half-sister to Grade 3-winning synthetic router Perfect Bullet, Grade 2-placed synthetic router Perfect Bullet, and stakes-placed turf router Sweet Sting.
His second dam, champion grass mare Perfect Sting, captured three Grade 1 races, including the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
