Ex-Maker Assistant Taking Aim at Maryland Million Turf Sprint
Eubanks’ Hoping to Punctuate Career Year in Maryland Million
LAUREL, MD – Whenigettoheaven has already provided Nolan Ramsey with two career milestones, and the 5-year-old gelding has a chance to give the fledgling trainer another one Saturday at Laurel Park.
Less than six months since going out on his own after nine years as the top assistant to decorated trainer Mike Maker, the 27-year-old Ramsey will saddle Whenigettoheaven in the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint.
The Turf Sprint, a 5 ½-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for the Dahlia turf course, is among eight stakes and four starter stakes worth $1.08 million in purses on the 39th Jim McKay Maryland Million program.
‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state is highlighted by the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up. First race post time is 11:30 a.m.
Owned by his grandfather, multiple Eclipse Award-winning horseman Ken Ramsey, Whenigettoheaven will be the first Maryland Million starter for Nolan Ramsey, who has maintained a string at both Laurel and Gulfstream Park since getting his solo career under way in the spring.
“Maryland Million has always been a big day and we’ve always had some really nice Maryland-bred and Maryland-sired horses when I was with Maker, so it’s always fun showing up on the big days,” Ramsey said. “Obviously, I’m a little new on the scene here but I know what this day means to Maryland racing, so to participate in it is definitely special but to be coming in with a horse that’s going to be vying for favoritism in one of the big races is amazing. If we could walk away with a win on Maryland Million day it would mean a lot to me.”
Whenigettoheaven, bred in Maryland by R. Larry Johnson, has raced three times since joining Ramsey. Claimed for $62,500 out of a five-furlong turf sprint March 1 at Gulfstream Park, the Street Magician gelding captured an optional claiming allowance sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the grass June 7 to give Ramsey his first ever win at Laurel.
In his next start, Whenigettoheaven stalked the pace and came with a steady run to reel in Tidewater and win Laurel’s six-furlong Ben’s Cat by a neck as the favorite July 14 – Ramsey’s first career stakes victory.
“When you get your first stakes win, that’s something that you’re never going to forget,” he said. “I found this horse back in March with the idea of taking him back up to Maryland. He’s definitely treated me well – three starts, two wins and just got beat his last race. I’ve had no complaints with him.”
Last time out, multiple stakes winner Determined Kingdom was able to hold off Whenigettoheaven by three-quarters of a length in the 5 ½-furlong Meadow Stable Aug. 31 at Colonial Downs. Overall Whenigettoheaven, originally trained by Michael Trombetta, owns three wins and two thirds from six tries on the Laurel turf.
“I think five-eighths of a mile is too short for him and at Laurel they write 5 ½ races so that seemed to be exactly what he wanted. We stretched out to three-quarters in the Ben’s Cat and I guess we needed just about every jump of ground there to catch a really nice horse,” Ramsey said. “We were cutting back on distance last time and I was confident on distance, but the winner is a really, really nice horse. I knew he was going to be tough to get by.
“At the head of the lane I thought we were going to actually get by him. He floated out a little bit and the rider decided to go inside with him,” he added. “It’s kind of a tossup as far as what was the right call. The horse floated out pretty wide down the stretch. It’s kind of one of those things you look at and think if we stayed to the outside, do we get by? Maybe we do, maybe we don’t. I don’t really know, but I thought he ran a really good race against a very nice horse.”
Whenigettoheaven is rated at 5-2 on the morning line, second choice behind 7-5 favorite and Grade 2-placed defending champion Witty. J.G. Torrealba, aboard in all his starts for Ramsey, rides back from Post 3.
“We’re staying at 5 ½ [furlongs] on Saturday on a track he’s proven to like. Looking at the race I think things are going to set up pretty well for him,” Ramsey said. “We’ve gotten three really, really good races from him. It was a shame to get beat in his last race as good as he ran, but we caught a really nice horse and just couldn’t get by. I like my draw Saturday on a track he likes at a distance he likes, so I expect a really big effort from him.”
Eubanks’ Hoping to Punctuate Career Year in Maryland Million
Rising Sun Racing Stables, Inc.’s Dan Eubanks has always dreamed of winning a Maryland Million race, not only for himself but his mother, trainer Annette Eubanks. Doing it this year would make it even more special.
Eubanks, 80, is enjoying one of the finest seasons of her 38-year training career, already having banked a personal best $515,473 in purse earnings from just 64 starters, surpassing the $456,662 from a year ago. Her 16 wins are the most since she had 20 in 2016 and 12 shy of her high of 28 in 2000.
At Laurel Park’s calendar year-ending fall meet which opened Sept. 7, Eubanks is batting 1.000 with three wins, four seconds and one third from eight starters. And she’s managed to do it all while recovering from recent knee replacement surgery.
According to Equibase statistics Eubanks has run 13 times in the Maryland Million, the best finishes being fifths with One Two Punch in the 1993 Maryland Million Handicap, her first starter, and Stormy Mama in the 2018 Distaff Starter Handicap, her most recent. She’ll have two more on Saturday’s 39th Jim McKay Maryland Million program – Brilliant Ice in the featured $150,000 Classic and Band Camp in the $100,000 Sprint.
“My mom’s been laid up with the knee replacement,” Dan Eubanks said. “This would mean so much if we could get a win with Band Camp, and add Brilliant Ice to the mix, as well. He grew up on our farm, also.”
Mother and son bred and own Band Camp, who enters the Sprint a neck shy of six consecutive wins. The 4-year-old Bandbox gelding is 7-for-10 this year, tied for the third-most wins of any horse in the country, and is rated at 6-1 on the morning line.
Crystal Park Stables, Inc.’s Brilliant Ice is a 5-year-old homebred by Great Notion, Maryland’s leading sire since 2016 that has produced at least one Maryland Million winner for 14 consecutive years. The four-time winner is unraced since finishing second by a nose in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Aug. 11 at Laurel.
The Eubanks’ operate Hillbizion Farm in Lothian, Md., located approximately an hour southeast of Laurel. Rising Sun is also seeking its first Maryland Million winner, most recently running eighth with Six Pack Sara in the 2022 Distaff Starter Handicap.
With her son as one of her primary clients, Annette Eubanks has enjoyed a steady rise in wins and purses over the past three years. Brilliant Ice and Band Camp are respectively the second and fourth-richest horses she’s trained behind Pentakato ($251,380). Rising Sun’s top horse was Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Colonel Sharp.
“It’s huge. It’s definitely a good way to keep morale going,” Dan Eubanks said. “I’ve always kind of been involved in the horses but not as much as I am now. It started a few years back when I took over the breeding and handling that aspect for her. It’s starting to pay dividends and it’s providing some extra money, as well. We’ve gotten some good horses at the sale and it’s kind of all clicking right now. Hopefully we can keep it together.”