Late Nite Call graduates in speedy fashion
LAUREL, MD – He’s no longer a secret.
Secret Zipper won his fourth consecutive start when he wired a solid field in Friday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park, a $53,000 second-level allowance with a $40,000 claiming option at 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by Gary Capuano for owner and breeder Frank Sample, Secret Zipper broke from the advantageous inside post in the two-turn affair and soon made the lead under jockey J. G. Torrealba.
Despite being hounded by Crossland through splits of 24.25 and 48.00 seconds, Secret Zipper put away his pace rival after a six-furlong clocking of 1:12.68.
Secret Zipper got a little tired inside the final furlong as he hopped back to his left lead approaching the wire, but still had enough to beat rallying longshot Curlin’s Malibu by two lengths in 1:45.97 over the fast track.
Crossland tried hard but wound up third, a length behind the runner-up. Then came Magic Michael, Little Lance, and Your Analysis. Just Call Ray scratched.
Secret Zipper returned $3.20 as the prohibitive favorite.
“He got a little late toward the end, but it looked like a decent time over a deep track like that,” Capuano said. “Knock on wood, this horse has really gotten good.”
Foaled in Maryland, Secret Zipper is a hulking 4-year-old gelding by Raised a Secret. His younger half-sister, Onyx Ten, starts for Capuano and Sample tomorrow in the $100,000 Wide Country Stakes.
Capuano also has stakes aspirations for Secret Zipper and mentioned Laurel’s $100,000 Native Dancer Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles on April 12 as a potential next destination.
“The time between is really good for him,” Capuano said. “He’s pretty easy to train. He gets really tough, so you have to be careful you don’t do too much in the mornings.”
Late Nite Call graduates in speedy fashion
“It’s nice to get that done,” trainer Niall Saville said after Late Nite Call took the field gate to wire in the fourth race, a $47,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
“She’s the only horse we’ve run in the last three months. We’ve had a bit of a rough winter.”
Late Nite Call is a handful. She debuted in a six-furlong maiden special weight at Laurel on Nov. 15 and finished a late-running sixth with a strong gallop out.
“I was surprised she lacked so much speed when we first ran her,” Saville said. “She was very immature mentally. There’s no off switch for her. When we started her off last year, you could have very easily got her wound up and ran her 5 ½ on the grass at Colonial. I stopped myself from doing it because I thought [long on dirt] was the way forward.”
Late Nite Call, making her fourth career start for owner Richard E. Harris, went right to the lead under jockey Tyler Conner and controlled relaxed fractions of 25.20, 50.35, and 1:16.09.
“We’re really happy with the way she went on [the lead] and was mature enough to [relax],” Saville said.
Passage East loomed boldly turning for home, but Late Nite Call would have none of it, rebreaking to win by 3 ¼ lengths in 1:49.23.
“Tyler said there’s plenty left there,” Saville said. “Hopefully, we’ve got more. She’s going to get better, I think. She loves this track.”
Late Nite Call paid $9.20 to win as the third choice in the wagering.
Bred in Virginia by the late R. Larry Johnson, Late Nite Call is an Audible half-sister to multiple stakes-placed Mr Jefferson. Harris purchased her for $25,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Timonium yearling sale.
In her second start, Late Nite Call finished fourth over sloppy going, a surface that Saville said was not to her liking. She then placed second against males in her two-turn debut, a maiden special weight at Parx on Jan. 28.
“We thought she only got beat at Parx because she started looking around,” Saville said. “She’ll do that here in the mornings, too.”
Saville looks forward to stepping Late Nite Call up in class.
“Hopefully, there are some of those better, longer races [for her] before all that turf racing starts because I don’t think she has any interest in that.”
Around the track:
Stakes-winner It’s Hammertime, most recently fourth in Aqueduct’s Nashua on Nov. 2, breezed a bullet three-eighths in 36.80 seconds on Friday morning for Capuano. “He had a shin that was bugging him a little bit,” Capuano said. “He’s not a real big horse, but he put on some weight. He looks really good. He’s happy.”…Binnie, a 4-year-old filly riding a three-race winning streak for trainer Brittany Russell, went a half-mile in 49.20. The Great Notion filly captured a second-level allowance on Oct. 24, her final start of 2024…Great Andrei, never off the board from five starts last year, including a second to divisional leader Caprice in Laurel’s Smart Halo Stakes on Nov. 9, breezed six furlongs in 1:17.40 Thursday morning…Maryland Million Nursery winner Do It For Michael worked in identical time for Robb…Live racing resumes Saturday with a first post time of 12:10 pm ET. There are two $100,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds on the nine-race program, with the Miracle Wood at one mile and the Wide Country for fillies at seven furlongs…Doors open at 11 am with special Saudi Cup wagering offered on races 7-9 from King Abdulaziz Racetrack.
