Bosserati Chasing Second Stakes Win in $75,000 Jameela
Among Three Stakes Worth $250,000 in Purses Sunday at Laurel
LAUREL, MD – Six-time stakes winner, recently Grade 2-placed and defending champion Witty and last out winner Mission Man, stablemates and younger half-brothers to retired multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire mare Caravel, are among an overflow field of 12 entered for Sunday’s $75,000 Ben’s Cat at Laurel Park.
The seventh running of the Ben’s Cat for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up scheduled for six furlongs over the Fort Marcy turf course is the last of three stakes worth $250,000 in purses on a nine-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.
Other stakes on the card are the $75,000 Jameela for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and older also going six furlongs on the Fort Marcy, and the listed $100,000 Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles on the Kelso turf course.
Out of the Congrats mare Zeezee Zoomzoom, Witty and Mission Man are bred and trained by Elizabeth Merryman, who continues to own Mission Man outright while having sold a share of Witty to Qatar Racing and Marc Detampel prior to his runner-up finish in the June 29 Highlander (G2) sprinting six furlongs on the Woodbine turf.
The 16-day turnaround would not be the fastest for Witty, who came back in 11 days to run fifth, beaten less than two lengths, in the Page McKenney Handicap last spring at Parx when he was trained by Merryman’s son, McLane Hendriks. A total of 12 horses were entered in the Ben’s Cat including one, Arden’sluckytobe, for main track only; a maximum of 10 will be allowed to run.
“I was thinking that Mission Man might turn back and sprint well, and I was thinking about taking a shot with him. Witty came out of his race at Woodbine very well, thankfully,” Merryman said. “Entries are so far out I figured I would enter him and see how he progresses during the week and make a last-minute decision if he draws in. If I decide I want to run him, I can scratch Mission Man and then he will draw in. At least the ball is in my court.”
Witty, a gelded 5-year-old son of Great Notion, has won three stakes each on the dirt and grass, including last year’s Ben’s Cat when it was contested at five furlongs in mid-September on the turf at historic Pimlico Race Course. There has been one previous two-time winner, Sonny Inspired, who captured the first two editions in 2016 and 2018, both at Laurel.
“Timing-wise, this race works the best moving through the rest of the year and our plans for him, so that’s one thing to consider. It’s been such a hot week we’ll just have to see if he seems like he’s going to bounce back that fast,” Merryman said. “I feel like he’s the type of horse that he kind of does better racing rather than having lots of breezes and things like that, and having a lot of time between races where he has to breeze multiple times and do too much. I feel like he enjoys the racing and he’s just better off trying to keep his fitness doing that.”
Jevian Toledo, scheduled to return to riding Saturday at Laurel after recovering from a collarbone injury suffered April 21, is named to ride. Toledo has been aboard for each of Witty’s last four wins, three in stakes including the Ben’s Cat.
“I think [Witty] is getting better, actually. He’s a very big horse and it just seems this year he’s really grown into himself,” Merryman said. “He has his routine down. He’s much more mature. He’s great mentally. Taylor Leatherman that gallops him every day says all the time that he just seems like a better horse this year to her.”
Mission Man snapped a five-race losing streak with a come-from-behind 1 ¼-length restricted allowance victory going 1 1/16 miles June 23 on the Laurel turf. The 4-year-old Holy Boss gelding has not run shorter than 7 ½ furlongs since finishing seventh while facing older horses last spring at Pimlico. Summer meet leading rider Jaime Rodriguez, up for his allowance triumph, has the return call.
“Jaime suited him very well, so I was very excited to be able to get him again,” Merryman said. “He’s always been one of those kinds of horses that’s in-between, distance-wise. He doesn’t really want to go long, so I thought the six furlongs might be really good for him. He has that huge, long stretch to close. He’s still a bit on the immature side and he’s a horse that doesn’t like to be told what to do very much. That’s the tricky part. It has to all be his idea. If it’s his idea to want to run them down in the stretch, there’s no doubt that he has the ability. It’s just talking him into it.”
The Ben’s Cat also includes Phil Capuano-trained stablemates Great Idea, third or better in 11 of 19 career starts, and Johnyz From Albany, a stakes winner on dirt that was fourth in his one previous try on grass; Bump N Run, fourth to Witty in the 5 ½-furlong King T. Leatherbury April 20 at Laurel; Tiz No Clown, yet to race on turf; Tidewater and Whenigettoheaven, respectively second and third behind Witty in the 2023 Maryland Million Turf Sprint; Matta, placed in four turf stakes including a third in last year’s Ben’s Cat; Had to Have Him, third in the Jan. 27 Spectacular Bid on Laurel’s main track; and Sue Loves Barbados.
Bred, owned and trained by Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury, Ben’s Cat won 32 of 63 career races, 26 stakes and more than $2.6 million in purses over eight racing seasons. A four-time Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, Ben’s Cat died July 18, 2017 of complications from colic surgery at the age of 11.
Bosserati Chasing Second Stakes Win in $75,000 Jameela
Joel Politi’s Maryland homebred Bosserati, who became a stakes winner last summer to cap a three-race win streak once moved to the grass, looks to duplicate that feat in her third race off a 10-month layoff in Sunday’s $75,000 Jameela at Laurel Park.
The 36th running of the Jameela for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up, scheduled for six furlongs on the Fort Marcy turf course, is the first of three stakes worth $250,000 in purses on a nine-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.
A 4-year-old daughter of Holy Boss, Bosserati began her career sprinting on the dirt. She captured her debut, a four-furlong maiden special weight at Timonium, and two starts later ran third in the Maryland Million Lassie. After finishing off the board in three of her next four starts, the decision was made to make a switch to the turf.
Bosserati responded with three straight wins, starting with a claiming event and open allowance each going five furlongs against older horses, before a front-running half-length triumph in the 5 ½-furlong Stormy Blues in mid-June at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Trained by Brittany Russell, Bosserati has never raced as far as six furlongs on the grass but exits a third in the 5 ½-furlong Goldwood June 22 at Monmouth Park where she set the pace in typical fashion before grudgingly giving way and finishing 1 ½ lengths back.
“I know it’s three-quarters but she’s speed and she likes it at home, and at least she’ll be back against state-breds. There’s some good Maryland-breds out there. She’s doing great,” Russell said. “She ran big at Monmouth and it seems like she came out of it great, so it was nice to see the old Bosserati back in form.”
Russell brought Bosserati back off her layoff in the five-furlong The Very One May 17 on the undercard of the 100th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico where she chased eventual winner Future Is Now, who came back to win the Intercontinental (G2) June 8 at Saratoga. Russell is hoping the third race back will produce an improved performance from Monmouth.
“For a minute I thought she was going to steal it in Jersey that day, but we were really proud of her effort,” she said. “She’s a fast filly, so at this stage I just have to keep her happy and healthy and hope that they’re good spots for her.”
Russell’s husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, gets the riding assignment from the rail in an overflow field of 12 that includes main-track-only entrant Royal Whisper. A maximum of 10 horses are allowed to run.
Trainer Mike Trombetta, who passed on the Jameela with Future Is Now, will be represented by another R. Larry Johnson homebred in Hollywood Walk. The 5-year-old Animal Kingdom mare ran third to her stablemate in Pimlico’s The Very One and sixth in the Goldwood but has placed in stakes on both dirt and turf and was fifth in last year’s Jameela after a troubled start.
Similarly back from last year’s Jameela is Shamrock Farm homebred Money’s Worth, who finished third. In her first start in five months, the Graham Motion trainee opened her 5-year-old season running second in an April 28 optional claiming allowance sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the Laurel turf. She is seeking her first grass win after having two seconds and two thirds in five previous tries.
Also entered are Speightful Sis, a winner of two of her last three races, both sprinting on the grass; Bay Street, third in the seven-furlong Conniver over Laurel’s main track March 16; Alla Breve, last out winner of an open 5 ½-furlong allowance June 14 on the Laurel turf; One Silk Stocking, fourth by 1 ¼ lengths in the 2023 Megahertz (G3) going one mile on the grass last winter at Santa Anita; Double Fireball, beaten a head when second in the 1 1/8-mile Maryland Million Ladies on turf last fall; and Kissed by Fire, fifth by two lengths after setting the pace in the 6 ½-furlong Las Cienegas (G3) Jan. 14 at Santa Anita.
Mattitude, a winner of two straight that has made 13 consecutive dirt starts and is winless in three tries on grass including a fifth, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in the 2022 Jameela, is the lone also-eligible.
Meaning ‘beautiful’ in Arabic, Jameela won 16 stakes including the Maskette (G1), Ladies (G1) and Delaware (G1) handicaps before being retired following the 1982 season as the first Maryland-bred to surpass $1 million in lifetime earnings. She had two foals, the first being 1988 champion sprinter Gulch, before passing away from colic in 1985. She was elected to the Maryland-bred Hall of Fame in 2013.