Metallican remains unbeaten for trainer Jamie Ness
LAUREL, MD—It had been almost nine years since trainer Joe Murphy last served as a trainer of record in the United States, but he returned with a flourish at Laurel Park on Friday, saddling two winners, including Remembertheword in the co-featured fourth race.
When trainer Jose Corrales was suspended on October 3, he reached out to his close friend Murphy, with whom he’s traveled the world in search of winners, to take over his stable during the appeal process.
Murphy’s day began splendidly. Always Forward ($15.40) rallied from the inside down the long stretch of the one-mile run to upset the second race under jockey Jorge Hernandez. Murphy’s other entrant, Skip Thru Da Fire, finished third.
Remembertheword, Always Forward’s younger half-brother, upset the heavily favored Strong Suspicion in the fourth heat, a first-level allowance race for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs.
Remembertheword, a chestnut gelding by Thousand Words, tugged jockey Jean Briceno forward to confront the favored pacesetter while racing along the inside. Briceno eventually settled his mount in the pocket, then cut the corner into the stretch to challenge his rival.
For a moment, it appeared Strong Suspicion would storm back, but his fight flattened, and Remembertheword drew away to win by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:24.84 on a fast track. Strong Suspicion cushioned the fall of one place and show bridgejumper by holding second, safely 4 ½ lengths ahead of Murphy’s other entrant, Baru.
Remembertheword returned $28.80 to win.
“I just came in and maintained everything the way it should be,” said Murphy, a 62-year-old New York native who used Corrales as a rider while he trained horses in Macau. “I’ve been doing this my whole life. I trained in Asia for 20-something years. My oldest son was born there. This isn’t my first rodeo.”
Murphy comes from a family of racetrackers. His brother, Declan, won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 1983. Their father served as a longtime jockey’s valet and tack-room attendant at New York tracks. Joe Murphy’s first job on the track was walking hots for trainer Doug Petersen, who conditioned Hall of Famer Seattle Slew during his 4-year-old campaign.
“I’ve worked with Jose for a long time,” Murphy continued. “I’ve been shipping horses a lot, but [training] has always been my thing. Jose trusts me. He knows me. He wanted to keep me with Charles Parker [owner of Barak Farm], and we went from there.”
Murphy described the difficult circumstances the barn has faced. “It’s hard. I feel bad for Jose. We’ve been friends, and all of a sudden, you’re out, and you can’t talk to him. I’ve got some good people around me. I know them all. That made it a little smoother. I didn’t want to go in there thinking I’m some superstar. I just said I’d do a little less. They looked good.”
Remembertheword, a Barak Farm homebred out of Requesting (by Giant’s Causeway), might be pointed toward restricted stakes races in Maryland during the fall and winter.
*Metallican remains unbeaten for trainer Jamie Ness
Metallican, an elegant gray colt by Volatile, remained unbeaten in three starts after surging down the stretch on the Bowl Game Turf Course to win the third race, a first-level allowance race for 2-year-olds at 5 ½ furlongs.
Metallican, a homebred owned by trainer Jamie Ness’s Jagger Inc. in partnership with Super C Racing, was bumped leaving the starting gate but soon righted himself to race outside and in the second flight under jockey Carlos Lopez.
Joke Teller, who Metallican narrowly defeated over this distance at Laurel last month, led the field deep into the stretch but couldn’t turn the tables. At the wire, Metallican won by three-parts-of-a-length.
The race was a virtual carbon copy of the September 20 affair. Futile Gesture again finished third, and All Nessed Up completed the superfecta once more.
Metallican, favored in all three of his races, paid $6 to win after clocking 1:02.99 on the firm turf course.
“I tried to have a good break because last time, he didn’t have a good break,” Lopez said. “Today, he broke good, and gave me a very good position right away. I knew there was a lot of speed in the race, and I waited until the speed stopped. He’s a nice horse. He’s a smart horse. He’s doing everything right.”
Foaled in Maryland, Metallican is out of Bearsatlanticmist (by Stormy Atlantic). He showed versatility in his debut by wiring the field in a half-mile dash at Timonium on September 4, and has earned $86,940.
*Around the track:
Live racing resumes Saturday with 11 races. First post time is 12:00 pm, and two “Value Pick 5” wagers feature a LOW 12% takeout.
The free “Laurel Park Handicapping Guide” is available on every race day. It features picks, analysis, trainer stats, trip notes, horses to watch, track bias information, and more from The Maryland Jockey Club’s handicapping team. Saturday’s guide is available Friday evening. Click here to view it.
Never miss a second of the action on the Laurel Park YouTube channel. Click here to watch full pan and head-on replays.
Watch “Today at the Races,” the Maryland Jockey Club’s morning handicapping show every racing day at 11 am ET on the Maryland Jockey Club’s X account. Click here to watch.