In Arrears Makes Stakes Return in Maryland Juvenile Futurity; Watch & Wager on Clasico del Caribe Saturday and Sunday at Laurel
In Arrears Makes Stakes Return in Maryland Juvenile Futurity; Watch & Wager on Clasico del Caribe Saturday and Sunday at Laurel
Final Prospect Can End Year How it Began in Howard Bender Memorial
Watch & Wager on Clasico del Caribe Saturday and Sunday at Laurel
Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5 Carryovers for Friday’s Program
LAUREL, MD - Narrow Leaf Farm’s In Arrears, most recently sixth after dueling for the lead in the Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 22, returns to stakes company in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel Park.
A gelded son of Grade 3 winner Scipion trained by Wayne Potts, In Arrears has worked three times since the race including a bullet five furlongs in 1:01.80 Nov. 19. Forest Boyce, aboard for all three previous starts, gets the return call from Post 7 in a field of nine Maryland-bred/sired 2-year-olds.
“He had a little minor issue after the [last] race, but it’s cleared up and we’re 110 percent and ready to rock and roll,” Potts said. “[This] is a little bit of a competitive race, but my horse is OK. The last time he ran, I didn’t want to be in front. I wanted to be off the pace and make one run.
“He broke so sharp with Forest and grabbed the bit and just went on, so she let him go ahead and go,” he added. “That probably wasn’t the right thing to do but that’s over and done with. We came back, made some equipment changes with him and freshened him up and we’re going to give it a whirl again.”
In Arrears debuted running third in a six-furlong maiden special weight Sept. 11 before graduating by four lengths in a similar spot 19 days later, an off-the-turf 5 ½-furlong sprint over a sloppy, sealed main track.
He will face some familiar foes in Greatbullsoffire, Dancing With Maude and Maryland’s Best, who ran 1-2-3 in the Nursery. Also entered is O Dionysus, upset winner over favored Greatbullsoffire in the Christopher Elser Memorial Stakes Nov. 12 at Parx.
“My client has been pretty patient with me with this guy. He usually likes to push the buttons a little bit and rush them along, but he’s let me take my time and do what I have to do for this horse,” Potts said. “I think he’s going to be very useful. He’s only a baby. He’s still got a lot of learning to do. Honestly, I think when he matures and gets a little more experience he’s going to be a very, very nice horse. I think you’ll see him around for years.”
Final Prospect Can End Year How it Began in Howard Bender Memorial
Since opening his 4-year-old season with an optional claiming allowance victory on New Year’s Day at Laurel Park, Non Stop Stable homebred Final Prospect has gone winless in 10 subsequent starts for trainer Gary Capuano.
Capuano hopes the Jump Start gelding can end the year on a similarly successful note in Saturday’s $75,000 Howard M. Bender Memorial, a six-furlong sprint for Maryland-bred/sired horses 3 and older.
“He’ll get some time off after this race. He’s been here a year and a half, training and running, so he’ll get a couple months off. That’s the plan, anyway,” Capuano said. “Hopefully everything works out good, he runs good and we give him some time and have a fresh horse next year again.”
Final Prospect has yet to earn a stakes win, having run third in the 2014 First State Dash and second in the New Castle Stakes Sept. 10, both at Delaware Park. Last time out, he finished fourth to Midwest shipper Ivan Fallunovalot in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Nov. 19 at Laurel.
Rockinn On Bye came on to beat X Y Jet for second in that race, and returns as the 7-2 second choice in a field of nine for the Howard Bender. Final Prospect, listed at 8-1 on the morning line, breaks from Post 3 under Trevor McCarthy.
“I thought he ran a great race in the De Francis. Those horses were better horses than him. It was a graded race, and I really didn’t have any other place to run him,” Capuano said. “He runs good all the time, it’s just hard to find the right races for him. This race being a Maryland-bred helps; of course, you’ve got Rockinn On Bye in there. He’s a solid horse. He doesn’t win much but he runs huge races against anybody. He’s going to be a tough one in there. We’ll see how it goes.”
Watch & Wager on Clasico del Caribe Saturday and Sunday at Laurel
Laurel Park will simulcast this year's Clasico del Caribe from Camarero Racetrack in Puerto Rico Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
Saturday's 11-race program, which will begin at 12:15 p.m., will feature the $100,000 Copa Confraternidad, a premier race for older horses featuring favorite Huitlacoche, only the seventh Triple Crown winner in Mexico. Sunday's program will be highlighted by the Clasico with Clasico Carlos and Fernando winner Dynamo. Post time Sunday is 12:15 p.m.
There will be a Pick 6 carryover Saturday at Camarero of 601,527.
Rainbow 6, Late Pick 5 Carryovers for Friday’s Program
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and 50-cent Late Pick 5 greeting bettors when live racing returns to Laurel with a nine-race program Friday.
First race post time is 12:30 p.m.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover stands at $4,142.35 in the six-race sequence which spans Races 4-9 and includes entry-level allowance races in the fifth and eighth on Laurel’s world-class turf course and the seventh on the main track.
The Late Pick 5, which offers an industry-low 12 percent takeout and covers Races 5-9, has a carryover of $3,374.82.
