Bonus Points Makes Return to Maryland Saturday at Laurel
Bonus Points Makes Return to Maryland Saturday at Laurel
Defending 2017 Maryland Million Classic Win is Long-Term Goal
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
LAUREL, MD – Three Diamonds Farm’s Bonus Points returns to Maryland for the first time since his impressive victory in the 2017 Maryland Million Classic as the 2-1 program favorite in Saturday’s co-featured ninth race at Laurel Park.
A 4-year-old Maryland-bred son of Majestic Warrior, based in New York with leading trainer Todd Pletcher, Bonus Points drew Post 4 and will be ridden by Feargal Lynch in the $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance going about 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
Pletcher said he is hoping to use the race as the next step in a progression designed to bring Bonus Points back to defend his title on Jim McKay Maryland Million Day, the ground-breaking racing event set to its 33rd year Oct. 20 at Laurel.
“We’ve been trying to get him in some type of spot. We entered him a couple weeks ago and the race didn’t go, but it seemed logical being a Maryland-bred to get him back there,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get him back to the Maryland Million Classic again. That would be our ultimate goal.”
Bonus Points was bumped at the start and forced to rally from far back to win last year’s Maryland Million Classic by 2 ¾ lengths. Twice Grade 3-placed, he was second in his only previous starts in Maryland – the 2016 Maryland Juvenile Futurity and 2017 Caveat Stakes.
This year, Bonus Points has made one start finishing fifth following a wide trip in a one-mile optional claiming allowance April 20 at Aqueduct. It was his first race in five months, since running third in the Discovery (G3) last fall.
“It was a tough field and he might have needed the race. It’s something we feel like will bring him forward, hopefully,” Pletcher said. “He’s been training consistently well and we look forward to an improvement in his second race off the layoff.”
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers when live racing returns to Laurel Park with a 10-race program Friday.
First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
No single bettor took down the Rainbow 6 jackpot on Sunday’s card, meaning Friday’s sequence which spans Races 6-10 will begin with a carryover of $3,841.71. Three of the races are scheduled over Laurel’s world-class turf course, with an average field size of 12 horses per race.
A carryover of $619.75 will be available in the Super Hi-5 for Friday’s opener, 5 ½-furlong maiden claiming event on the Exceller Turf Course layout that drew 16 entries.
Advance wagering will be available Friday at Laurel for Saturday’s entire Belmont Stakes Day program at Belmont Park, where Preakness (G1) winner Justify will attempt to become racing’s 13th Triple Crown champion.
Laurel will open its doors at 11 a.m. Saturday and run the first of 12 races at 12:35 p.m. A free Justify T-shirt will be given away with each program purchase, while supplies last.
