Connections Looking to Serve Coconut Cake in $125,000 Ladies
Grateful Bred Returns for Title Defense in $100,000 Turf Sprint

LAUREL, MD – Taking Risks Stable’s Cannon’s Roar, four times stakes-placed, looks to break through in a race where he has been closer than ever to becoming a stakes winner in Saturday’s $125,000 Maryland Million Turf at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Turf for 3-year-olds and up is the ninth of eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 37th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state. Also scheduled for the grass are the $125,000 Ladies for fillies and mares 3 and older going 1 1/8 miles and $100,000 Turf Sprint, a 5 ½-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up.

Doors open at 10 a.m. EST with a first-race post time of 11:30 a.m. Headlining the card is the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles featuring the past two winners in Prendimi and Monday Morning Qb and program favorite Ournationonparade, the 2019 Nursery winner.

Cannon’s Roar went off as the 2-1 favorite and took a 1 ½-length lead into the stretch of last year’s Turf only to get caught approaching the wire and finish fourth, beaten a half-length. The 8-year-old Orientate gelding was second by a length in 2020 and is making his fourth straight appearance in the Turf, also finishing seventh in 2019.

Trainer Dale Capuano compared Cannon’s Roar to In the Curl, a mare he trained to seven starts in the Maryland Million with three seconds and two thirds between 1986 and 1992, sharing the record for most starts with Ben’s Cat.

“He’s always been close but no cigar. At age 8, maybe this will be his year. We hope so,” he said. “The last horse I remember having like that was In the Curl. She kept hooking Safely Kept and running second to her. She ran in umpteen Maryland Million races and ran well. There’s not very many of them that can do that but he’s been a warrior for us the whole time. Hopefully this will be his year.”

Cannon’s Roar has gone winless in five starts this year including seconds in back-to-back starts at Colonial Downs and Laurel over the summer. Sixth in the 5 ½-furlong Da Hoss Sept. 6, he was fourth last out in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Sept. 24 at Pimlico. He is 21-for-31 over his home track at Laurel, with five wins.

“He gets to walk out of his stall, which is nice, but he’s been doing that every year at Maryland Million,” Capuano said. “He had the lead last year and just got beat late. That was very disheartening because he came so close to end up fourth. But it’s another year, another race, and we’ll see what happens.”

Also in the Turf are 2019 winner Mr. d’Angelo, stakes winners Midnight Hauler and Nick Papagiorgio, as well as Johng and Street Copper, respectively second and third in last year’s race. Penny Woolley’s Mr. d’Angelo ran fourth in defense of his Turf title in 2020 but missed last year’s race, and has one win from four starts this year.

Sylmar Farm’s Midnight Hauler won the Lebanon Valley at Penn National two starts back and was second in the Alphabet Soup at Parx Sept. 24, both 1 1/16 miles on the grass. The Seville gelding has two wins a second and a third in four career turf starts.

Louis Bisso Jr.’s Nick Papagiorgio earned seven of his 10 lifetime wins at Laurel, including the 1 1/16-mile Find June 19 against Maryalnd-bred/sired horses. Alberts Racing’s homebred Johng won four times from 10 starts last year and wound up beaten a nose in the Turf.

“It was very, very excting. I thought we might have gotten there. Obviously, we didn’t, but it was still a great race,” trainer Tim Keefe said. “Last year he kind of had a breakout year. He kind of had things go his way. We had races that went for him and a surface that he prefers, kind of that hard surface vs. the yielding surface. He had a great year. This year we’ve been a little unlucky with some of his races. The footing wasn’t really to his liking in a couple of them. He’s been a lot of fun. He’s been a great horse to have in the barn.”

His name alone will get him plenty of attention on Maryland Million Day, but Charles Blanford’s Crabs N Beer goes into the Turf off a 4 ¼-length open allowance win Oct. 1 at Delaware in a race originally carded for the grass. He ran third in the one-mile James W. Murphy on the undercard of the 147th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 21 and was third in the six-furlong Stanton June 29 at Delaware Park.

“He’s a 3-year-old going against older but this time of year you’ve got to do what you’ve go to do,” trainer Jamie Ness said. “He’s a young horse that went through all his conditions and it seems like he’s been getting better and better. Every race he runs is better than the one before. He won a nice race off the turf at Delaware last time. He can go turf or dirt, he’s got a local owner, so we’re taking a shot.”

Stakes winner Street Copper, third in last year’s Turf, So Street, Nicky Bear, Rhumjar, Benny Havens, Up Against It and Wicked Prankster are also entered. Maryland-bred also eligibles are Power Back, Megayacht and Hanalei’s Houdini.

Connections Looking to Serve Coconut Cake in $125,000 Ladies

NRS Stable, James Chambers and Avalon Farm’s Coconut Cake, twice stakes-place don dirt but having found new life running in longer turf races, will go after her first stakes win in Saturday’s $125,000 Maryland Million Ladies at Laurel Park.

A 5-year-old daughter of Bandbox trained by co-owner Tim Keefe, Coconut Cake is favored at 2-1 on the morning line in an overflow field of 11 for the Ladies that includes Maryland-bred also-eligible Champagne Toast.

“I’m looking forward to running her. This is the race I’ve been pointing her toward all year,” Keefe said. “She had a little bit of time off after her last start, which wasn’t planned. We just had to go to Plan B to get her here, and she’s been training great and doing well.”

Coconut Cake has not raced since finishing fourth, beaten two lengths, in the July 16 Big Dreyfus at Laurel, contested at the Ladies’ 1 1/8-mile distance. She was third in her two other tries this year going a distance on grass, the one-mile Conniver April 23 and 1 1/16-mile All Brandy June 19, both against Maryland-bred/sired horses.

“I think finally after all this time I figured out what she prefers,” Keefe said. “She kind of tricked me a little bit because she’s run well on all the surfaces and at different distances. I think her definite preference is long on the grass, and that’s what she’s going to get on Saturday.”

Keefe also entered Shamrock Farm’s Gals Gal, a 3-year-old maiden claiming winner July 22 at Laurel that has faced older horses in each of her last two starts, running third by a half-length Aug. 19 and fifth by 1 ½ lengths Sept. 30. All four of her starts have come at 5 ½ furlongs.

“I have been anxious to run her long,” Keefe said. “It’s kind of a tall task to ask her to run long first time in the Maryland Million, but she’s doing really well. We’ll put her in, take a look at it and then decide.”

Trainer Brittany Russell considered the $100,000 Distaff sprinting seven furlongs on the dirt before settling on the Turf for Designated Hitters Racing’s Gamestonks. The 3-year-old Blofeld filly has won three of six starts including two of three at Laurel, but has yet to try the turf. She was fourth in a one-mile, 70-yard stater Sept. 20 at Parx, her first race since winning a one-mile optional claiming allowance Feb. 26 at Laurel.

“She ran ok. She ran like a horse that needed a race. Obviously, we’re going to be trying turf for the first time. I was hoping to get her on it in the morning, but we just haven’t had the chance with the weather. Hopefully she takes to it. We know she likes the route of ground, so that’s good anyway,” Russell said. “A lot of [owners] have horses sired in Maryland and you get one day a year to kind of take a swing, so lets try it.”

My Thoughts, Maldives Model, Amplio Esquema, My Dixie Lass, Mosalah, I’m Gittin There and Double Fireball are also entered.

Grateful Bred Returns for Title Defense in $100,000 Turf Dash

Gordon Keys’ Grateful Bred will look to break a six-race losing streak at the site of his last victory when he returns to Laurel Park as the defending champion in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Dash.

Trained by Madison Meyers, Grateful Bred has raced exclusively in stakes company this year and finished second four times, beaten less than two lengths combined. He came up a half-length short in the King T. Leatherbury April 23 and lost by a neck in the July 30 Ben’s Cat, both at the Turf Dash’s 5 ½ furlongs.

Most recently, 6-year-old Grateful Bred was fourth after being bumped at the start of the five-furlong Laurel Dash Sept. 24. The Great Notion gelding is the 3-5 program favorite in a field that drew eight Maryland-sired horses and five Maryland-bred also-eligibles.

Grateful Bred won the Meadow Stable last summer at Colonial Downs and was second in the Rainbow Heir and fifth by a length in the Laurel Dash entering the Turf Sprint, where she led from gate to wire to win by 1 ½ lengths over Sky’s Not Falling, who also returns this year.

Mary Slade’s Island Philo has made each of her last six starts on the grass with two wins, one second and thirds in both the July 30 Jameela at Laurel and Sept. 7 Camptown at Colonial Downs. The Barbados filly, trained by Susan Cooney, was second by a neck as the favorite in a restricted 5 ½-furlong allowance Aug. 19 at Laurel under Denis Araujo, who gets the return call.

WWCD’s Rock the Boat finished fourth in last year’s Turf Sprint, beaten 4 ½ lengths, but has not raced since finishing third in an open 5 ½-furlong allowance last November. He is among the main body of the field along with Boss Man J J, Cynergy’s Star, Pickin Sea Glass and Showtime Cat.

On the Maryland-bred also-eligible list are multiple stakes winner Can the Queen, exiting a victory in the Sept. 24 Sensible Lady at Pimlico; July 30 Ben’s Cat winner Justwaveandsmile, who had a six-race turf win streak snapped last month; 2021 Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap winner B Determined, Monster Mason and Where Paradise Lay.