Stickwiththecolors wires them in Conniver

LAUREL, MD – The problem child is all grown up.

Circle P, known as much for his antics as his talent, rallied from off the pace to nip S S Sinatra on the wire in an exciting edition of the $75,000 Not For Love Stakes for Maryland-bred or -sired runners at six furlongs.

“He’ll lay down all morning long. You gotta get him up to go train, and then when you get him up, he wants to play with you,” said trainer Flint Stites. “Everything’s a good time. He wants to push you around, he wants to bite you, he wants to drag you somewhere. Today, he was getting bored in his stall. He was throwing his hay net around under his head. That’s him.”

Circle P can also get down to business.

Jockey Ricardo Chiappe was impressed with the horse’s pre-race warmup. “This time, he was perfect with the pony. I got him to the gate, and he was just sharp and focused on breaking good. He’s a [different] horse. He’s turned into a good horse.”

Circle P broke well and stayed within striking range as favored Speedyness, and S S Sinatra blitzed through fractions of 22.68 and 45.52 seconds.

“The horse broke so sharp,” Chiappe noted. “That surprised me because I saw all that other speed. He was sitting right there.”

Speedyness took a short lead in the upper stretch, but S S Sinatra, seeking to give trainer Kerry Hohlbein her first stakes victory, battled back along the fence to edge in front inside the sixteenth pole.

S S Sinatra was so game, but Circle P nosed him out right on the wire. Speedyness finished another half-length back in third. Then came Seven’s Eleven, Hittheroadjak, Feeling Woozy, and Freeze the Fire.

Circle P raced the distance in 1:10.69 and returned $12.40 as the third choice in the betting.

“At the turn, I started asking him, and he was there for me,” Chiappe added. “He knew where the wire was.”

A 4-year-old gelding by Speightster, Circle P won the Maryland Juvenile as a 2-year-old, then was multiple stakes-placed in 2024. In recent starts, he faced some of the toughest competition on the circuit, finishing second to Celtic Contender in the restricted Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial on Dec. 21 and running third behind Quint’s Brew in the restricted Jennings on Jan. 18.

In his final start before the Not For Love, Circle P ran last of six against Quint’s Brew in the open General George Stakes, a race contested over a sloppy track.

Bred in Maryland by Marathon Farms, Circle P sold for $18,000 for a weanling, then went for $47,000 at auction the following year. Owned by DeSales 85 LLC, Circle P is a half-brother to stakes-winning dirt router Sir Rick.

Stites said he would prefer to keep Circle P in Maryland, noting that the gelding is still eligible for an open second-level allowance.

Stickwiththecolors wires them in Conniver

Stickwiththecolors won her third consecutive race in gate-to-wire fashion, this time in her stakes debut, the $75,000 Conniver for state-bred or-sired fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

Trained by John Salzman Jr. for owner-breeder John Williamson, Stickwiththecolors is a 4-year-old by Divining Rod out of the Leading the Parade mare Parade of Colors.

“She’s one in a million,” Williamson said of Parade of Colors, who has also foaled Maryland Million Nursery and Classic winner Ournationonparade and two other six-figure earners. “I’ve bred her to all local stallions. No blue-blooded stallions, no Kentucky stallions.”

As expected, Stickwiththecolors was sharp from the gate under Jevian Toledo, and they carved out fractions of 23.49 and 46.79 while prompted from the outside by Spencer Tiara.

Stickwiththecolors opened a clear advantage on the turn and had just enough in the tank to hold off rail-rallying Malibu Moonshine by a neck in 1:25.16. Stickwiththecolors survived a jockey’s objection from Angel Cruz aboard Malibu Moonshine for alleged interference in the stretch.

Gold Digging Broad rallied from last to third, 2 ¾ lengths behind the runner-up. Favored Spencerian was next, followed by Royal Whisper, Spencer Tiara, Call Another Play, Bourbon Bon Bay, and Angel Art. Intrepid Dream scratched.

Stickwiththecolors returned $22 to win. Royal Whisper was disqualified and placed seventh for impeding Call Another Play shortly after the start.

“I was so happy to see the slow pace down the backside, and she was doing it so easy,” Salzman said. “The last couple of races she’s run, something has pressed her, then something picked her up, and then something got by her, and she dug back in.”

Stickwiththecolors has won half of her ten lifetime starts, earning $196,135.