September to Remember Stakes Festival Round 2 Saturday, Sept. 28

LAUREL, MD – Grade 3 winners Colonia and Notapradaprice, two-time defending Maryland Million Ladies winner My Sistersledge, and graded-stakes placed stablemates Lift Up and Theodora B. are among a competitive field of 15 set to line up in Saturday’s $150,000 Fasig-Tipton All Along Stakes at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/16-mile All Along for fillies and mares 3 and up over Laurel’s world-class turf course headlines Round 2 of the September to Remember Stakes Festival program featuring six stakes worth $600,000 in purses.

Also on the card are the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up at 1 ½ miles; $100,000 Howard County and $100,000 Anne Arundel County, 5 ½-furlong turf sprints for 2-year-olds, the latter for fillies; and $75,000 Challedon and $75,000 Shine Again, each at seven furlongs for non-winners of a sweepstakes.

Laurel will open its doors at 11 a.m. with a special 12:25 post time for the first of 12 races.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Maurice Lagasse and Haras d’Etreham’s Colonia was bred in France, a 4-year-old daughter of multiple Grade 1 turf winner Champs Elysees, Canada’s champion grass horse and Horse of the Year in 2009.

She has made just one start this year, finishing fourth as the favorite behind four-time stakes winner Dynatail in the PTHA President’s Cup Stakes Sept. 2 at Parx, Colonia’s first start in more than eight months. She was beaten four lengths, her first loss in three tries at 1 1/16 miles.

“The turf was not in great shape and she was coming off a layoff, but she ran perfectly respectable,” trainer Graham Motion said. “Hopefully, that race will have tightened her up nicely for this weekend.”

Colonia won three of nine starts in 2018, highlighted by her dramatic come-from-behind victory in the 1 1/16-mile Valley View (G3) last October at Keeneland. That effort was sandwiched by a third in the Sands Point (G2) at Belmont Park, contested over yielding turf, and a fourth in the American Oaks (G1) going 1 ¼ miles at Santa Anita Dec. 29 in her season finale.

Since arriving in the U.S. last spring, Colonia has raced exclusively in stakes company, winning the July 2018 Hatoof at Arlington Park in her North American debut, also at the All Along distance. Trevor McCarthy will be aboard for the first time from Post 5.

“I really think she was compromised by the grass last time,” Motion said. “It was a little hard to make up ground. The first three finishers ran 1-2-3 all the way around there. It was a very solid effort off the layoff, and I’d love for her to run well Saturday.”

Main Line Racing Stable’s Notapradaprice, trained by Kentucky Derby (G1) winner John Servis, was beaten a neck when second in the PTHA President’s Cup after dueling for the lead throughout, finishing less than four lengths ahead of Colonia. In her previous start, the 5-year-old Paddy O’Prado mare earned her first career stakes triumph in the Dr. James Penny Memorial (G3) July 2, also at Parx.

John and Cheryl Banner’s Maryland homebred My Sistersledge takes a two-race win streak into the All Along, her final prep for the 34th Jim McKay Maryland Million Oct. 19 at Laurel. She was promoted to first after being beaten a head by Goiaba in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance Aug. 2 at Laurel, then came back 15 days later with a professional half-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile All Brandy, her eighth lifetime win and third in a stakes.

“She’s due to run again and this gives her a few weeks to the Maryland Million,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “That’s the plan. She’s been very genuine for us. She always tries. We obviously want to try to make the Maryland Million again and this is the best path to get there.”

Trainer Michael Dickinson entered the graded-stakes placed pair of Lift Up and Theodora B in the All Along, both Augustin Stable homebred daughters of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper. Like My Sistersledge, Lift Up enters the race having won her last two starts, both in stakes.

Second by a neck in the 1 ¼-mile Maple Leaf (G3) to cap her 2018 season, 5-year-old Lift Up won the one-mile, 70-yard West Virginia Senate President’s Cup Aug. 3 over the Mountaineer Park turf, followed by the Belle Mahone Stakes Sept. 8, contested at 1 1/16-miles over Woodbine’s synthetic surface. Both wins came in late-running fashion.

“She’s very adaptable,” Dickinson said of Lift Up, who broke her maiden going 1 1/16 miles on the Laurel turf in April 2017 and ran fourth in last year’s All Along. “She’s doing well. She’s got a great turn of foot and great acceleration.”

Theodora B. won a one-mile turf allowance last fall at Laurel, returning to run second by less than three lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Big Dreyfus Stakes June 16 to I’m So Fancy, who went on to capture the Matchmaker (G3) at Monmouth Park next time out.

Subsequently second behind Gentle Ruler in the Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) July 6 at Delaware Park, Theodora B. has finished off the board in each of her past two starts, the Waya (G3) at Saratoga and PTHA President’s Cup.

“The footing wasn’t great at Parx in her last race, so she didn’t quite handle it. It was quite soft and she likes it firm,” Dickinson said. “We have high hopes for her. We don’t quite know her best distance at the moment. I think it’s anywhere from a mile to 11 furlongs. She’s a good horse.”

Dark Artist, Frippery, Ghoul’s Night Out, Go Noni Go, Goiaba, Madame X., Na Pali Spirit, Not in Jeopardy, Santino and also-eligible Mighty Electrica complete the field.