Elsa Seeks Stakes Success in $100,000 Selima
Elsa Seeks Stakes Success in $100,000 Selima
Smith Stablemates Square Off in $100,000 Laurel Futurity
Two of Six Turf Stakes on Saturday’s Fall Festival of Racing Program
LAUREL, MD – A dominant winner over the course in her debut two months ago, Godolphin homebred Elsa returns as the horse to beat as she seeks her first career stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Selima at Laurel Park.
The 89th running of the Selima 2-year-old fillies and 92nd running of the $100,000 Laurel Futurity, presented by B&B Commercial Interiors, for 2-year-olds both at six furlongs, are among six stakes over Laurel’s world-class turf course that complement the 27th renewal of the $250,000 Xpressbet Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) on a 13-race Fall Festival of Racing program.
All seven stakes, worth $900,000 in purses, were rescheduled from Sept. 15 due to the threat of severe weather from Hurricane Florence. First race post time Saturday is 12:30 p.m.
A juvenile daughter of 2011 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Animal Kingdom, Elsa rated in third in her July 20 unveiling at Laurel before taking over at the top of the stretch and drawing away to a 3 ¾-length triumph under jockey Sheldon Russell, who gets the return call from Post 6 in a field of 12. She is favored at 9-5 on the morning line.
“We liked her all summer,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “She had really worked well going into that race and then she showed up and ran like she had been working, so we were very pleased with it.”
Stidham shipped Elsa to Saratoga for the Bolton Landing Stakes Aug. 15, like her debut race also run at 5 ½ furlongs on the grass. She found herself ahead of only one horse after a half-mile, just two lengths off the lead, and wound up third as the favorite, beaten two lengths.
“We still at this point don’t know what her best distance is going to be. We felt like she broke her maiden nicely going 5 ½,” Stidham said. “I think ultimately the 5 ½ is maybe a touch short for her. Eventually we’ll stretch her out to two turns. The added little distance of six furlongs I think is going to help her. She ran a big race at Saratoga and more than anything I think the distance hurt her more than the competition did.”
Elsa and Margie Is Livid, third in the off-the-turf Colleen Stakes Aug. 4 at Monmouth Park, are the only two fillies in the field with a win over Laurel’s turf course. Little Miss Raelyn, Helen and also-eligible Questionoftheday have all been successful over the main track.
“Anytime you’ve already won over a surface you enjoy going back there. That definitely played a part. She’s trained well since Saratoga and we’re looking for a big effort,” Stidham said. “She’s very, very kind and very rateable. She’s just a little classy-type filly.”
Chris Larsen’s Andarta enters the Selima off a front-running three-quarter-length maiden triumph going 5 ½ on the Saratoga turf Aug. 16. It was the second start for the New York-bred, who led from the gate to the stretch before fading to fifth in her July 20 debut, also at the Spa.
“She was very impressive in breaking her maiden. She’s got a lot of early speed and with a filly like her there’s not a lot of places to go with her,” trainer Tom Albertrani said. “This looked like a good possibility to come back and try her here. I think distance shouldn’t be a problem.
“Competition-wise, it will be a little bit of a step up but I think she ran a really credible race in her last start so we’re going to give her every chance to find out where she’s at,” he added. “She’s pretty quick so hopefully she gets out there and runs them off her feet.”
Edwin Gonzalez is named to ride the narrow third program choice at 9-2 from Post 1. All horses will carry 120 pounds.
Just a Whim, fifth in the one-mile Sorority on turf Sept. 1 at Monmouth; Creedibility, fourth in the Colleen; and Questionoftheday, sixth in the My Dear Stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface July 7, also have stakes experience. Surge of Pride, Shoobiedoobydoo, Monkeys Uncle and Jazzy J complete the field.
Smith Stablemates Square Off in $100,000 Laurel Futurity
Hamilton Smith-trained stablemates Partisan Divide and Scrap Copper, maiden winners over Laurel’s main track, will each look to conquer the turf in a competitive edition of the $100,000 Laurel Futurity.
Jerry Romans Jr. and JoAnn Smith’s Partisan Divide and Kathleen Willier’s Scrap Copper will break from Post 2 and 3, respectively, in the Futurity, which attracted a field of 15 including three entered for main track only.
The Futurity will be the third race for Partisan Divide, a son of Grade 1 turf winner Paddy O’Prado who was eighth in his July 13 unveiling at Laurel after being fractious in the gate, beaten less than five lengths. Stretched out from 5 ½ furlongs to a mile, he came with a five-wide run to win by 4 ½ lengths in an off-the-turf maiden special weight Aug. 2.
“He ran better on the dirt that day than he did on the grass first time out but I think he’ll be better horse on the grass eventually. We’ll try him there and see,” Smith said. “I put him in there because he’s bred for the grass. It’s not quite as long as I want, but three-quarters on the turf he might be able to run them down.”
Scrap Copper, a bay son of Great Notion, was a front-running half-length winner of his lone start, a July 22 maiden special weight at 5 ½ furlongs contested over a sloppy, sealed main track. The runner-up, Boss Boss, came back to break his maiden by 2 ½ lengths Aug. 12.
“He hooked a horse right out of the gate and they went together all the way to the wire together,” Smith said. “I think he’s going to be the type of horse you can do most anything you want with him, being by Great Notion. He does have speed and they take to the surface, most of them. We’ll have to wait and see how they handle it.”
Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso’s homebred Regally Irish is out of the mare Irish Score, a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winner Irish War Cry. Trained by Graham Motion, the Regal Ransom colt is the lone also-eligible in the field.
Regally Irish has raced once, going all the way up front to win a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 26 over Monmouth’s main track. He has since breezed a bullet half-mile in 49 seconds over the dirt course at Fair Hill.
“He broke his maiden in a [New] Jersey-bred race, but he’s a colt I like a lot. There’s grass in his family. I wasn’t necessarily looking to run him on the grass but this seems like a logical next spot for him,” Motion said. “The horse that he beat came back and won last week at Delaware which I thought was interesting. Talent-wise wise he’s always shown that he’s above average. He’s always acted like one of my better 2-year-olds.”
Expected to vie for favoritism are New York maiden winners Market Bubble, the program choice at 7-2 coming off a half-length victory June 30 at Belmont Park, and Veterans Beach, who cruised by 1 ¾ at odds of 9-1 Aug. 10 at Saratoga and is listed at 9-2 on the morning line.
Also entered are off-the-turf Tyro Stakes winner Mooji Moo Jr.; Yowza Yowza Yowza, Crypto Currency, Stole E, Alwaysmining, Absolved and Order and Law. Thatwouldbegrand, Lippi Lorenzo and Mount Travers can run if the race is moved to the main track.
Previously run on dirt and contested as a Grade 1 (1973-88), Grade 2 (1989) and Grade 3 (1994-2004) event, the Laurel Futurity was hosted by Pimlico from its debut in 1921 until moving primarily to Laurel in 1966. Among its storied winners are Triple Crown champions Count Fleet, Citation, Secretariat and Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Tapit and Barbaro.
