Triple Crown Champions Represented in Saturday Maiden Event

LAUREL, MD – Super C Racing Inc.’s Classier passed fellow Grade 3 winner and race favorite Wondrwherecraigis once straightened for home and went on to a 3 ¼-length victory in Friday’s feature at Laurel Park.

Ridden by Carlos Lopez for trainer Kieron Magee, Classier ($8.40) covered 5 ½ furlongs over a fast main track in 1:03.37 in the open third-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up to earn his seventh career win.

Classier rated in the clear in fourth, just outside multiple stakes winner Factor It In, as Sir Wellington ran the opening quarter-mile in 22.45 seconds pressed by Wondrwherecraigis. Lopez and Classier began to roll on the far outside around the far turn following a 45.31 half, surged past Wondrwherecraigis after he wrested a short lead from Sir Wellington, and powered through the stretch.

Sir Alfred James came flying with a late run to edge Factor It In, making his first start since April 15, by a nose for second. Wondrwherecraigis held fourth, with multiple stakes winner Sir Wellington fifth and 10-time career winner Synthesis sixth. Multiple stakes winners and graded-stakes placed Stage Left and Super Chow were scratched, along with Backnthewoods and Blessed Arion.

“There was a bunch of speed in there. The scratches took care of some of the speed but there was still a bunch of speed left,” Magee said. “I told Carlos to just sit off of it and make a run. Hopefully they’ll blast out of there and go and just go from there, and it worked out perfect.

“By the time they went a quarter of a mile I thought to myself, ‘We’re in a perfect spot here.’ There were some nice horses he beat in there,” he added. “What a cool horse he is.”

Classier, by Empire Maker, fetched $775,000 as a yearling in 2019 and was a debut winner the following fall for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. At 3 he ran third in the Affirmed (G3) and won the Los Alamitos Derby (G3), then went winless in three starts – two of them nearly a year apart – before he was moved to Laurel-based Brittany Russell over the winter. Magee claimed the 5-year-old for $40,000 out his first start for Maryland’s leading trainer, a 2 ¾-length triumph March 19.

From there Classier won his next two races including an off-the-turf edition of the Henry S. Clark April 29 at Laurel. Classier was beaten a half-length by Sir Alfred James in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 30 at Laurel in his prior start.

Magee hinted he may bring Classier back in a similar allowance spot going six furlongs Nov. 11 at Laurel.

Triple Crown Champions Represented in Saturday Maiden Event

A maiden special weight for 2-year-olds scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the Dahlia turf course that drew an overflow field of 16 serves to highlight Saturday’s 10-race program at Laurel Park.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Five horses are entered to make their career debut including Dats Racing Stable’s Dats My Pharoah, a $150,000 son of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, and D Hatman Thoroughbreds’ D Majestical, a Maryland-bred son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.

Favored at 2-1 on the morning line is Harrell Ventures’ Roundtop, a $250,000 yearling of 2022 by prolific sire War Front that ran second in his Sept. 2 unveiling for trainer Graham Motion going 1 1/16 miles on the Colonial Downs turf.

Trainer Keri Brion adds blinkers to Serio Racing Stable, USA Steeplechase, R and K Racing, Paul Willis and Molly Willis’ St James the Great, a Catholic Boy gelding that ran fifth after racing up close in the Sept. 2 maiden special weight that included Roundtop. Maryland’s leading trainer, Brittany Russell, takes the blinkers off Joseph Canosa and Michael McLoughlin’s Arius off back-to-back runner-up finishes going a mile on the Colonial turf.

Notes: Jockey Jaime Rodriguez and trainer Jamie Ness teamed up for a pair of winners Friday, Nottoway ($4.20) in Race 3 and Shane’s Jewel ($4.80) in Race 5 … Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables’ 2-year-old filly Suprenant Cocca ($6.60), third in each of her first two starts, pulled clear to a popular 2 ¾-length maiden special weight victory in Race 2. The winning time was 1:44.72 for 1 1/16 miles over a firm All Along turf course … A second division of fillies in Race 6 saw Skara Glen Stables’ Parish Lane ($13.20) split horses in mid-stretch and come with a steady run to catch Martynas’ Joy and win by a nose in 1:44.80.