G3 Winner Golden Brown Looks to Shine in $100,000 City of Laurel
G3 Winner Golden Brown Looks to Shine in $100,000 City of Laurel
Majestic Reason Seeks Second Stakes Win in $100,000 Safely Kept
Among Five Stakes Worth $500,000 in Purses Saturday, Nov. 10
LAUREL, MD – New Jersey-bred Golden Brown, winner of the 1 1/8-mile Kent Stakes (G3) on turf this summer, cuts back to sprinting in his return to the main track for Saturday’s $100,000 City of Laurel at Laurel Park.
The City of Laurel for 3-year-olds and the $100,000 Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies, both at seven furlongs, are among five stakes worth $500,000 in purses on a 10-race Maryland Hall of Fame Day program. First race post time is noon.
Also on tap are the $100,000 Richard W. Small for 3-year-olds and up featuring graded-stakes winners Something Awesome, Name Changer and Doctor Mounty and Maryland Million champions Bonus Points and Talk Show Man, and a pair of six-furlong sprints for juveniles, the $100,000 James F. Lewis III and $100,000 Smart Halo, the latter for fillies.
Golden Brown drew the rail in a field of nine and shares topweight of 120 pounds with Smooth B, two pounds more than their seven rivals. The Pat McBurney trainee has made four straight starts at nine furlongs, all in graded-stakes, most recently running sixth in the Hill Prince (G2) Oct. 6 at Belmont Park after pressing the early pace.
The Offlee Wild colt came from a stalking spot to run down the leaders and win the Kent by 1 ¾ lengths, then ran fifth to Good Magic in the Haskell (G1) July 29. The Haskell was Golden Brown’s lone dirt try since beating his state-bred elders in a six-furlong allowance May 26, also at Monmouth.
“All the owners are from the Monmouth area and to be invited to the Haskell, it’s a big thrill for us. We thought that he had done well on the dirt and just to get a chance to run in the Haskell was exciting,” McBurney said. “He actually ran rather credible. We had a very wide trip in the race but he was fifth in there and beat a couple guys and bounced out of it good. We kind of feel like he handles the dirt almost as good as he handles turf.”
Golden Brown has two wins and two seconds in six dirt races, breaking his maiden on a sloppy Parx track Feb. 24 prior to his allowance win. Sheldon Russell is named to ride for the colt’s Laurel debut.
“He gets himself a little hot before a race and even [at] Saratoga race and in the Kent he’s a bit of a bully early on in a race. Then, he prefers to settle back off horses but it’s not always easy for the jock to get him back where he should be,” McBurney said. “It’s fantastic to have a race for straight 3-year-olds this time of year. Those are the races we’re looking for to keep them with their own, because the 4-year-olds are bigger and stronger. The 3-year-olds are catching up this time of year, obviously, but it’s always better to stay with your own age group as long as you can.”
Wertheimer and Frere’s Rugbyman returns to Laurel after defeating older horses in his only previous trip, an open one-mile allowance Sept. 21 for Fair Hill-based trainer Graham Motion. The Tapit colt followed up finishing third by 1 ½ lengths in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer Oct. 21 at Keeneland behind multiple stakes winner Bal Harbour.
“I actually thought it was a pretty solid effort last time. It was a very competitive race. It could have been a stake anywhere else, I think. I thought he ran well,” Motion said. “I liked the idea of shortening him up to seven-eighths. I’m thinking more and more that this is what he wants to do, kind of the one-turn deal. I know we always say this, but I actually feel like he’s doing really well.”
Rugbyman also beat his elders in just his second start, a 14-length maiden special weight romp in the Belmont Park mud May 13, also at a mile. He was stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in the Easy Goer, running second by a neck, and 1 1/8 miles in the West Virginia Derby (G3) Aug. 4, where he was no factor. In between he was fourth to Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire in the Dwyer (G3).
“I feel like he’s doing better now than he was perhaps over the summer. If he improves from that last race, and if he appreciates shortening up to seven-eighths, I don’t see why he wouldn’t run a good race,” Motion said. “I kind of feel like his one-turn races have been his best races. Maybe I’ve been trying to get him to do something over the summer that he didn’t necessarily want to do. I can’t believe how good he looks now. He’s filled out and grown up. He’s a big horse anyway, but he’s just a big, strapping dude.”
Jacks or Better Farm’s Grade 3-placed homebred Old Time Revival enters the City of Laurel off his first career stakes win, a nose triumph in the seven-furlong Challedon Sept. 29. The win improved the Brethren colt’s record at Laurel to two wins, two seconds and two thirds from nine tries, including runner-up finishes in the Miracle Wood Feb. 17 and Concern July 7.
Old Time Revival, second in the Gotham (G3) this winter at Aqueduct in his sojourn on the Triple Crown trail, tuned up for his latest assignment with a half-mile breeze in a bullet 47.60 seconds Oct. 26 at Laurel.
“He had a real nice work the other day and came out of it real well. He’s doing good and he’s one that really likes this racetrack,” trainer Ken Decker said. “He’s been a nice colt from the beginning. He’s had some issues, but it looks like we got them straightened out. He loves it here. It makes a lot of difference for him. When he ships, he doesn’t do as well. He likes to come out of his house, and this is where he likes to run.”
Oldies But Goodies, Shane’s Jewel, Sparticle, Majestic Dunhill and Cordmaker are also entered.
Majestic Reason Seeks Second Stakes Win in $100,000 Safely Kept
Hillwood Stable and Richard Golden’s Maryland-bred Majestic Reason, never worse than second in four career starts, all at Laurel Park, will break from the rail in her quest for a second stakes win in the $100,000 Safely Kept.
Jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. has the call at 118 pounds aboard Majestic Reason, exiting a 2 ¾-length loss as the favorite in the one-mile All Brandy Sept. 29. Prior to that, she came from mid-pack to capture the six-furlong Miss Disco Aug. 18, both under Vargas.
“She runs well there. Jorge knows her and they seem to get along really well. I feel like she’s doing well,” trainer Graham Motion said. “She’s such an overachiever. She certainly wouldn’t get you excited watching her breeze in the morning but she definitely seems to put it all [together] in the afternoon. This is going to be a competitive spot for her but she always seems to rise to the occasion. Hopefully she can be competitive.”
Majestic Reason, a bay daughter of Majestic Warrior, debuted with a 1 ¾-length victory going six furlongs June 8, then rallied to be second in an open allowance against her elders July 14. She has worked three times since the All Brandy over Fair Hill’s all-weather track.
“She’s a pretty solid horse for only have four starts. She runs well every time To watch her work in the morning, you wouldn’t believe it. She is not overly impressive. It’s quite extraordinary,” Motion said. “I love these races. It’s great timing to have another shot to run against straight 3-year-olds so I think it’s really clever of Maryland to have them at this time. They’re just good spot.”
Tic Stables’ Split Time is a three-time stakes winner for New York-based trainer Linda Rice, two of them against fellow New York-breds. The third came June 16 at Laurel in the seven-furlong Alma North, the Take Charge Indy filly’s last time sprinting. Second last out against elders in the Empire Distaff Handicap Oct. 20, she has five wins, two seconds and two thirds in nine career starts.
Edward Bruzek’s Smokinpaddylassie won the one-mile Beyond the Wire Stakes March 17 in her only previous trip to Laurel, which was also her stakes debut. Her best finish in four subsequent stakes attempts came when second against Pennsylvania-breds in the New Start June 2.
Swift Thoroughbreds, T and A Cambron and Bradley Thoroughbred’s Estilo Femenino will be making her first start since mid-August and first since being moved to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The daughter of champion sprinter Midnight Lute raced twice this summer at Gulfstream Park off a year layoff, most recently running second in the six-furlong Sugarloaf Key Stakes Aug. 12 behind multiple graded-stakes winner Curlin’s Approval.
Pacific Gale, Stormologist, Naples Legacy, Prepossessing, Special Relativity and America’s Tale complete the field.
