O Dionysus Gets the Distance in $100,000 Japan Turf Cup

LAUREL, MD – Riding Main Line Racing Stable’s Grade 3 winner Notapradaprice for the first time, jockey Jorge Ruiz found himself exactly where he wanted to be throughout Saturday’s $150,000 Fasig-Tipton All Along Stakes at Laurel Park – particularly at the end.

Notapradaprice ($11.20) galloped to a front-running half-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile All Along for fillies and mares 3 and up over Laurel’s world-class turf course, which shared top billing on Round 2 of the September to Remember Stakes Festival with the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up going 1 ½ miles.

A total of six stakes worth $600,000 in purses helped comprise the 12-race program, including the $100,000 Anne Arundel County for 2-year-old fillies and $100,000 Howard County for 2-year-olds, both sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the turf; and the $75,000 Challedon and $75,000 Shine Again, each at seven furlongs on the main track for non-winners of a sweepstakes 3 and older.

A 5-year-old daughter of Grade 1 turf winner and millionaire Paddy O’Prado trained by John Servis, Notapradaprice picked up her third win from the last four starts, including an optional claimer April 28 at Laurel and the Dr. James Penny Memorial (G3) July 2 at Parx. Most recently, she was beaten a neck after leading from the gate in the PTHA President’s Cup Stakes Sept. 2, also at Parx.

The winning time was 1:41.27 over a firm Dahlia turf course. Grade 3 winner Colonia trailed the field early but came flying with a late run on the outside to get second, a nose ahead of 40-1 long shot Not in Jeopardy. It was another nose back to Lift Up in fourth.

Notapradaprice was entered Wednesday without a rider, gaining the services of Ruiz on Saturday. Together they took 12 rivals through fractions of 24.06 and 48.22 seconds, seeing Not in Jeopardy cut the lead to a head after six furlongs in 1:11.53. Notapradaprice remained unflinching in front, maintaining her advantage after a mile in 1:35.08 and holding off all late comers.

“I had a good trip. You can see the filly was much the best,” Ruiz said. “My instructions were to go to the front, and she did everything right. We were able to get to the front and the filly did things the right way and made me look good.”

The All Along is named for the French-bred filly that won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Rothmans International, Turf Classic and Laurel’s Washington D.C. International in the span of 41 days in 1983 en route to becoming the first foreign-based horse to be voted U.S. Horse of the Year. A winner of nine races and more than $3 million in purses from 21 starts, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990.

O Dionysus Gets the Distance in $100,000 Japan Turf Cup

Marathon Farms’ O Dionysus snapped an eight-race losing streak dating back to last summer by emerging from a four-way photo finish a head in front of Lemon Zip and surviving a claim of foul to capture the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup.

With Jevian Toledo riding for trainer Gary Capuano, O Dionysus ($14.80) went nearly all the way on the lead to win in 2:28.42 for 1 ½ miles over a firm All Along turf course and earn his fourth career stakes victory, two each on turf and dirt. His last win came at the same distance in the July 2018 Cape Henlopen at Delaware Park.

O Dionysus found himself four wide around the first turn and trailing by more than eight lengths as 60-1 long shot Freedom Matters ran the opening quarter-mile in 24.78 seconds. Showing plenty of energy, O Dionysus made his way to the lead after a half in 50.03, and was resolute through the stretch as horses ranged up to challenge approaching the wire.

Lemon Zip was second by a head over Postulation, who was a neck better than Nakamura in fourth. Postulation, whose jockey, Jorge Vargas Jr., claimed foul on the winner, was instead taken down and placed fifth for interfering with fourth-place finisher Surprise Twist.

“He’s kind of a tough horse to ride because he doesn’t break really sharp, but in the second or third stride he always runs off. I was worried going from a mile to a mile and a half that he was going to be really strong,” Toledo said. “He relaxed good after we broke, on the backstretch and first turn, then he wanted to run off a little bit when we came to the stretch the first time and I just let him go.

“He relaxed good, and when I asked him he gave me everything he had. He never gets tired. He always tries,” he added. “You can run him I think two miles; the main thing is, if he relaxes he can make any distance. He always wants to run in the beginning and then he doesn’t want to finish up. When he relaxes in the beginning, he’s a really nice horse.”