Multiple Graded Winner Glorious Empire Making Progress in Comeback
Escapade Ends Layoff with Win, Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $18,258

LAUREL, MD – Grade 1-winning millionaire Force the Pass, seeking the first win of his 7-year-old season, finds himself the narrow program favorite in a competitive spot that serves as Sunday’s feature race at Laurel Park.

Bred and owned by Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables and trained by Jorge Duarte Jr., Force the Pass drew outside Post 6 and is listed at 2-1 in Sunday’s Race 7, a $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles over the Bowl Game turf course.

Also entered are Phlash Phelps, a four-time winner over Laurel’s world-class turf course including two editions of the Maryland Million Turf; John Jones, a stakes winner on dirt and turf but not since December 2016; Archaggelos, winner of the 2017 Grey (G3) at Woodbine for trainer Michael Dickinson; 2018 Tale of the Cat Stakes winner Gunnison; and multiple stakes-placed English Minister.

“When you get to this level, it’s really a little stake [race],” Duarte said. “I think they’ll put up a good show, because all the horses look like they’re solid for a smaller field.”

Jevian Toledo, aboard for all three races this year, gets the return call on Force the Pass, who exits a fourth-place finish in an optional claimer July 3 at Belmont Park, beaten 3 ¾ lengths. Of those who ran in front of him, winner Lucullan captured the Lure Stakes Saturday at Saratoga, runner-up Noble Indy is a Grade 2 winner on dirt and show finisher Therapist owns six stakes wins.

“On paper it looked like we were strong, but when you go and look at the race again it really wasn’t in our favor the way the race unfolded, and the horses were solid. We can throw that out and regroup here, hopefully,” Duarte said.

“I feel like when we went to New York, the pace didn’t really unfold for us. They came home really fast and we couldn’t really quicken, but I think the two turns at Laurel will suit us better,” he added.

Force the Pass has finished first, second or third five times apiece with $1.34 million in purse earnings from 20 lifetime starts, highlighted by 2015 wins in the Cutler Bay, Penn Mile (G3) and Belmont Derby Invitational (G1). He has placed in six other graded-stakes, most recently the Monmouth (G2) May 25, just three weeks following a runner-up finish behind Jamie Ness-trained Grade 3 winner Ghost Hunter in his seasonal bow at Laurel.

“That was a strong race. Jamie Ness had a pretty solid horse in there. We were coming off the winter, and then he came back and ran good at Monmouth,” Duarte said. “He’s doing pretty good at his age still. This is a good spot. It seemed like he ran well over there. The first race off the layoff this year at Laurel was kind of a similar spot. He got a good post and he’s doing good. The turf is going to be firm, which is what he likes, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Duarte is a former assistant to Alan Goldberg who took over when Goldberg stepped aside this year after a long association as Colts Neck’s trainer. He has been around Force the Pass since the beginning, including a 20-month break between races that cost him the entire 2017 campaign.

“We’ve given him enough time. When he had a little setback, we gave him almost two years to get over that,” Duarte said. “Some people don’t have the patience but the boss, he really likes the horse and he’s willing to give the time. Whenever he needs to retire, we already have plans for him and everything.

“He has a pretty nice personality. He’s a likeable horse,” he added. “It’s good to still have him around. He still tries and enjoys what he’s doing. I guess he’ll tell us when it’s time to retire, but so far he’s been training good, he’s strong, he looks good, and we’re happy with him.”

The 8-year-old Phlash Phelps is similarly 0-for-3 to open 2019, running fifth when beaten 2 ¼ lengths in the 5 ½-furlong Ben’s Cat Stakes July 14 at Laurel. English Minister has won his last two starts, both over the all-weather surface at Presque Isle Downs. Gunnison returned from nearly a year away to be fourth in a third-level optional claimer July 4 at Laurel.

Archaggelos was second by a neck to Pizmo Time’s one-mile course record performance April 29 at Laurel, won a Delaware Park optional claimer in June and was most recently sixth there in the Cape Henlopen Stakes July 6. John Jones won his season opener Jan. 26 at Laurel and since has run up against Ghost Hunter, Pizmo Time, multiple stakes winner Cordmaker and Dark Templar.

Sunday’s fifth race, a $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and older going one mile on the main track, drew a field of nine led by Goodonehoney, winner of the 2018 Weber City Miss at Laurel; multiple stakes-placed Moon Virginia and Todd Pletcher-trained Varanasi.

Multiple Graded Winner Glorious Empire Making Progress in Comeback

Matthew Schera’s multiple graded-stakes winner Glorious Empire, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the top male turf horse of 2018, continues to progress toward his 8-year-old debut.

Sidelined since an impressive triumph in the Fort Lauderdale (G2) Dec. 15 at Gulfstream Park over a field that included 13 graded-stakes winners, five of them Grade 1, Glorious Empire has worked three times since mid-July over the all-weather surface at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.

Trainer James ‘Chuck’ Lawrence II said Glorious Empire came out of his most recent work, a half-mile in 51.60 seconds Friday, in good shape. He also shows a pair of three-furlong moves, both in 38.80 seconds July 13 and 27.

“It was his first easy half,” Lawrence said. “Each week, he’s picking up the pace. So far, he’s looking good.”

Glorious Empire launched last season at Laurel Park, running sixth in the Henry S. Clark Stakes following a seven-month layoff. He reeled off three straight wins including the Bowling Green (G2) and Sword Dancer (G1) at Saratoga, then was 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), contested over a bog at Churchill Downs, prior to the Fort Lauderdale.

The Irish-bred Glorious Empire, who sits just $33,773 shy of the $1 million mark in career earnings, came out of the Fort Lauderdale with a tear in his right front suspensory ligament. He underwent an innovative procedure that included minor surgery Jan. 5 and a stem cell infusion to promote healing.

“I’m bringing him back nice and slow. We’re looking at hopefully September, but it may take a little longer. He’s big and strong and he’s doing everything that I’m asking,” Lawrence said. “We’re just monitoring him and targeting. I don’t think we’ll make early September. I was hoping to, but I think it’s going to take a little longer to get him fit. I don’t really have a target at the moment. We’re just going to let him tell us.”

Lawrence and Schera left it up to Glorious Empire whether he would even return in 2019, and so far the Holy Roman Emperor gelding, who began his career overseas and owns wins in Europe and Hong Kong, is up to the task.

“It was whether he wanted to come back and that his leg looked 100 percent. That’ll be the telltale thing, once we actually work him five-eighths. That’ll tell us a lot,” Lawrence sasid. “So far, he looks really good. He doesn’t owe us anything. He’s so much fun to train, and hopefully when we get back to actually racing, it’ll be even more fun.”

Escapade Ends Layoff with Win, Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $18,258

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Escapade, racing for the first time in seven months, put away front-running Munificent in mid-stretch and powered home to a 2 ½-length victory in Saturday’s featured sixth race.

Ridden by Sheldon Russell for trainer Jonathan Thomas, Escapade ($6.80) went 5 ½ furlongs in 1:02.48 over a firm Bowl Game turf course in the $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up.

Russell kept 4-year-old Escapade in the clear three wide all the way around, ranging up on the leader midway around the far turn and driving past under steady urging for her fourth win from seven lifetime starts. Munificent stayed up for second, with Boos third and 9-5 favorite Souper Echo fifth.

Escapade had not raced since her nose victory in a second-level optional claimer Jan. 9 at Gulfstream Park. She has won four of five starts since joining Thomas’ string last year, her only loss coming by a neck last fall at Gulfstream Park West.

Despite three singles in a six-horse field heading into Saturday’s eighth-race finale, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved as the carryover jackpot swelled to $18,258.73 for Sunday.

Multiple tickets with all six winners were each worth $1,459.06.

Sunday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 3-8. First-race post time is 1:10 p.m.

Notes: Jockey Victor Carrasco took Saturday’s opener on Promising Pistol ($2.40), then registered back-to-back wins with Miners Quest ($13.80) in Race 3 and Sky D ($8.20) in Race 4. Both Promising Pistol and Sunman ($3.20) in Race 7 are trained by Claudio Gonzalez.