Graded Debut Possible for Multiple Stakes Winner Hello Beautiful
Graded Debut Possible for Multiple Stakes Winner Hello Beautiful
G3 Charles Town Oaks Aug. 28, G2 Prioress Sept. 5 Among Possibilities
Flatter Me Graduates in Style Saturday with Front-Running Score
Wet Weather Playing Havoc with Laurel Park Turf Racing
LAUREL, MD – While the traffic was typical on the roughly 11-hour van ride from Maryland to Kentucky, the trip Hello Beautiful got in the first start outside her home state was not. Having emerged none the worse for wear, trainer Brittany Russell won’t hesitate to bring the multiple stakes-winning filly on the road again.
Russell said Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stable and Magic City Stables’ Hello Beautiful was doing well following the Aug. 9 Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, she got sideswiped out of the starting gate when Misty Blue broke inward, rushed up to mid-pack along the rail and tired to be last in the field of 11 under first-time rider Julien Leparoux.
“It was a long trip to see that happen, but luckily she’s all right. That’s the main thing,” Russell said. “It was absolutely brutal. You hate it because then she kind of runs up in there and she’s kind of on heels the whole way. It was just not a good experience. I felt pretty bad for her.
“After all that happened, she kind of ran up in there and then it was like [Leparoux] sort of just galloped her around. It wasn’t like she even ran,” she added. “It was probably best that that happened anyway, he didn’t beat her up and hopefully we can kind of run her back a little sooner than we were expecting.”
Russell mentioned the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks (G3) Aug. 28 at Charles Town and the six-furlong Prioress (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga, both restricted to 3-year-old fillies, as possible landing spots for Hello Beautiful. Winner of the Maryland Million Lassie and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship last fall, she has yet to make her graded-stakes debut.
“We’re just kind of trying to see who goes to those places. We thought we’d give Charles Town a try, but you don’t really know. Yes, she has speed but if that happens at Charles Town, we’re going to be in the same boat if she doesn’t come away from there good,” she said. “The Prioress kind of looks appealing. It’s three-quarters and hopefully it’s a shorter field with timing and things, so we’ll sort of just see how it plays out.”
With Hello Beautiful shuffled near the back of the pack, Mundaye Call was left alone on the lead in the Audubon Oaks and hit the wire in 1:21.17. She is trained by Brad Cox, for whom Russell once worked before going out on her own.
“[Cox] said he wasn’t expecting that setup at all. But, that’s why you’ve got to take shots because anything can happen. His filly got the trip that day, she looked like a star and she ran huge. She deserved it,” Russell said. “It’s just bad racing luck. Who knows. Everything happens for a reason. It’s kind of a weird thing to think, because you never want to see that happen, but maybe something better happens next time. We’ll just be optimistic.”
Prior to making the trip to Kentucky, Russell did send out her first career winner at Saratoga, King’s Honor, in an Aug. 6 claimer, and saw Adelaide Miss capture an Aug. 10 maiden special weight at Colonial Downs upon her return.
“We got the win at Saratoga, thank goodness,” she said. “We had a winner at Colonial on the Monday night after we got back, and we needed that after the weekend.”
Russell’s husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, has been sidelined since breaking his right wrist in a July 15 gate mishap at Delaware Park and is scheduled to visit the doctor for a follow-up appointment Aug. 27. He was leading Laurel Park’s summer meet standings at the time of his injury.
“He’s doing well,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll have some good news. We’re pretty anxious to hear maybe that he can start doing a little bit more. I’ll be happy to put him on some gallopers as soon as he gets clearance.”
Flatter Me Graduates in Style Saturday with Front-Running Score
Sea Gull Capital’s 3-year-old colt Flatter Me, under a heady ride from Weston Hamilton, cruised to a popular 2 ¾-length maiden special weight victory in his third start of the year Saturday at Laurel Park.
Hamilton let Righteousness show some early foot before scooting 4-5 favorite Flatter Me ($3.60) through an opening along the rail, led at every call through fractions of 24.38 seconds, 47.79 and 1:11.83, was put under wraps inside the sixteenth pole and crossed the line in 1:36.96 for one mile over a fast main track.
“I thought Wes rode a smart race,” winning trainer Tim Hills said from Monmouth Park, where he stayed to watch 2-year-old filly Map Em Up run fifth in her career debut. “He didn’t rush him but when the opportunity to go on with it offered itself, that’s what he did instead of getting pocketed in. It was good thinking on his part.”
A half-brother to 2018 Belmont Stakes (G1) and 2019 Dubai World Cup (G1) runner-up and $3 million earner Gronkowski who cost $650,000 as a 2-year-old in training in March 2018, Righteousness was quickest from the gate racing for the first time in 16 months and first for trainer Kelly Rubley, who brought Iowa Derby winner Top Line Growth off an 11-month layoff to capture Friday’s feature at Laurel.
Righteousness quickly yielded the lead to Flatter Me, breaking from the rail, but pressed the pace on his outside through a half-mile before dropping back. Hamilton was firmly in control midway around the turn and led by as many as six lengths at the top of the stretch before being throttled down and allowing Jolly Welshman to close for second. Righteousness wound up fifth.
“He’s always been a nice colt, showed a lot of promise last fall,” Hills said. “We decided to give him the winter off and bring him back as a 3-year-old, figuring that he was going to improve, and he really filled out into a big, strong horse.”
Purchased for $350,000 as a 2-year-old in training last March, Flatter Me went winless in four starts at 2, all in New York, the last behind Montauk Traffic, who would go on to win the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes and run fourth in the Gotham (G3) over the winter.
Flatter Me, by Flatter, made his seasonal debut going six furlongs against older horses June 13 at Gulfstream Park, finishing eighth. Last out he closed to be third, beaten 4 ½ lengths, at odds of 28-1 in another six-furlong maiden special weight sprint July 23 at Saratoga to Todd Pletcher-trained Irish Front.
“His first race back at Gulfstream he was dead short because he had gotten so big and the last time at Saratoga, that was a strong race,” Hills said. “On the gallop-out, he was even with the winner an eighth of a mile past the wire so I knew the extra ground today would help him.”
Wet Weather Playing Havoc with Laurel Park Turf Racing
The weather in August has not been a friend to turf racing at Laurel Park.
Beginning with the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias and severe weather over the last week, which has led to heavy rain and flooding in some parts of Maryland, all turf races at Laurel have been moved to the main track.
“The weather has been brutal,” Maryland Jockey President and General Manager Sal Sinatra said. “It’s rained 10 of the last 12 days and I believe we’ve had about seven inches of rain here.”
It moved 14 races Thursday, Friday and Saturday off the turf and to the main track. There could be a ray of light, however, in the forecast.
“Right now it’s supposed to clear up beginning Monday and, hopefully, we’ll be able to get back on the turf for our Thursday program,” Sinatra said.
Notes: Jockey Lauralea Glaser visited the winner’s circle twice Saturday with Queen of Cause ($11.20) in Race 1 and Petion Lass ($8) in Race 5, while Weston Hamilton had wins with Flatter Me ($3.60) in Race 3 and Francatelli ($5.20) in Race 8. Trainer Wayne Potts sent out a pair of winners, The Queens Jules ($8) in Race 4 and Got You Beat ($16.60) in Race 6 … The 20-cent Rainbow 6 was solved by one lucky bettor for a jackpot payout of $4,572.10.
