Harpers First Ride Looks to Continue Run in $100,000 Native Dancer
Harpers First Ride Looks to Continue Run in $100,000 Native Dancer
G3 Winner Laki, Whereshetoldmetogo Tangle in $100,000 Dave’s Friend
Dontletsweetfoolya Goes for Fifth Straight in $100,000 Willa On the Move
LAUREL, MD – MCA Racing Stable’s Harpers First Ride, winner of the historic Pimlico Special (G3) over Preakness (G1) weekend in October, will get one more chance to add to what has been a spectacular season in the $100,000 Native Dancer Saturday, Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.
The 53rd running of the 1 1/8-mile Native Dancer, first held at old Bowie Race Course in 1966, is among three stakes for 3-year-olds and up on the undercard of a Christmastide Day program featuring eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses led by the $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3).
Sprinters 3 and older will go six furlongs in the $100,000 Dave’s Friend for males and $100,000 Willa On the Move for fillies and mares. Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m.
A gelded 4-year-old son of Grade 1 winner Paynter, Harpers First Ride has won six of 10 starts with two seconds, one third and more than $435,000 in purse earnings in 2020. Three of those wins have come in stakes – the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special Oct. 2 at Pimlico Race Course and the Sept. 5 Deputed Testamony and Nov. 28 Richard W. Small, each going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel.
Maryland’s three-time defending year-end training champion Claudio Gonzalez claimed Harpers First Ride for $30,000 out of a Sept. 14, 2019 win at Churchill Downs in his third career start, and he has amassed a lifetime record of 9-2-1 and a $513,055 bankroll in 16 races.
“Everybody likes to dream, but all the time he proves he can run with the good horses. He showed class since the day we claimed him,” Gonzalez said. “He came into the barn and every day he improved. He got better and better and he has never been a problem for us.”
Harpers First Ride has won three of his last four races, the exception being a runner-up finish to Monday Morning Qb in the 1 1/8-mile Maryland Million Classic Oct. 24 at Laurel, beaten 3 ¼ lengths. He bounced back with a three-length triumph in the Richard Small that produced the second-highest speed figure of his career.
“He had a perfect trip the last time. The time before he was on the outside the whole race and the last time it was much better,” Gonzalez said. “For me, the distance is not a problem. He’s the kind of horse that can run all day.
“I cannot say anything bad about him. He does everything right. He’s more mature,” he added. “Even when he breezes, if you ask him a little, he goes, and if you relax with him, he relaxes. You can see it in the races. When he runs, if you push him he can take the lead or he can come from behind. The horse is just a nice horse.”
Harpers First Ride will face a familiar foe in Hillwood Stable’s Cordmaker, a fellow multiple stakes winner that he beat in the Deputed Testamony, Richard Small and Pimlico Special, the latter a race where Cordmaker has run third two consecutive years, beaten three lengths combined. Winless in seven tries this year, the 5-year-old son of Hall of Famer Curlin is one of three horses in the field to have banked more than a half-million dollars, the third being Tri-Brook Stables Inc.’s Grade 3-placed Forewarned.
Air Token, owned and trained by Jose Corrales, takes a three-race win streak into the Native Dancer, the most recent coming Dec. 13 in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance at Laurel against older horses. The 3-year-old Golden Lad gelding’s only previous try at 1 1/8 miles came on the grass, when he ran second in the Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap Oct. 24 after taking a 5 ½-length lead into the stretch.
“I think the horse will be fine. He’s been running the distance and he’s also run the short distances,” Corrales said. “I think the horse is going to perform OK. He’s got enough air for that. I think the first race that he ran on the grass he opened up too much and he just got caught.”
Included in Air Token’s win streak is a victory in the seven-furlong Concern Stakes Nov. 28 at Laurel by a neck over Francatelli. He came off the pace to win that race as well as a restricted allowance against his elders one start prior, but last out won in front-running fashion. Air Token has four wins, two seconds and a third from nine starts since being claimed by Corrales for $10,000 out of an Aug. 1 win at Laurel.
“He doesn’t need to be in front. He’s a horse that if he can sit back he’ll have a kick at the end,” Corrales said. “I’m just going day by day with this horse. This horse is showing me something every time. When I claimed this horse for [$10,000], I’m thinking if he can win for [$16,000] I’ll be happy or I’ll drop him back for [$10,000]. But he’s getting better. Horses to me are like people, they need opportunity. You never know how far you can go and this horse has done that.”
Hall Pass, Saratoga Jack and V.I.P. Ticket complete the field.
G3 winner Laki, Whereshetoldmetogo Tangle in $100,000 Dave’s Friend
Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) winner Laki and Whereshetoldmetogo, separated by a nose in their last meeting four weeks ago, will line up against each other for the third time in four starts in the $100,000 Dave’s Friend.
Hillside Equestrian Meadows’ Laki got fanned six wide in the six-furlong Frank Whiteley Jr. and had the length of the stretch but couldn’t get by Whereshetoldmetogo Nov. 28 at Laurel. The effort came six weeks after Laki held off an onrushing Eastern Bay win the Oct. 3 De Francis by the same margin, his fifth career stakes win and first in graded company.
“I prefer to give Laki a little more time between starts because he puts so much into his efforts. I almost feel like I’m not being fair to him if I don’t give him the time,” trainer Damon Dilodovico said. “We got quality time from the Dash to his last start, so I was very happy with that, and he performed. That’s the thing. He came out of the race well, so we figured we’d give it a shot.”
The Dash avenged Laki’s runner-up finish by 1 ¼ lengths to Eastern Bay in the Sept. 5 Polynesian at Laurel, a race in which Whereshetoldmetogo ran fourth. In addition to his $703,662 earner, Dilodovico will also send out Big Bertha Stable and Storm Stable’s Taco Supream, upset winner of the 2019 Maryland Million Sprint. Sixth in the Polynesian, Taco Supream was a popular optional claiming allowance winner going six furlongs Dec. 3 at Laurel.
“It’s going to end up being about 23 days [between starts]. He breezed lights out [Sunday] morning and seemed to cool out well,” Dilodovico said. “They both seem like they’re on top of their game. These stakes seem to keep coming up with the tough horses. But his last race was a quality race.”
The Polynesian was the first race in two months for Whereshetoldmetogo and his first for trainer Brittany Russell. Since then the 5-year-old El Padrino gelding has been in front at the wire in two straight starts, but was disqualified and placed second for interference in the six-furlong New Castle Sept. 26 at Delaware Park.
“He’s doing great. He’s a pretty neat horse, actually, to have in the barn,” Russell said. “I don’t try and get too cute with him in the morning, I just try to keep him happy. He’s a big horse and he’s a racehorse. I feel like when you walk him over there, if you have him happy he’s going to put his head down and try and run for you.
“That’s exactly what we saw last time. He and Laki hooked up and they ran hard down to the line. He fought hard and I think that’s what he likes to do. He likes to put up a fight,” she added. “I know he’s coming off a big number and there’s always the chance of a bounce but I wouldn’t have put him in had I not thought he was doing good enough to go over there and run big.”
Also entered are Sombeyay, a Grade 3 winner on turf and dirt making his second start for trainer Peter Miller; Share the Ride, winner of the Fall Highweight (G3) Nov. 28 at Aqueduct; multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old Lebda, trying older horses for the first time; Charge to Victory, 13-time career winner Penguin Power and Onemoregreattime.
Dontletsweetfoolya Goes for Fifth Straight in $100,000 Willa On the Move
Five Hellions Farm’s late-developing 3-year-old filly Dontletsweetfoolya, who became a stakes winner in her previous start, will get a chance to extend her winning streak to five races in the $100,000 Willa On the Move.
Trained by Lacey Gaudet, Dontletsweetfoolya has won four of her five starts this year, the exception being her season debut which didn’t come until a June 19 maiden special weight at Laurel. In that race, she closed to be third by less than a length despite drifting out late, just a neck out of second.
Since then, the 3-year-old bay daughter of Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty has led at every call in each of her races, steadily climbing the ladder from maiden special to allowance to stakes company, culminating in her dominant score in the six-furlong Primonetta Nov. 28 at Laurel. Her average win margin during her streak has been more than 6 ½ lengths.
“She’s always been fast and she’s always been in front. We do want to test her eventually and we thought we were going to have to test that in the stake last time,” Gaudet said. “She was on the outside and we were going to let the speed unfold on the inside and see if she could come back at them and she just showed a different sort of speed that I don’t even think that we were prepared for. She kind of showed that she could hold that speed with a better class of horses.”
Dontletsweetfoolya and regular rider Jevian Toledo, aboard for each race of the streak, may be on the engine again having drawn the rail in a field of nine. It will be the second race in less than a month for Dontletsweetfoolya, who came back in a similar time frame to win a second-level optional claiming allowance Oct. 1 at Pimlico Race Course, her lone race away from Laurel.
“She’s doing great. She came out of the last stake very well,” Gaudet said. “She’s done well coming back on a quick turnaround so we decided while she’s doing well right now we’ll run her right back.
“She keeps surprising us a little bit with the more and more tests that we give her. She’s a nice filly,” she added. “I think we’re going to just kind of let her do her thing. Jevian really fits her well and I think he gives her a lot of confidence. Hopefully she breaks well and she’s there and he’s just going to let her tell him where she wants to be.”
Also entering the Willa On the Move with an impressive win streak is Rudy Rodriguez’s Malibu Mischief, who has put together six consecutive victories – the last four since being claimed by the New York-based trainer for $12,500 in July. The 4-year-old Goldencents filly owns back-to-back scores at Laurel going 5 ½ furlongs, Oct. 23 and Nov. 15, and though she will be stretching out to six furlongs she owns five wins in nine career tries at the distance.
R. Larry Johnson’s homebred Never Enough Time won the Alma North Sept. 5 at Laurel and the Skipat Oct. 3 at Pimlico sprinting six furlongs in successive starts for trainer Mike Trombetta. Since then she ran third as the favorite in the Pumpkin Pie Nov. 1 at Aqueduct and came back to be a distant second to Dontletsweetfoolya in the Primonetta.
Melinda Golden’s homebred Parisian Diva is a nine-time career winner with multiple sprint stakes victories over her home course at Charles Town, but is winless with one second and one third in two tries at Laurel, the latter coming in a Dec. 5 optional claimer going six furlongs.
Shyza, Elegant de Domino, Hibiscus Punch, Suggestive Honor and Club Car round out the field.
