English Minister Targets Fifth Straight Win in Saturday, Sept. 28 Stakes

LAUREL, MD – Joyce Young, Gerald McManis and Jerrie Stewart McManis’ Highland Sky has earned more than $700,000 in purses racing at tracks up and down the East Coast since the fall of 2015, but the hardy gelding will see Maryland for the first time when he ships in for Saturday’s $100,000 Japan Turf Cup at Laurel Park.

The 1 ½-mile Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up is among six stakes worth $600,000 in purses on Round 2 of Laurel’s September to Remember Stakes Festival, headlined by the $150,000 Fasig-Tipton All Along for fillies and mares 3 and older at 1 1/16 miles, also over its world-class turf course.

Also on the 12-race program are the $100,000 Howard County and $100,000 Anne Arundel County, 5 ½-furlong turf sprints for 2-year-olds, the latter for fillies; and the $75,000 Challedon and $75,000 Shine Again, each at seven furlongs for non-winners of a sweepstakes.

Laurel will open its doors at 11 a.m. with a special first-race post time of 12:25 p.m.

Highland Sky’s sire, Sky Mesa, and grandsire Petionville were both multiple graded-stakes winners while his mare, Kristi With a K, was graded-stakes placed for the same connections. Highland Sky has made 25 starts, 16 in stakes, 13 of them graded, including a second in the 2016 Belmont Derby Invitational (G1), for earnings of $724,494.

“He’s a real nice horse,” New York-based trainer Barclay Tagg said. “He comes from a good family, and I’ve been training that family for the owner for probably 30 years now. They were all hard knockers with a few group stakes winners and a couple of Grade 1 winners in there. It’s always been a good family.”

While he has raced almost exclusively on turf, Highland Sky’s most recent win came on a sloppy main track Aug. 21 at Saratoga in the John’s Call Stakes, which was rained off the grass and contested at 1 ¼ miles. Unhurried early, he came with a six wide move around the turn and coasted through the lane to win by 8 ¼ lengths.

“He liked the mud that day. I don’t know how to embellish it, other than he just ran a super race,” Tagg said. “He’s been doing fine ever since.”

It was the second career stakes win for Highland Sky and first since the 2016 Woodhaven at Aqueduct. In June, he was third by 1 ¼ lengths in the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup Invitational (G2) June 7 at Belmont Park.

“It’s hard to find spots for a horse like him that likes the distance. We’ve got one up here for him, too, the same distance and all that, but the purse is a little bigger down there so we figured why not go ahead and give it a shot,” Tagg said. “He hasn’t run at Laurel, but he’s run well pretty much wherever he’s gone.”

Forest Boyce rides Highland Sky from the rail. All 12 horses entered will carry 120 pounds.

Fitzhugh LLC’s homebred English Minister is in the form of his life at age 9, having won four consecutive races including his first in a stakes, the 1 1/16-mile Find by a hard-fought neck Aug. 17 at Laurel in his most recent start.

English Minister has shown an affinity for the Laurel turf with three wins, three seconds and five thirds in 18 tries, including each of the last two at 1 1/16 miles. Both durable and adaptable, his previous two wins in the streak came over the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs.

Since the Find, English Minster shows four works at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., the latest a bullet five furlongs in 1:01 Sept. 18 on the all-weather surface. Julian Pimentel, aboard for the last two wins, gets the return call from Post 11.

“He’s never gone this far, but I threw him in the mix and we’ll see what he looks like,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “He’s been pretty good here lately. I don’t know whether this is asking too much or not, but we’ll take a look at it and try and figure it out.”

Trainer Graham Motion, a three-time stakes winner in Round 1 of the September to Remember Stakes Festival Sept. 21, entered the pair of Nakamura and Zapperini. A recent addition to the barn, Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables’ Zapperini was second in the 1 ½-mile John B. Connolly (G3) at Sam Houston to open 2019, and stretches out from 1 1/16 miles from a sixth-place finish in an optional claiming allowance Aug. 16 at Saratoga.

“It’ll be the first time that I’ve run him. He ran at Saratoga and then they asked me to take him and bring him back to Maryland,” Motion said. “He’s a horse that has wanted to run a little longer, so this gives him a good opportunity. I like what I’ve seen so far. He’s a nice horse to be around, [with a] very good attitude. He’s kind of done everything nicely since I’ve had him.”

Staghawk Stables’ Nakamura is a gelded 4-year-old son of Motion’s Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Animal Kingdom that will be taking his third crack at stakes company and first since running third in the inaugural Bald Eagle Derby, also 1 ½ miles, last fall at Laurel.

Nakamura enters the Japan Turf Cup on a three-race win streak, all on the grass, at distances evolving from one mile to 1 1/16 miles to 1 3/8 miles in his most recent effort, a second-level optional claiming allowance at Saratoga. The previous two wins came at Laurel, where he is three-for-five lifetime with one third.

“He’s a nice horse. He’s done nothing wrong, really, this year,” Motion said. “He’s typical of the Animal Kingdoms, as he gets older he keeps improving. I also think going a distance has really helped him, so I like the idea of running him a mile and a half at Laurel on a course where he’s run well and with a jockey who’s familiar with him.”

Zapperini and jockey Feargal Lynch will break alongside Nakamura and Trevor McCarthy from posts 5 and 6, respectively.

“It’s going to be a big step for him,” Motion said, “but he’s doing well so we’ll give him a shot. He’s a cool horse. I think the mile and half will really suit him.”

Rounding out the field are Accountable, Freedom Matters, filly Lemon Zip, O Dionysus, Postulation, Surprise Twist and Zero Gravity, with Westerland on the also-eligible list.