Call Another Play rebounds in filly and mare division

LAUREL, MD – “I needed that one,” said the man in the white cowboy hat after Hittheroadjak bounded clear to win Friday’s co-featured seventh race, a second-level allowance at one mile for 4-year-olds and upward with a claiming option ranging between $40,000 to $32,000.

It had been a lean couple of weeks for the nattily-attired Rudy Sanchez-Salomon after a horse stabled in one of his barns at Laurel Park tested positive for EHV-1.

“My other horses are in quarantine,” Sanchez-Salomon said in the winner’s circle. “It’s tough. Every weekend, I run 10, 12, 13 horses. It’s hard when you don’t have horses to run.”

Sanchez-Salomon currently has only 11 race-eligible horses while the quarantine is ongoing. Hittheroadjak competed because he came straight from a local farm to the track.

“It was an impressive ride from the girl. That horse runs for her,” Sanchez-Salomon said.

“The girl” is jockey Tais Lyapustina, who put Hittheroadjak in a perfect position. They prompted rail-drawn Assume Nothing’s 24.66 and 48.16 fractions and moved to the front after a six-furlong clocking of 1:12.82.

The 4-year-old gelding by Kobe’s Back took the lead without much fuss and sprinted home to score by 4 ½ lengths in 1:38.11 over a good track. Assume Nothing was a clear second with another 4 ½-length gap back to Crossland in third. St. Jude, Fan Club, and Irish Exit completed the order of finish. Brooklyn Guy scratched.

Favored Hittheroadjak returned $3.40 to win.

“I was tracking [Assume Nothing] and keeping track of how fast we were going,” Lyapustina said. “I was pretty comfortable. I waited to even show him the whip, and once I did, he took off again. He had plenty left in the tank, I felt.”

Bred in Maryland by Bonita Farm, Sanchez-Salomon claimed Hittheroadjak on behalf of his J R Sanchez Racing Stable out of his second start, a winning effort in a $20,000 seller racing a mile at Laurel on Nov. 11, 2023. Hittheroadjak now boasts five wins from 12 starts with earnings of $183,935.

After competing in four stakes races and placing in three, Hittheroadjak appreciated dropping back into an allowance race where he could run with Lasix. Counting today’s victory, he has won his last three allowance starts by a combined 17 ½ lengths.

Hittheroadjak rebounded from a fifth-place finish in the restricted Not For Love Stakes at six furlongs on March 8. Sanchez-Salomon felt that the distance was too short. Xavier Perez rode Hittheroadjak in the Not For Love.

“I tried to see if [the distance] was going to work out, but I made a huge mistake, especially taking the girl off.”

Call Another Play rebound in filly and mare division

Two races after the Michael Trombetta-trained Gotts Got It dumped Mychel Sanchez leaving the gate, Sanchez did what all good riders do.

He dusted himself off, got back in the saddle, and fearlessly rode a winner, this time with the Trombetta-trained Call Another Play in the co-featured sixth race, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares with a $40,000 claiming option.

“I’m good. I got lucky,” Sanchez said about the earlier spill. “[Gotts Got It] came back well, too.”

A homebred owned by the Estate of R. Larry Johnson, Call Another Play settled into a comfortable rhythm in midpack as Bay Street and Lovely Charm dropped fractions of 24.04 and 47.45 seconds.

Call Another Play briefly advanced on the inside, but Sanchez tipped the 4-year-old filly widest late on the second turn, and they breezed to the front inside the quarter pole. Doctor Abbie made a determined charge from last but could get no closer than 1 ¾ lengths behind the winner.

Stop the Cap was third, followed by Lovely Charm, Bay Street, and Don’t Tell Kelly. Dancing On My Own scratched.

Call Another Play ran the mile in 1:40.15 and paid $3.80 as the prohibitive betting favorite.

“I was loaded,” Sanchez said. “I broke. I got in a good spot. I settled. I knew we were going to the second wire, so I waited, waited, waited. I could have stayed inside a little longer, but I felt I had a lot of horse and she was comfortable. I put her in the four path, and she took off.”

A 4-year-old filly by Audible, Call Another Play enjoyed a successful 2024 season, winning the Weber City Miss Stakes at Laurel on April 20 before finishing third in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

After three poor running lines, Call Another Play returned to her winning ways with an upset victory in the restricted Geisha Stakes at Laurel in her 2025 debut. Her final race before Friday’s allowance, a seventh-place finish in the Conniver Stakes going six furlongs, was packed with excuses.

“Last time, we gave up way too much [ground] when we got destroyed at the start,” Sanchez said. “We gave up maybe 15 lengths or more. We made up a lot of ground, but it was too much ground to give to stakes company. Mike gave her a shot in this nice race to get her back to her winning ways.”

A half-sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Future Is Now and multiple stakes-placed Continentalcongres, Call Another Play might enter back into stakes competition for her next start.

Around the track:

Omaha Omaha, third in last Saturday’s $500,000 Virginia Derby, may make his next start in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 5. “He came out of the race doing very good,” said trainer Michael Gorham. “It was a fast race. He did close some ground, but it was tough to make up that kind of ground on tracks that are that fast. We’re trying to get the Derby points. The Wood is a possibility.” In addition to his third-place effort in the Virginia Derby, Omaha Omaha also finished second in Aqueduct’s Jerome on Jan. 4 before running third in the Withers there on Feb. 1. Omaha Omaha currently ranks 15th on the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard with 26 points…Sea Dancer, unbeaten on dirt after sweeping through the Carousel Stakes on Dec. 21 and the Nellie Morse Stakes on Feb. 15, breezed a half in 49 flat on Thursday morning for trainer Brittany Russell… The Russell barn also breezed Grade 3 winner Apple Picker a half in 50.20 seconds on Wednesday morning. A 5-year-old mare by Connect, Apple Picker hasn't started since finishing fifth in Charles Town’s Pink Ribbon Stakes on Aug. 2…Multiple stakes-placed Had to Have Him worked a bullet half in 47.80 on Thursday for trainer John Salzman Sr…. Racing resumes Saturday with a nine-race program featuring the $100,000 Beyond the Wire Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at one mile and the $100,000 Private Terms Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles. The first post time is 12:10 ET…Also on Saturday will be Laurel Park’s “Beer Crawl” event, where the best local craft breweries will showcase their unique and delicious brews. Enjoy a fantastic selection of domestic and imported beers for just $5 each. Four featured bars will be set up throughout the venue (Clubhouse, Cross Bar, Stone Bar & Sports Book), each offering unique beer selections…In addition, William Wilson from www.marylandracingart.com will be at the Grandstand entrance on Saturday, selling paintings and posters of famous American thoroughbreds, including Maryland favorites Man o’ War, War Admiral, Ben’s Cat, Selima, and more.