Luna Belle Makes It Three Straight Wins in $100,000 Wide Country

LAUREL, MD – Bird Mobberley’s Local Motive, still a work in progress for trainer John Salzman Jr., took another step forward Saturday at Laurel Park with a two-length victory in the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds.

The 27th running of the one-mile Miracle Wood and the 29th renewal of the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies were among six stakes, two graded, worth $900,000 on a rich winter program headlined by the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3) and $250,000 General George (G3) for older sprinters.

Local Motive ($9.20) completed the distance in 1:39.14 over a fast main track under regular rider J.D. Acosta. Majestic Frontier ran second, 2 ½ lengths ahead of Heffner, who edged previously undefeated Perfect Day by a head for third. All three horses were making their stakes debut.

Meanwhile, it was the third stakes win from nine career starts for Local Motive, who opened his sophomore campaign running third to Witty in the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid Jan. 29 at Laurel. As a 2-year-old, he won the Hickory Tree on the Colonial Downs turf and James F. Lewis III over Laurel’s main track in mid-November.

“He’s a nice horse, he’s just had some issues. The last time he ran the dirt hit him again like it did at Timonium and he got back a ways, but luckily J.D. knew him and he didn’t pull him up, he just kept getting into him and he came running. I think he got beat by a nice horse,” Salzman said. “I think he beat some decent horses here today. He’s done everything I’ve asked of him. He’s going to get better. He’s still green. Everything’s got to be just right for him. J.D. has gotten to know him and that helps a lot. I’m really pleased with him.”

Perfect Day broke alertly from the inside post and was pressed by Local Motive through a quarter-mile in 24.17 seconds and a half in 47.24 tracked by narrow 9-5 favorite Conclusive with Majestic Frontier saving ground in fourth. Local Motive had plenty of run left approaching the stretch and powered through the lane to turn back Majestic Frontier and win by 1 ¼ lengths.

“[Acosta] keeps begging me to put blinkers on him, so we put blinkers on him [in the morning] and he doesn’t pay any attention. He’s worse. It’s hard for me to change and put blinkers on him the way he runs,” Salzman said. “We’re working through it. I’ve worked him in behind horses and dirt hits him and he won’t go up in between them. We’re trying. It’s just taking a little longer than usual, but he’s getting it.

“Today it just set up perfect where there wasn’t a lot of speed and he was outside. It set up just like we talked about, and he fired on,” he added. “He ran good. I’m real pleased with him.”

Salzman hinted the $100,000 Private Terms going about 1 1/16 miles March 19 at Laurel could be in play for Local Motive. The Private Terms is the next step in Maryland’s series of stakes for 3-year-olds, followed by the $125,000 Federico Tesio going 1 1/8 miles April 16. The Tesio is a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the 147th Preakness (G1) May 21 at historic Pimlico Race Course.

‘I’ve got to think about it, but probably. It’s right here at home, so there’s a good possibility. We’ll see how he comes out of this and how much it takes out of him,” Salzman said. “He took this today, and into this wind, too. We’ll see how he is and then we’ll go forward from there.”

Luna Belle Makes It Three Straight Wins in $100,000 Wide Country

Some early anxious moments were quickly erased as Luna Belle came charging through the stretch on the far outside to sweep past her rivals and extend her win streak to three straight stakes in the $100,000 Wide Country.

Luna Belle ($2.80) ran seven furlongs in 1:24.71 over a fast main track to win by three lengths under Denis Araujuo, also aboard for victories in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies in December and the Jan. 29 Xtra Heat.

Sent off as the 2-5 favorite in a field of eight, Araujo was unhurried as Luna Belle broke from the rail and wound up in some traffic up the backstretch and into the far turn before the jockey was able to tip out at the head of the stretch and set the daughter of Great Notion down for a drive to catch pacesetter Sandy’s Garden and roll past.

“Yeah, for the first five-eighths of a mile I was [worried]. She was dead last and it looked like she got in a little trouble around the turn and [Araujo] was kind of wiggling his way around there a little bit,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “But, once she got clear she came running like she has in her past races.”

Smith also co-owns Luna Belle with Deborah Greene, and they also bred the horse with Greene’s late father, Fred Greene, Jr.

“I wish my dad was here. I miss him, but this is an incredible ride and I’m enjoying the heck out of it,” Greene said.

She Is Wisky, the longest shot in the field at 50-1, ran second by 4 ½ lengths over Sandy’s Garden, who set fractions of 23.11 seconds, 46.24 and 1:11.80. It was 1 ½ lengths back to Qualy followed by Buff My Boots, Moody Woman, Beneath the Stars and Money’s Worth.

Next up on Maryland’s stakes series for 3-year-old fillies is the $100,000 Beyond the Wire going one mile March 19, followed by the $100,000 Weber City Miss at about 1 1/16 miles April 16, a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“I like them going two turns. I don’t think she’ll have a problem with it,” Smith said. “The way she runs her races she looks like she can run all day, actually. She’s kind of push-button. You can rate her back and when you ask her to go, she goes.”