Juveniles Return to Spotlight in Laurel Stakes Saturday
Juveniles Return to Spotlight in Laurel Stakes Saturday
Clever Mind Goes After Second Stakes Win in $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity
Limited View Heads Competitive $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Field
Older Horses Take Stage in $100,000 Willa On the Move, $75,000 Howard Bender
LAUREL, MD – Six weeks after their unintentional last-to-first performances electrified a Maryland Million Day audience, promising 2-year-olds Clever Mind and Limited View will share the same card again seeking similar, if less eventful, success Saturday at Laurel Park.
Richard Golden homebred colt Clever Mind will face five rivals in a small but solid renewal of the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity, and Limited View is among a competitive field of 10 set to line up in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, both at seven furlongs for Maryland-bred/sired horses.
Also on the nine-race program are a pair of six-furlong stakes for older horses – the $100,000 Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 and older and the $75,000 Howard M. Bender Memorial for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up.
First race post time is 12:30 p.m.
Clever Mind, a bay Buffum colt trained by Fair Hill-based Graham Motion, was asking his career debut in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 21 at Laurel. He drew the rail and got off slowly, trailing the field by 12 lengths through the opening quarter, and was still behind by 11 with less than a half-mile to run.
Swung to the far outside by jockey Nik Juarez, Clever Mind came with an eye-opening rally down the center of the track to win by two lengths in a sparkling 1:10.95 over Mahoning Valley shipper Jamaican Don. Hall of Famer Edgar Prado replaces Juarez in outside Post 6; all horses will carry 120 pounds.
“I was quite pleased with his race,” Motion said. “I thought he might be that good, but I rushed him a little bit to make the Maryland Million because you only get one shot to run in the Maryland Million as a 2-year-old. I was surprised how well he handled it, I must say, but he’s a very classy individual. I was very impressed.”
Jamaican Don, owned and trained by Jason DaCosta, also makes his return in the Maryland Juvenile. Second in the First State Dash at Delaware Park prior to the Maryland Million, he is coming off a 1 ¼-length triumph in an open six-furlong allowance Nov. 13 at Mahoning Valley. He will break directly to the inside of Clever Mind with regular rider Walter De La Cruz aboard.
The other stakes winner in the field is Marathon Farms homebred Whirlin Curlin, who shocked the six-furlong Christopher Elser Memorial Nov. 25 at Laurel by 2 ½ lengths at odds of 23-1. It was the first win in three starts for the gelded son of Hall of Famer Curlin, trained by Gary Capuano.
“That was something. He ran huge that day,” Capuano said. “Even though this is a restricted race like the last one, it’s a whole lot tougher trip. He’s going to have to improve quite a bit again to win this race. He improved greatly from the first race to the second race to the third race. He’ll have to make another big leap.”
Hillwood Stables’ Cordmaker, another son of Curlin, broke his maiden in his second start going six furlongs Sept. 15 at Laurel, then came up a neck short in his first try against winners in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Oct. 15. He has been freshened by trainer Rodney Jenkins for his stakes debut, and tuned up with a bullet half-mile work in 48 seconds from the gate Nov. 25, the fastest of 59 horses.
Completing the field are Terp Racing’s Still Having Fun, a 3 ¼-length debut winner Nov. 17 at Laurel for trainer Tim Keefe; and Riteamontofmschief, exiting a maiden special weight win Nov. 10 at Penn National in his seventh start.
Limited View, owned by Fred Wasserloos, George Greenwalt and trainer John Salzman Jr., broke poorly from the far outside Post 11 and spotted the field 13 lengths after two furlongs in the Maryland Million Lassie. Kept in the clear by Prado, she steadily made up ground to get into contention entering the stretch and came with a powerful six-wide drive to hit the wire three-quarters of a length in front.
“No one ever wants to see them win like that. I mean I want to see her win, but that was a little scary when that happened,” Salzman said. “She was so far back and when she got herself together and started running I thought, ‘She’s going to get a piece of this,’ and then about the eighth pole I said, ‘She can win it.’ That once a one in a lifetime deal there.”
Salzman has spent several mornings since the race at the starting gate with Limited View, undefeated in three previous tries at Laurel, including her maiden triumph June 17 and an optional claiming allowance Sept. 8. This will be her first try at seven furlongs, finishing off the board after being rushed up to contest the pace in the 6 ½-furlong Adirondack (G2) Aug. 12 at Saratoga.
Prado, up for all three of her wins, gets the return call from Post 6 of 11; all fillies will carry 119 pounds.
“She’s been good at the gate and she’s been working good. I hope she runs her race, that’s all,” Salzman said. “If she breaks sharp, chances are she’s going to be on the lead. She’s just naturally that fast. She’s pretty talented, I mean to tell you. I’ve never had a horse just work so easy and do it so effortless like she does. She covers so much ground.”
Limited View will face three of her rivals from the Maryland Million Lassie in M. Terry Shane’s speedy Margie’s Money, who suffered her first career loss after setting the pace and fading to seventh; Fanniebellefleming, a sharp winner of the Donna Freyer Nov. 25 at Laurel two starts after finishing sixth in the Lassie; and 10th-place finisher Oh So Lovely, beaten a nose in a six-furlong maiden claiming event Nov. 11.
Making her stakes debut will the El Padrino filly Frechette, bred and owned by Richard Golden and Two Legends Farm and trained by Motion. Second by a head in her Oct. 14 unveiling at Laurel, a 5 ½-furlong sprint rained off the turf, she followed up with a front-running 3 ¼-length victory as the favorite Nov. 6 going six furlongs.
“I think she kind of benefitted from having had that first race and she really improved. I was very pleased with her effort. She’s another one that has done everything very well in the morning,” Motion said. “It’s always as big step up but with her being a Maryland-bred I think it just makes sense for her to be in there. It’s not an easy race, but it’s different from throwing them into open company. She should be competitive in there.”
Also entered are Eighty Six Mets, third in the Sept. 16 Selima at Laurel; Deep Red, Drops and Buckets, Number the Stars, Steamy Hot and Vente to Go.
Older Horses Take Stage in $100,000 Willa On the Move, $75,000 Howard Bender
Hillwood Stable’s multiple stakes winner Shimmering Aspen, cut back to six furlongs after being beaten as the favorite in her most recent start, tops a trio of 3-year-old fillies that will take on older horses in the $100,000 Willa On the Move.
Trained by Rodney Jenkins, Shimmering Aspen already owns three wins over her elders this year with first- and second-level allowance scores in the spring and the seven-furlong Twixt Stakes Aug. 12, all at Laurel, where she is 5-for-9 lifetime. Her last try at six furlongs came in her maiden triumph last October, a 5 ½-length romp in gate-to-wire fashion.
Ms Locust Point and Fear No Evil are the other sophomore fillies entered. Ms Locust Point won the seven-furlong Gin Talking Stakes last Dec. 31 for trainer John Servis and returned from a nine-month layoff to take a second-level optional claiming allowance Nov. 11 at Parx.
Hickory Plains’ Fear No Evil has won two of her last three starts, a maiden triumph over Laurel’s world-class turf course Aug. 11 and an off-the grass entry-level allowance Nov. 8 at Aqueduct. In her only other try at Laurel, the daughter of Line of David was third behind Crabcakes and Lucky in Malibu in the 2016 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship.
“She likes Laurel and she’s run well there in the past,” New York-based trainer Tom Albertrani said. “We finally figured out what her best distance is right now going short. We tried to stretch her out and it didn’t work out. I think in her last couple of races she’s starting to come around to showing her best. Physically looking at her she just looks stronger now that she did probably six months ago and maybe that’s all part of it. She’s just putting everything together right now.”
Another New York shipper, Newman Racing homebred Absatootly, is unbeaten in three career tries at Laurel, her most recent victory coming in the six-furlong Primonetta Stakes April 22. The Charlie Baker trainee has raced exclusively in stakes company since then, coming off a half-length win in the 6 ½-furlong Iroquois Oct. 21 at Aqueduct.
Shine Again Stakes winner Line of Best Fit, third to champion Songbird in the Delaware Handicap (G1), is making her first start since being moved to trainer Claudio Gonzalez, who also entered My Magician, winner of the one-mile Geisha Stakes Nov. 11. Ivy Bell, Lake Ponchatrain and She’s Hot Wired complete the field.
Non Stop Stable’s Noteworthy Peach is entered to make his first start in 13 months in the $75,000 Howard Bender. The Read the Footnotes gelding was second in the Federico Tesio, Maryland’s hometown prep for the Preakness Stakes (G1), and won the Jennings Handicap as a 3-year-old in 2015, winning one of six starts at 4 and exiting the 2016 Richard Small Stakes with an injury.
Overall Noteworthy Peach owns five wins and nine top three finishes from 15 starts with more than $209,000 in purse earnings. All five of his wins have come from 12 tries at Laurel, with two seconds and a third. He drew Post 1 in a field of 12 at 118 pounds, three fewer than topweight Winplaceorshowono.
“He’s had a year off and he’s ready to go. He didn’t draw a good post for me and sprinting’s not exactly his cup of tea but he can do it,” trainer Gary Capuano said. “He hasn’t run in a year and it’s a good prep race for the [Dec. 30] Jennings if things work out good. He got hurt last year and we just turned him out and took our time getting him back. We’re hoping he comes back like he was. So far he’s been good and stayed good and sound for us.”
Capuano also entered two other horses off short rest in the Bender – 4-year-old Quality Road gelding Showalter, a gutsy nose winner of a second-level optional claimer Dec. 1, just his sixth career start; and Final Prospect, second by a neck in a third-level optional claimer Monday at Laurel. The multiple stakes-placed Jump Start gelding was second in last year’s Bender.
“We’ll evaluate the rest of the week and if everybody looks good they’ll all go,” Capuano said. “[Showalter] seems to only get a couple races a year before he has to have time off. He’s had some foot issues over the years and that’s just the way it is. Winter time hasn’t been the best time for him but he’s got a ton of talent. He’s a real nice horse, it’s just a matter of keeping him healthy when you can. That’s the key. The timing’s not ideal but sometimes you’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.
“I thought [Final Prospect] ran two huge races back-to-back. We’ll see how it goes. He’s ready to go,” he added. “He ran good in the race last year. We’ve been kind of stretching him out and trying to figure out the best route to go with him. He’s run some big races and picks up a bunch of checks, he just doesn’t win that often, or often enough.”
Dr. Michael Harrison’s homebred Talk Show Man, a multiple stakes winner going long on turf, is entered in his first dirt race since running eighth in the 1 1/8-mile Richard Small in 2015. Most recently, the Hamilton Smith-trained 7-year-old Great Notion gelding was third by a head in the one-mile Maryland Million Turf. His last sprint came on grass, running a closing third by a neck six-furlong Mister Diz June 24.
“This is kind of off the wall there for us. He’s a route of ground horse and I really don’t have anywhere else to run him,” Smith said. “Being against Maryland-breds we thought it would be a chance to get a race under him. It’s not his distance or anything of that nature. Hopefully we can use it as a prep and if he can pick up some pieces in there that’d be a plus. He’s ready to run. He ran in the [Mister Diz] and was flying at the end and just got beat. Who knows, things may work out.”
Rounding out the field are stakes winners It’s the Journey, Sonny Inspired, Struth and Winplaceorshowono; multiple graded-stakes place Rockinn On Bye; Grandiflora, Jrock and Lewisfield.
