Hello Beautiful Favored for Stakes Debut in Maryland Million Lassie
Among 11 Stakes on ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ Oct. 19

LAUREL, MD – Joseph Besecker’s Laddie Liam should enjoy a change of scenery in the Laurel Park starting gate Saturday, when he takes on nine rivals in the $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery.

The Nursery for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Lassie for 2-year-old fillies, both at six furlongs, are among seven stakes and four starter stakes worth $1.02 million in purses that help comprise the 34th Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program.

Led by the $150,000 Classic and named for the late Hall of Fame and 13-time Emmy Award-winning broadcaster who helped launch the groundbreaking concept in 1986, the 12-race Maryland Million card gets under way at noon.

A juvenile son of Golden Lad who performed admirably in his first two career starts while breaking from the rail, Laddie Liam may well have a better strategic position while starting from the far outside No. 10 post.

“I love the outside post for him, because he’s going to be able to get momentum without traffic,” trainer Hugh McMahon said. “He needs that, because I don’t think he’s a sprinter. Hopefully, he’ll be able to get some momentum going and when they get to the stretch, he’ll be able to perform.

Laddie Liam received an education while breaking from the No. 1 post in his Aug. 17 debut at Penn National, where he got away from the starting gate slowly and closed to finish third. The winner of that 4 ½-furlong dash, Dontmesawithme, a Kentucky-bred son of Fast Anna, came right back to capture a Sept. 20 allowance at Laurel Park, overcoming a bit of a slow start to score by 2 ¼ lengths.

On that same Sept. 20 program at Laurel, Laddie Liam handled the rail post considerably better in his second start, stalking the pace along the inside before kicking in through the stretch to win a $40,000 maiden claiming race by 4 ½ lengths.

Laddie Liam ran six furlongs that day in a swift 1:10, a clocking that was .89 seconds faster than Dontmesawithme’s victory over winners earlier on the card.

Laddie Liam was purchased at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December sale for $14,560 by Besecker, who currently ranks third among all owners in the country this year with more than 150 winners.

“He’s a good feeling horse. He’s been training really well. He’s one of those horses that loves to train,” McMahon said. “I think he wants to go long. The shorter races he can do it because he’s got so much talent. Eventually, I’d like to run him long.”

Sheldon Russell is scheduled to ride Laddie Liam for the first time Saturday.

Runnymede Racing LLC’s So Street will be the only stakes winner in the Nursery field, having captured the $100,000 Howard County Stakes at Laurel Park in his most recent outing. The gelded son of Street Magician earned his stakes credentials on turf in the 5 ½-furlong stakes Sept. 28.

The Jamie Ness-trained gelding, who has earned two victories and a pair of stakes placings from three starts on turf, had previously demonstrated talent on dirt, as well. In his May 9 debut at Pimlico in a $25,000 maiden claiming race, So Street won by 6 ¾ lengths. After finishing off the board in an optional claiming allowance, he was switched to turf.

Trevor McCarthy, who has been aboard for all of So Street’s races, has the return mount.

Port Lairge Stables’ Tommy Shelby holds the distinction of being the only stakes-placed starter on dirt in the Nursery field. The son of Super Ninety Nine finished second in the First State Dash at Delaware Park last time out. The Henry Walters trainee had previously won his first two career races at Laurel Park, where he won a $25,000 maiden claiming race July 7 and captured an entry-level optional claiming allowance by 8 ¾ lengths Aug. 17.

Owner/trainer Hamilton Smith’s Stone Courageous, a front-running debut winner at Laurel Aug. 16, will seek to rebound from a fourth-place finish behind Dontmesawithme Sept. 20 while being equipped with blinkers for the first time. Smith will also saddle The Poser, a gelded son of Bandbox he owns in partnership with Deborah Greene and Fred Greene Jr. The Poser broke his maiden in his third career race last time out, capturing a $40,000 claiming race by 3 ¾ lengths in his first start on dirt.

Trainer Claudio Gonzalez is also slated to saddle a pair of starters, both last-out maiden winners. Robert Bone’s Imagine Winning, a son of Imagining, captured a $25,000 maiden claiming race Sept. 27 at first asking, while William Bayne Jr. and Super C Racing Inc.’s D C Fireman, a son of Friesan Fire, is coming off a debut victory in a Timonium maiden special weight race Sept. 2.

Rounding out the field will be Anthony Aguirre Jr.’s Benny Havens, Reeves Racing LLC’s Ournationonparade and No Guts No Glory Farm and Marisa Gino’s Dreaming of Love.

Hello Beautiful Favored for Stakes Debut in Maryland Million Lassie

Madaket Stable, Albert Frasetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables’ Hello Beautiful, a runaway winner of her last race on dirt, returns to the main track for her stakes debut in the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie.

Favored at 5-2 on the morning line, Hello Beautiful drew outside Post 12 and will be ridden by Sheldon Russell for his wife, trainer Brittany Russell. Sheldon Russell has won five previous Maryland Million races including the Classic aboard Regal Solo in 2010 – one of three wins that year – and Eighttofasttocatch in 2011.

“Being that far outside isn’t ideal, but it’s also nice because Sheldon will be able to let them go inside her,” Brittany Russell said. “She’s not one-dimensional. I think she’ll be even better sitting off horses and having a target. The three-quarters, I think she’ll love that. I think we’re in a good spot.”

A daughter of two-time Grade 3 winner Golden Lad out of the Tiznow mare Hello Now, Hello Beautiful has alternated racing on dirt and turf through her first four starts, debuting May 10 over the Pimlico Race Course main track. Second in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight on the Laurel grass June 28, she returned four weeks later with a front-running maiden claiming romp at the same distance July 27 on Laurel’s main track.

In her last race Sept. 6, Hello Beautiful was quickly in command after bobbling at the break of a 5 ½-furlong optional claimer on the Laurel turf, opening up by 3 ½ lengths at the top of the stretch before being caught by a neck at the wire. She has yet to finish worse than third.

“She’s doing really well. We opted to give her a little more time from that last race into the Maryland Million because this was always the goal after she broke her maiden. We’ve always been high on her,” Brittany Russell said. “I thought she might be better on the grass at one point. The way she travels she doesn’t pick her feet up real high, but she ran really big on the dirt when she broke her maiden, which kind of changed our feelings. She’s shown that she can handle both. We’ve worked her a couple times since that last race and she’s taken every step forward. She’s right where we want her.”

Rashid’s Thoroughbred Racing, Linda Walls, Rick Wallace and Kingdom Bloodstock’s Gifted Heart is second choice in the program at 3-1. The bay Super Ninety Nine filly won each of her first two starts sprinting over Laurel’s main track before being beaten three-quarters of a length when second in the seven-furlong Dickie Moore Stakes Sept. 21 in the mud at Charles Town.

Trainer Jerry Robb won the Lassie in 1990 with Ameri Allen, 1992 with Carnirainbow and 2013 with Jonesin for Jerry, and entered both Courtesy Shuffle and Make It a Double. No Guts No Glory Farm’s Courtesy Shuffle is winless in four starts and has not raced since July 6.

Clover Hill Racing’s homebred Make It a Double will be making her race debut in the Lassie. A bay daughter of Maryland’s leading sire of 2019, Bourbon Courage, Make It a Double shows five works at Laurel since mid-June for her unveiling.

“She’s the best of the three I [pre-entered], so she’s the logical one to run,” Robb said. “With 2-year-olds, you never know. Any one of them could step up and run big. She’s quick, and she’s fit. We’ve got to start her somewhere, why not here?”

Completing the field are stakes-tested Stickingtogether, Punk Rock Princess, Steady Love and Leaky Cauldron, along with Worstbestideaever, Paisley Singing, Sevilla Sangria, Halfinthewrapper, Courtesy Shuffle and Maryland-bred also-eligible Bethabara.