Late Night Pow Wow, Ms Locust Point Top Barbara Fritchie (G3) Noms
Late Night Pow Wow, Ms Locust Point Top Barbara Fritchie (G3) Noms
G2 Winner Still Having Fun Among General George (G3) Nominees
Winter Carnival Features Five Stakes Worth $800,000 Saturday, Feb. 16
LAUREL, MD – Grade 3 winner Late Night Pow Wow, riding an eight-race win streak, and defending champion Ms Locust Point are among 35 older fillies and mares nominated to the 67th running of the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3) Saturday, Feb. 16 at Laurel Park.
The Barbara Fritchie and the $250,000 General George (G3) for older horses, both at seven furlongs, highlight a Winter Carnival program that features five stakes worth $800,000 in purses, ice sculptures, ice carving demonstration, $3,000 ice wall and Tech Glove giveaway with program purchase, while supplies last.
Also on the Feb. 16 program are a trio of $100,000 stakes – the one-mile Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds and seven-furlong Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies, and the 1 1/8-mile John B. Campbell for 4-year-olds and up.
As part of Winter Carnival weekend, the $100,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes for fillies and mares 4 and up at about 1 1/16 miles will be contested on a special Presidents Day holiday program Monday, Feb. 18. A total of 193 nominations were made to the six stakes.
Breeze Easy’s Late Night Pow Wow extended her win streak with back-to-back victories at Laurel in the Willa On the Move Stakes Nov. 24, where she beat Ms Locust Point, and What A Summer Stakes Jan. 19, both at six furlongs. The 4-year-old Fiber Sonde filly has only lost once in 11 career starts, the first nine of them at Charles Town, with $469,400 in purse earnings.
Cash is King and Jim Reichenberg’s Ms Locust Point was a popular front-running winner of the 2018 Barbara Fritchie to cap a four-race win streak that included the 2017 Willa On the Move and 2018 What A Summer. She went winless in four subsequent starts for Kentucky Derby-winning trainer John Servis, returning to the winner’s circle with an open allowance triumph Jan. 1 at Parx.
Trainer Linda Rice, who won the 2017 Fritchie with High Ridge Road, nominated three horses – 2018 Distaff Handicap (G3) winner Holiday Disguise; Honor Way, third in the Jan. 25 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct; and multiple stakes winner Sower, most recently second in the Interborough.
Also prominent among Fritchie nominees are 2018 La Brea (G1) winner Spiced Perfection; Late Night Pow Wow’s stakes-winning stablemate Devine Mischief, second in the What A Summer; Interborough winner Dawn the Destroyer, trained by 2016 Fritchie winner Kiaran McLaughlin; 2018 Chilukki (G2) winner Divine Miss Grey; 2018 Gazelle (G2) winner My Miss Lilly; 2017 Golden Rod (G2) winner Road to Victory; and Laurel stakes winners Elevated Vision, Shimmering Aspen, Timeless Curls and Victory Rally.
The 43rd running of the General George was most popular among horsemen with 42 nominations led by Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Terp Racing’s Still Having Fun. Last year, Still Having Fun won the Frank Whiteley Jr. and Miracle Wood and was second in the Chick Lang Stakes on the Preakness (G1) undercard before scoring his biggest victory in the Woody Stephens (G2) at Belmont Park. He ran in three more graded-stakes, closing the year with a third in the Malibu (G1) at Santa Anita.
Robert LaPenta and Harry Rosenblum’s Uncontested was briefly on the Triple Crown trail in 2017 following his win in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Third in that year’s Pat Day Mile (G3), he returned from a nine-month break between races to romp by five lengths in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 23 at Laurel for trainer Jen Patterson.
Multiple stakes-winning Stronach Stable homebreds Something Awesome, a millionaire whose scored the first graded-stakes triumph of his and trainer Jose Corrales’ career in last year’s General George, and Unbridled Juan, fourth in the Fred Hooper (G3) Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park, are also nominated.
Other notable nominees are Laurel stakes winners Colonel Sharp, who beat Something Awesome in a Laurel allowance last November, Cordmaker, Home Run Maker, John Jones, Laki, Majestic Dunhill; 2017 San Antonio (G2) winner Giant Expectations; and stakes winners Do Share, Exulting, Heartwood, Johnny Jump Up, Midnight Pleasure, Mo Dont No and Uno Mas Modelo.
Runnymede Racing’s Alwaysmining, winner of three straight including the Maryland Juvenile Futurity and Heft Stakes to cap his 2-year-old season, is among 26 nominees to the Miracle Wood that include 2018 Hopeful (G1) winner Mind Control; Midwest-based Gray Attempt, also on a three-race win streak with back-to-back stakes triumphs; and multiple graded-stakes placed Savagery.
The Wide Country attracted 32 nominations led by undefeated Please Flatter Me and Ujjayi and Our Super Freak, the top three finishers from the Gin Talking Stakes Dec. 29 at Laurel; and graded-stakes placed Enliven and Guacamole. Bonus Points, the 2017 Maryland Million Classic winner that has finished first or second in seven of eight Laurel starts; Jan. 12 Native Dancer Stakes winner General Downs; and 2017 Private Terms and Federico Tesio winner Twisted Tom top 36 nominees to the John B. Campbell.
Stakes winners Forever Liesl, Isotope, Midnight Disguise, Pure Lemon, Sower, T Rex Express and Timeless Curls are among 22 nominations to the Maryland Racing Media.
