Our Super Freak Gets It Done in $100,000 Shine Again

LAUREL, MD – Lady Sheila Stable and Iris Smith Stable’s Tiz He the One, reunited with his favorite track and jockey for the first time in almost 10 months, continued his love affair with both Laurel Park and Trevor McCarthy in Saturday’s $75,000 Challedon Stakes.

Restricted to non-winners of a sweepstakes, the Challedon for 3-year-olds and up and the $75,000 Shine Again for fillies and mares 3 and older, both sprinting seven furlongs on the dirt, were among six stakes worth $600,000 in purses on Round 2 of Laurel’s September to Remember Stakes Festival.

Highlighting the 12-race program were the $150,000 Fasig-Tipton All Along for fillies and mares 3 and up at 1 1/16 miles on the grass, and the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up going 1 ½ miles.

Tiz He the One ($10.80) won by 3 ¼ lengths in 1:22.17 over a fast main track to earn his fourth straight victory at Laurel and fifth in six career tries dating back to a debut triumph in January 2017. McCarthy won three times last winter aboard the 5-year-old gelding, now based in New York with trainer Linda Rice.

The Challedon was just the third start this year for Tiz He the One and second for Rice. He faded after pressing the pace in the Razorback Handicap (G3) in February, launching his comeback after the trainer switch Aug. 30 at Saratoga, where he ran fourth.

“I love this horse. I went all the way out to Oaklawn to ride him,” McCarthy said. “I’ve really always thought highly of him. I’m so lucky and so privileged to get the mount back on him today and win a stake with him.”

Twin Valor, a 50-1 long shot breaking from the rail, ran a quarter-mile in 22.45 seconds pressed by 4-5 favorite Wonderful Light, who took over the top spot after a half in 44.43, chased by Taco Supream. Meanwhile, McCarthy kept Tiz He the One in the clear, and they powered past the leaders once straightened for home. Taco Supream was second, with Wonderful Light third.

“I thought I would be a little bit closer today, but they went so hot early that I just kind of let him find his stride. He’s a big, nice horse. He probably wants to go a little longer … but I knew if the pace was hot that seven-eighths would suit him good,” McCarthy said. “He got a great trip. We stayed about three wide on the turn, just giving ourselves some options. He cut the corner and when he got outside, it was over. When he gets that stride rolling, there’s no stopping him.”

The Challedon honors the Maryland-bred son of Challenger II that won 20 of 44 starts and $334,660 in purses from 1938 to 1942, was recognized as Horse of the Year in 1939 and 1940, and inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1977. Winner of the 1939 Preakness and 1939-40 Pimlico Special, Challedon also sired 13 stakes winners before his death in 1958.

Our Super Freak Gets It Done in $100,000 Shine Again

Jamie Ness owned-and-trained Our Super Freak, second or third in six stakes through the winter and spring, broke through with her first career stakes triumph by outclassing eight rivals to take the $100,000 Shine Again.

Our Super Freak ($7.40) ran seven furlongs in 1:22.98 over a fast main track to give jockey Trevor McCarthy his third stakes victory of the day, following Tiz He the One in the $75,000 Challedon and Miss J McKay in the $100,000 Anne Arundel County.

“As soon as she broke she put me in a great position,” McCarthy said. “I had a ton of horse down the backside and going into the turn, I was really happy where I was. I knew she’d keep going for me. She’s very game. It seems like she’s getting better and better.”

The Shine Again was the 11th start of 2019 for Our Super Freak, a 3-year-old daughter of Mineshaft that came within a nose of winning the Weber City Miss Stakes in April and earning an automatic berth to the Black-Eyed Susan (G2). She finished eighth in that race, one of only two times in 17 career races she wasn’t in the top three.

“It’s great. She danced every dance this winter and spring and we hit every stake and were second and third a bunch of times. She’s been getting better every time I run her,” Ness said. “She’s got a nice future. She’s only 3 and she’s a dream to have because she runs every time.”

Long shots Last Love and Munificent dueled up front through fractions of 23.20 and 46.07 seconds, with Our Super Freak sitting just in behind on the outside. She corralled the top pair after six furlongs in 1:10.49 and was not threatened to the wire, while Steamy Hot edged Saguaro Row by a neck for second.

Ness said Our Super Freak, who has faced older horses in her last six races with two wins, will be entered in Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale, which runs Nov. 6-17.

“A friend of mine is a consignor out there and he wanted to put her in Book 2 so we’ll send her out there and see what we can get,” Ness said. “If she doesn’t bring what we’re looking for, we’ll bring her home and keep her running.”

The Shine Again is named for Allaire duPont’s fourth generation Maryland homebred mare that retired in 2003 after winning 14 of 34 starts, seven stakes and nearly $1.3 million in purses. Trained by late Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, she won back-to-back editions of the Ballerina (G1) in 2001 and 2002 and was second in 2003.