Laurel Park News & Notes
Laurel Park News & Notes
Noteworthy Peach Making Return to Races Sunday
Expectations Soar for Inspired Flight After Impressive Debut
New Owners Lacy, Blanchard Savor First Victory
Sizzling Start to Summer Meet for Carrasco
Live Racing Resumes Saturday with Super Hi-5 Carryover
LAUREL, MD – Non Stop Stable’s stakes winner Noteworthy Peach, Maryland’s champion 3-year-old male of 2015, is set to end a 5 ½-month break between races Sunday at Laurel Park.
Unraced since a third-place finish Jan. 30 at Laurel, Noteworthy Peach drew post 2 in a field of seven for Sunday’s eighth race, a $47,000 optional claiming allowance going one mile on the main track. Jockey Jevian Toledo has been named to ride.
A gelded bay son of Read the Footnotes trained by Gary Capuano, Noteworthy Peach captured Laurel’s Jennings Handicap by six lengths Dec. 26 to close his sophomore season.
“I just wanted to give him the winter off. There really wasn’t a whole lot for him and I wanted to give him a break and have him ready for the late summer and fall,” Capuano said. “It’s his 4-year-old year so we’re taking our time and want to have him ready and hopefully have another strong late campaign with him. He’s doing great.”
Noteworthy Peach ran seven times in 2015 with four wins, two seconds and $152,486 in purse earnings to earn his Maryland-bred championship. He was second in the Federico Tesio, a local prep for the Preakness Stakes (G1), in his only other stakes appearance.
Capuano gave Noteworthy Peach 5 ½ months after the Tesio before coming back with an optional claiming allowance victory last October. He shows six timed breezes at Laurel since June 2 for his return, including a half-mile in 49 seconds, handily, from the gate Thursday morning.
“I really needed a couple of weeks but the race is coming up, so we’ll give him a shot. I don’t think he’s ready-ready, but he’s close enough,” Capuano said. “He’s put on some weight and he’s holding it well. He put on some good weight that he needed because he’s not a real big horse. He’s kind of on the lean side but he’s filled out nice with the break and he looks good. Hopefully, he runs good.”
Also entered are Connemara Coast, sixth in the Jennings last out; More To Tell Stakes winner Mr Palmer; Savvy Street, making his second start since winning the Miracle Wood Stakes in February 2015 at Laurel; Noble Cornerstone, Old Upstart and stakes-placed Golden Glint.
Expectations Soar for Inspired Flight After Impressive Debut
Following a professional debut victory July 1 on opening day of Laurel’s summer meet, D Hatman Thoroughbreds and Kingdom Bloodstock’s 2-year-old filly Inspired Flight has her connections excited about the future.
Breaking from post 1 in a field that included touted Sagamore Farm homebred and heavy favorite Riley’s Choice, Inspired Flight overcame an inside trip and some traffic trouble for a one-length victory in 59.58 seconds for five furlongs over a fast main track.
Bred in Maryland by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds LLC, the chestnut daughter of sprint champion Orientate out of the Not For Love mare I Love to Fly was sent off as the sixth choice in a field of nine at odds of 13-1. Her effort did not surprise her jockey, Feargal Lynch.
“She’s nice and we’ve always liked her. She got up in there and she battled hard. She got headed, the gap got tight, but she got back in there. She got bumped off the rail twice, got her head back in front and won with her ears pricked,” Lynch said. “For a first-time starter, she overcame everything. She was great with the pony, in the post parade she was brilliant, and she was good in the gate. She did everything like a little professional. She was well-prepared.”
Inspired Flight, purchased for $33,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic 2015 Eastern Fall Yearling sale, won by a length. She had six published works at Laurel for her unveiling, including a bullet half-mile from the gate in 49 seconds June 8, the fastest of 24 horses, and another half in 48.40 June 25, ranking fifth of 72.
“The horse has been training like a rock star. We’ve loved her all along,” trainer Phil Schoenthal said. “We drew the rail and we were kind of like, ‘That hurts a little bit.’ I thought it was an extremely salty field on paper for a Maryland-bred race. I actually talked myself into the fact that I couldn’t win because Sagamore was 1-9 and I’m 99-1. She broke a step slow, rushed up in there, took a couple of bumps, got headed and fought back. You couldn’t ask for a more gutty effort than that from a 2-year-old filly making her first start, and a Maryland-bred. We’re so proud of this filly. Everything is in front of this horse.”
Schoenthal said Inspired Flight is likely to tackle stakes company in her next start, with the long-range goal of the 31st annual Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program Oct. 22 at Laurel.
“There was a lot of buzz about the race coming up to it. Four or five different trainers thought they had a good horse coming into this race. I told the owner, whoever leaves today without their maiden status is probably headed to a stakes race the next time,” he said. “I don’t even know when races are or how fast they come up. We’ll just get her back to the barn and get her happy again and find a spot. We’ll show up and see what happens. Our ultimate goal will be the Maryland Million, for sure.”
New Owners Lacy, Blanchard Savor First Victory
Frederick, Md. residents Mike Lacy and Wayne Blanchard of P & H Stable enjoyed their first victory as owners when Sippy Cup posted a mild upset on Monday’s July 4 holiday program to wrap up opening weekend of Laurel’s 24-day summer meet.
Trained by Charles Frock, the 4-year-old filly rolled to a 3 ¾-length victory in the 5 ½-furlong off-the-turf maiden claiming event, her eighth career start and fifth since being claimed for $25,000 out of a third-place effort April 8 at Laurel.
“Unbelievable feeling,” Lacy said. “We were just going crazy. People probably thought we were nuts out there as she was coming down the stretch. It was great.”
Sippy Cup is just the second horse P & H has owned. They started with a 4-year-old filly, Jolity, claimed for $15,000 out of a March 18 win at Laurel. She ran sixth in two subsequent starts before fracturing her knee during a race June 16 at Pimlico.
“She was on the inside and it looked like she was going right to the winner’s circle. She had a slab fracture straight down the middle. That was the first horse they ever had. They had T-shirts made up of her because they just got into the game,” Frock said. “They took it pretty well. After they lost her they said, ‘Let’s get another one,’ and we got Sippy Cup.”
At the time of her claim, Sippy Cup had not raced for 17 months following back-to-back third-place finishes for previous trainer Ben Perkins Jr. She now has a win, a second and a third with $33,099 in purse earnings from six starts for P & H.
“They’re really two nice guys. My wife met them at Charles Town. They were standing by the casino and she asked if she could borrow their program because we had a horse running, and they said they’d be interested in buying a horse. I told them I had a good feeling about our horse so meet us at the winner’s circle and as God would have it, we were lucky enough to win the race and they were in the winner’s circle with us. That was in October,” Frock said. “I’m really happy for them and proud of them that they stayed in the game. They’re fun people to be with.”
Sizzling Start to Summer Meet for Carrasco
Jockey Victor Carrasco, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice of 2013, has gotten off to a sizzling start with a meet-leading eight victories through the first four days of the 24-day summer stand.
Second to Trevor McCarthy at both Laurel’s winter-spring meet and the Preakness Meet at Pimlico, the 24-year-old Carrasco has already posted a pair of multi-win days, winning three of the last four races on July 2 and three of the last six on July 4.
Carrasco had single wins on opening day, July 1, and July 3. For good measure, he also won twice at Delaware Park on July 6 during Laurel’s four dark days that followed the July 4 holiday program.
Last year, Carrasco won both the Preakness meet and Laurel’s summer meet and finished second by eight wins to Jevian Toledo for the overall Maryland championship.
Live Racing Resumes Saturday with Super Hi-5 Carryover
There will be a $1 Super Hi-5 carryover of $3,391.60 for the first of nine races when live racing resumes Saturday at Laurel Park.
First race post time is 1:25 p.m. Friday’s twilight racing will return on July 15.
Saturday’s nine-race program is highlighted by a wide-open $42,000 allowance at 5 ½ furlongs on the All Along Turf Course which attracted a field of 12 fillies and mares 3 and older led by 4-1 program favorite Summer Frock. Coming off a starter allowance win June 17 at Pimlico, the 3-year-old filly was fifth in the Stormy Blues Stakes June 4.
