Margie’s Money, Limited View Hook Up in Maryland Million Lassie
Margie’s Money, Limited View Hook Up in Maryland Million Lassie
Chinquapin Looks to Give Trainer Smith Second Straight Win in Nursery
LAUREL, MD – M. Terry Shane’s undefeated homebred Margie’s Money and Limited View, graded stakes-tested and similarly unbeaten over her home track, will square off in what figures to be a fast and competitive running of the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie Saturday at Laurel Park.
The six-furlong Lassie for 2-year-old fillies and $100,000 Nursery for 2-year-olds are among seven stakes and four starter stakes on the 32nd Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program highlighted by the $150,000 Classic, where Admirals War Chest goes for a history-making third straight victory.
Margie’s Money, a bay daughter of Great Notion trained by Hugh McMahon, outran her 8-1 odds in a front-running, six-length debut triumph Aug. 19 at Laurel, going five furlongs in 57.82 seconds. Favored in her next and most recent start, she followed up with a gutsy half-length victory Oct. 1 in 1:11.62 for six furlongs.
“She’s doing good. Everything that we do with her is pretty low key,” McMahon said. “She is one of these all or nothing type of horses. You have to gallop her extremely slow because if you try to do a medium gallop with her, she’s gone. She gets a taste for speed and she just goes.
“When she ran her first race we didn’t know really what to expect because we always kept her under control and slow and deliberate,” he added. “One thing that impressed me in her last race was they went in 45 and change in a three-way speed duel on the front end and she was able to be on the outside of that and still manage to overcome and draw off and win the race. That usually sets it up for the closers. Hopefully that won’t be the case in this race.”
Regular rider Katie Davis will be back aboard Margie’s Money from Post 10, just to the inside of Limited View, whose two wins from three starts have both come at Laurel. Co-owned by Fred Wasserloos, George Greenwalt and trainer John Salzman Jr., Limited View went gate to wire to break her maiden June 17 by 3 ¾ lengths, running five furlongs in 57.95 seconds.
Following a summer sojourn to Saratoga, the bay Freedom Child filly returned a 1 ¾-length winner of an optional claiming allowance Sept. 8 in 1:12.37 for six furlongs. Hall of Famer Edgar Prado, aboard for both wins, gets the return call.
“Everything’s been fine. She’s been working real good. We’ve actually been working on slowing her down, she works so fast all the time,” Salzman said. “We’ve slowed her down and she really likes this cold weather. She’s really doing well right now. Each day is a different day with her but she really seems to be maturing a little bit and she’s doing everything right and hopefully getting better.”
Limited View’s lone loss came when she broke slowly and rushed up near the lead before fading to sixth in the 6 ½-furlong Adirondack (G2) Aug. 12 at Saratoga, three weeks after she was scratched from the Schuylerville (G3) there after acting up in the paddock.
“I think she’s a real nice filly. I don’t think I haven’t gotten to the best part of her yet because of the different things I have to do to get her there,” Salzman said. “I had that big incident in New York so going into the last race, I trained her a little harder than I normally train horses because you want to take the edge off her to keep her calm enough to get the tack on her. This time I’m doing it a little differently and I hope it works out better for us. She does it all pretty easily.”
Lee R. Christian’s Fanniebellefleming will be making her four start in the Lassie and first since finishing a distant fifth behind Margie’s Money Oct. 1. In her previous start, the chestnut daughter of Freedom Child was a 6 ¾-length maiden winner Sept. 8 at Laurel.
“She didn’t break well last time and didn’t get away from there clean and then on the turn the boy had to take a hold of her and steady her for a little bit. She didn’t really level off and run a whole lot after that,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “When she broke her maiden, that was just a hand ride that day. She’s got some run in her and we’re really hoping she can step up to this caliber of filly. There’s only one way to find out. You’ve got to go in there and see how she does.”
Pearl Gem, 2 ¾-length winner of her lone start Oct. 1 at Laurel; Pikachu Princess, second in the Small Wonder Sept. 30 at Delaware Park; Angel by the Sea, Buff’s in Love, Oh So Lovely, Singing Sarah, Talk About Magic and To Be Honest are also entered.
On the also-eligible list are Enchanted Star, a winner of her last two starts for trainer Gary Capuano including the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder, Dance Or Stroll and Frechette.
Chinquapin Looks to Give Trainer Smith Second Straight Win in Nursery
Like last year, trainer Hamilton Smith comes into the Maryland Million with a promising 2-year-old looking to rebound off a poor effort. Where Greatbullsoffire was already a stakes winner prior to his victory in 2016, Chinquapin will be trying stakes company for the first time in the $100,000 Nursery.
No trainer has won the Nursery in back-to-back years since its debut in 1986. In addition to Greatbullsoffire, Smith also won the Nursery with Carnivorous Habit in 1997, when it was contested at seven furlongs.
“He’s not quite yet where the other horse was, but he’s improving all the time,” Smith said. “He worked really good the other day, so I was very pleased with that. He’s going into the race really good.”
Chinquapin, a chestnut Orientate gelding, ran third in his debut, an off-the-turf maiden special weight Aug. 12 at Laurel. He went all the way on the front end to graduate by a head going 5 ½ furlongs on turf Sept. 10, then was a disappointing fourth in a one-mile optional claiming allowance on dirt Sept. 29.
“I wasn’t too pleased with the last race. He kind of backed up down the lane a little bit but he had really no excuse. Maybe he just got outrun by better horses,” Smith said. “He looks like he’s doing real fine. He worked well the other day and he’s pretty much ready to go. I think he’s going to be a better horse on the turf in the long run, with his action and the way he carries himself. The one time I ran him on it he ran a big race … but there isn’t too much for him right now as far as the turf goes so we’ll try to take advantage of this spot and hope he runs well enough.”
Also a two-time Nursery winner, trainer John Robb will send out both maiden Herman’s Gold, winless in five starts, and Onemoregreattime. Clover Hill Farm Inc. and Clover Hill Racing’s Onemoregreattime broke his maiden with a front-running five-length triumph July 28 at Laurel, a race rained off the grass to a sloppy main track.
In his subsequent start, the bay son of Great Notion dueled on the front end and took a lead into the stsretch before weakening to finish second by less than two lengths Sept. 16 at the Nursery’s six furlongs.
“I like him a lot. We’ve just been kind of spotting his races, waiting for the Maryland Million. We’ve been pointing him there since he broke his maiden. We’re looking forward to it. He looks like he’s got a good shot in there,” Robb said. “He’s got plenty of speed. The first couple of times he ran he broke horrible. When he breaks he’s right there on the front end. Hopefully we’ve got the breaking issues straightened away. He’s a pretty nice horse.”
Trainer Lacey Gaudet is similarly excited about Monica Ryan homebred Pascal Chant, a nose winner of his unveiling Aug. 19 going five furlongs who wound up fourth behind stablemate Dynamic Asset in the optional claiming allowance where Onemoregreattime ran second.
“He’s a nice little horse,” Gaudet said. “We got halfway to having him ready to run and we said, ‘This horse can probably run a little bit.’ He showed that in his first race. It was against Maryland-breds but it was a nice bunch of horses and I think a couple of them have come back to run pretty well.
“The allowance race wasn’t hateful. A lot of things can happen second time out and also we won the race with another very promising 2-year-old,” she added. There was no other spot between his maiden race and the Maryland Million so he really needed to [run]. I think with a little bit of adjustment and racing luck he probably should have bene second. He still did run well. It wasn’t a disappointing race at all. He got out of it what we anticipated. He’s going into this race fabulously. He had a very, very impressive work the other day.”
Clever Mind, Jamaican Don, Fenton’s Four, Taxable Goods and Nico Bree N Teej are also entered, with Whereshetoldmetogo, Stroll Smokin, Oldies But Goodies, Broad Surprise and Swingstage on the also-eligible list.
