Jockey Emily Fewster Rides Friday for First Time Since 2009
Saintly Samurai Rallies for Popular Friday Feature Victory

LAUREL, MD – Kevin P. Morgan homebred Mr. d’Angelo, 17-1 upset winner of the Maryland Million Turf last fall, ends a nine-month break between starts when he launches his comeback in Saturday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.

The second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up, scheduled for 1 1/8 miles over the Exceller layout on Laurel’s world-class turf course, will be the first race for 4-year-old Mr. d’Angelo since erasing an early 13-length deficit on the far outside to win the Million by 1 ¾ lengths in his stakes debut.

“He’s fun to watch,” trainer Tim Woolley said. “I think the race could set up the same for him tomorrow. That’s what we’re kind of hoping for. At least we’ll get a race back into him and he gets back on the track. He might be a little rusty but he seems like he’s in good shape at the moment.”

Mr. d’Angelo, a gelded son of German-bred Australian Group 1 winner Seville, has been working steadily since late May over the all-weather surface at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. for his return. Jevian Toledo, aboard in the Maryland Million, gets the return call from Post 8 in the field of 10. They are listed at 5-1 on the morning line.

“He’s doing really well. I couldn’t be more pleased going into the race. He seems happy and fit and hopefully it’s a stepping stone to the Maryland Million down the road,” Woolley said. “We just wanted to get him started and this seemed like a good spot. He likes Laurel and we got Jevian Toledo back on him, so I think he should run well.”

Mr. d’Angelo owns two wins, two seconds and a third from seven career starts, all at Laurel. He captured his April 2019 debut going 1 1/16 miles and was second in back-to-back starts at 1 1/16 and 1 ½ miles, respectively, prior to his breakthrough stakes triumph that ultimately was his last of 2019.

“He went off with some issues for the winter and then the coronavirus came along, but we took our time getting him back to the races. We weren’t in a rush to start him back,” Woolley said. “Everything’s going good right now.”

Gamma Racing Stable’s Papal Law, one of two horses in for the $35,000 tag, is the lukewarm 7-2 favorite. The 7-year-old gelding was beaten less than a length going the distance in a June 27 optional claimer at Laurel, his first race in nine months. Katie Davis rides from Post 4.

Other notable entrants are Silverton Hill’s Irish-bred Rambaldi, making his 12th lifetime start and first in North America for trainer Heather Brown; Mint Meadows Farm’s Mokheef, who beat Mr. d’Angelo one race prior to the Maryland Million; and Rosbrian Farm’s Sixty Five, a maiden winner over hurdles racing for the first time since July 2018.

Saturday’s co-feature comes in Race 3, a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Bowl Game turf course layout. Favored at 5-2 in the program is Lael Stables’ Tricks to Doo, winner of the Inaugural Stakes and third in the Hutcheson (G3) on dirt in 2018. He has placed twice in turf stakes, including the 2019 Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico Race Course, and was second as the favorite in his seasonal debut June 8 at Laurel.

Completed Pass, who beat Tricks to Doo in the Jim McKay, will break directly to the outside of the favorite in Post 4 for summer meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. Second in two turf sprint stakes that sandwiched his McKay victory, beaten each time by a neck, the 6-year-old gelding was fifth by three lengths in a six-furlong dirt sprint July 4 at Laurel.

Among their rivals are Oldies But Goodies and Love You Much, who ran first and third, respectively, in the 5 ½-furlong Ben’s Cat Stakes last July at Laurel; and Stroll Smokin, a winner of three of five starts this year and seven overall, his lone turf triumph coming in a 5 ½-furlong dash last August at Laurel.

Jockey Emily Fewster Rides Friday for First Time Since 2009

Emily Fewster, a jockey who rode 40 winners between 2004 and 2009, had her first mount in more than 11 years aboard Justin Nixon owned-and-trained gelding I Idolize You in Friday’s seventh race at Laurel Park.

I Idolize You, making his fifth start this year but first since Feb. 29, pressed eventual runner-up The Forty Factor through a quarter-mile in 23.07 seconds before dropping back and finishing last of seven as Smokin Hot Factor rallied to give trainer Kieron Magee his first win of the summer meet in the six-furlong waiver maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Born in Korea but raised in Maryland, the 33-year-old Fewster first began riding at the age of 5, showed and broke horses and schooled timber horses before turning pro Jan. 31, 2004 at Fair Grounds. Last a winner on Aug. 21, 2008, she hadn’t ridden in a race since Jan. 22, 2009 – both at Laurel Park.

Fewster began galloping on a farm at 13 and later galloped for late Maryland training legend Dickie Small before moving to New Orleans, where she got a job working for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. She rode her first winner Feb. 22, 2004 at Fair Grounds with Princessofthebayou, owned and trained by Donald Moran Sr.

In addition to Fair Grounds, Fewster also rode at Evangeline Downs, Yavapai Downs and Sam Houston during her rookie season before making Maryland her primary base in 2005. She also competed at tracks such as Colonial Downs, Delaware Park and Philadelphia Park and won the 2007 John Henry Stakes aboard Dubai Cat at The Meadowlands.

Currently, Fewster works as the main stable rider for Nixon’s Laurel-based string in the morning, and he said the mount was a reward for her hard work and dedication.

“She joined the team in December when we came back down from Woodbine. She’s been a real asset to the team,” Nixon said. “She gets on him in the morning, does a great job, so she deserved a shot here in the afternoon.

“She’s dedicated to all my horses,” he added. “I don’t think any one of them gets any more than another. She’s involved with all of them.”

I Idolize You was racing first time for Nixon since being claimed for $5,000 out of his previous start, also at six furlongs over the main track. Shortly afterward, live racing was paused for 2 ½ months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic before returning May 30.

“We obviously had to shut down and I elected to turn him out,” Nixon said. “He came in a little unfit and we’re just trying to get him right.”

Saintly Samurai Rallies for Popular Friday Feature Victory

Stone Farm homebred Saintly Samurai, racing for the first time in 11 months, came with a steady run down the center of the track to wrest the lead from pacesetter Ready and Rich in the final furlong and pull away to a popular triumph in Friday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.

Ridden by Feargal Lynch for trainer Graham Motion, Saintly Samurai ($8.60) was sent off the narrow 3-1 favorite in a field of seven, running one mile in 1:36.70 over a fast main track in the entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up.

Lynch settled Saintly Samurai in third after bobbling at the start as Ready and Rich was pressed by Russeldoingthings up front through fractions of 24.07 and 47.05 seconds and 1:11.19 tracked in third by Sparty.

Saintly Samurai dismissed a bid from stakes-placed My Friends Beer midway around the turn and set his sights on the leaders, gradually wearing them down and edging past Ready and Rich to win by one length. Ready and Rich held second, with My Friends Beer closing to be third.

A gelded 5-year-old son of multiple Grade 1 winner First Samurai, Saintly Samurai made his first two career starts at Laurel in the summer of 2018, breaking his maiden the following April at Keeneland on his fourth try. A one-mile allowance winner at Laurel last June, he hadn’t run since finishing fifth in an optional claiming allowance last August at Colonial Downs, also with Lynch aboard.

Notes: Jockey Feargal Lynch registered a natural hat trick Friday, winning aboard Fiya ($6.40) in Race 8, Saintly Samurai ($8.40) in Race 9 and Lagom ($8.80) in Race 10 … There will be a jackpot carryover of $8,051.40 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Saturday’s 10-race program (Races 5-10) that begins at 12:40 p.m. Tickets with five of six winners Friday each returned $265.46.