Piggybunz Escapes with a Twiggy Win in Smart Halo
By Vinnie Perrone
LAUREL, MD–Walt’s Notion carried Mychel Sanchez, purple and red silks and a bright torch to victory today in the $100,000 James F. Lewis III Stakes at Laurel Park.
The even-money favorite against four other 2-year-old males, Walt’s Notion burst to the lead on a gummy dirt track and rebuffed the persistent overtures by Prince of Peace en route to a 1 1/4-length victory.
Prince of Peace, fourth choice at 5-1, chased Walt’s Notion across six furlongs but never got within a length of the front-runner. Harewood finished third, Dats Improbable fourth and Grind It Out a distant fifth.
After a feisty effort left Walt’s Notion a head shy of victory in the First State Dash Stakes at Delaware Park three weeks earlier, trainer Phil Capuano added blinkers to the colt’s race-day getup with emphatic results. The Great Notion Maryland-bred sped through fractions of 22.31 seconds, 45.90 and 58.43 and had the stuff to hold off Prince of Peace in the six-furlong time of 1:11.87.
Named for Walter Vieser II, who owns the winner with Lou Ullman and Michael Scheffres, Walt’s Notion brought the partnership a welcome $60,000 payday. The trio has four other horses, Capuano said, but only Walt’s Notion has made it to the races. Today’s start, his third, hiked his earnings to $109,000.
“He’s kinda carryin’ the torch,” Capuano said.
Walt’s Notion’s second victory affirmed the Capuano family’s team approach. Phil’s father, Gary, bought the yearling colt at auction for $48,000, and sister Tori has essentially overseen training at Delaware Park, where Phil stables his 2-year-olds. The Lewis marked Walt’s Notion’s Laurel Park debut.
“I can’t take too much credit for this training job,” Phil said.
He’d trained Pont Aven (by Blofeld) as a 2-year-old, liked him, and lost him to a $50,000 claim. Thus Capuano took note when Pont Aven’s half-brother appeared in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sales catalog of 2025.
“I told Lou and Walt — and Mike joined in later — if we can afford this horse, we should try to buy him,” Capuano said. Gary signed the ticket at $48,000 and eventually sold Walt’s Notion to Phil’s ownership group.
The colt’s dam, Sweet Talking Girl (by Candy Ride), has produced a stakes winner with her first two foals; Pont Aven won the Star De Naskra at Colonial Downs in July.
“It all goes back to Doc [Tom] Bowman’s breeding,” Phil said. “They do such a great job.”
After his first go-around astride Walt’s Notion, jockey Sanchez praised more than the colt’s physical talent.
“He’s got a really good mind,” said Sanchez, who’s surpassed 200 victories for the fourth straight year. “Anytime I asked him to do something, he did it.”
“For a Great Notion, a lot of ’em are hot-blooded and -tempered,” Capuano said. “He’s very quiet. He’s one of those you almost think he’s half asleep. . . He doesn’t turn a hair to anything.”
If Walt’s Notion maintains his pluck and his mindset, Capuano said, a start in the Maryland Million Nursery October 24 might await him.
*Piggybunz Denies Welovemollynteddy in Smart Halo
Rain drenched the Laurel Park grounds, which preceded something of a baby shower for trainer Brittany Russell today.
Eight months pregnant and maybe slightly jet-lagged, Russell delivered another winner as favored Piggybunz edged Welovemollynteddy in a scintillating finish to the $100,000 Smart Halo Stakes for juvenile fillies.
The withdrawal of starlet Harper’s Corner and three other entrants halved the Smart Halo field but did nothing to lessen its drama. Piggybunz (11-10) and Welovemollynteddy (6-5) carried nearly identical odds and raced to thrilling expectations, finishing side by side six furlongs after they’d set off. A photo determined Piggybunz a nose ahead, making her the first stakes winner for Kentucky-based stallion Happy Saver.
On a sealed track, she took charge from the inside post, with jockey Sheldon Russell guiding her to a comfortable lead through mild fractions. Whereas Piggybunz proceeded with an air of professionalism, Welovemollynteddy exhibited typical quirkiness. Jockey Eliseo Ruiz abandoned the post parade for fear of upsetting the temperamental filly.
“She’s so special,” Ruiz said. “She’s green. She’s learning. That’s why I go straight to the gate.”
Still, Welovemollynteddy got rambunctious before the start and expressed distaste for the gluey kickback as the race unfolded. It seemed an apt postscript to her Friday journey from Parx, her home in Bensalem, Pa.
“It took us four hours to get her on the van,” trainer Lou Linder said.
But one forgives these idiosyncrasies from such a promising upstart, Welovemollynteddy having won her only previous outing by 15 1/2 lengths at Parx. And once she found a clear pathway in the Smart Halo, her gifts emerged.
By the time Piggybunz made the far turn, a half-mile covered in 47.07 seconds, Ruiz had swung Welovemollynteddy outside for an unimpeded rally. As the homestretch loomed, Welovemollynteddy overtook another Russell charge, Bellablaze, and set after the leader.
The gray Piggybunz dug in. The bay Welovemollynteddy came on and joined the front-runner right at the wire, finishing a long nose short in 1:12.02.
Talking Foolish arrived five lengths later in third and Bellablaze two lengths later in fourth.
Trainer Linder praised Welovemollynteddy’s “big effort” and said the Smart Halo would serve her well.
“She’s very immature yet,” he added. “The break got her, I guess. I could see her flippin’ her head. I said, ‘Aw, we gotta get her outta the dirt.’ It made a big difference.”
With her quickness and stamina, Piggybunz avoided pitfalls, running her record to 2-for-2 for Kentucky-based Bowen Thoroughbred Racing, LLC and the estate of Brereton C. Jones. Russell said the filly, a $50,000 yearling buy, arrived at her Fair Hill stable this summer primed for her debut.
“We worked her a couple of times,” said Russell, Maryland’s leading trainer by wins and earnings, “and she was ready.”
The Russells were also braced for the challenge, having just returned from a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, to visit Sheldon’s family.
Piggybunz set the pace in her only other start, a 5 1/4-length victory at Colonial Downs five weeks earlier. With today’s gritty score, she’s earned $93,000.
“This filly’s been awesome,” Russell said. “She’s been easy. She showed that she’s a racehorse from day one.”