Sophomores Seek Stakes Success in $75,000 Star de Naskra
Among Four Stakes Worth $300,000 in Purses on Maryland Pride Day

LAUREL, MD – Cal MacWilliam and Neil Teitelbaum’s Miss Guided, a homebred daughter of their multiple graded-stakes winning mare Miss Behaviour, will get her chance to build on the family name in the $75,000 Miss Disco.

By champion sprinter Speightstown, Miss Guided’s mother won five of 12 career starts, four in stakes including the 2013 Matron (G2) and 2014 Charles Town Oaks (G3) as well as the 2014 Miss Preakness, before it was elevated to Grade 3 status. She also finished second in the 2014 Test (G1) and earned $790,834 in lifetime purses. Both the mother and now daughter are trained by Phil Schoenthal.

“They’re kind of very similar from a temperament standpoint and they look very similar. They’re very thick, blocky horses. Speightstown is not a real big horse and Miss Guided is not a real big filly. Being the first foal out of the mare, that was expected,” Schoenthal said.

“We’re looking for a sliver of black type on a well-bred filly,” he added. “She’s been exciting. She’s had some physical issues along the way and some foot problems that have hampered her, but we think we’ve got that all sorted out now. She responded last time with a huge effort, so that was good.”

Miss Guided has raced exclusively at Laurel, running third by a length in her unveiling and fourth second time out, the latter to Miss Disco rival Never Enough Time, in a pair of maiden special weights. She didn’t run back until finishing second in a waiver maiden claimer June 16, then romped by eight lengths in front-running fashion July 18 going 5 ½ furlongs in a race originally carded for the turf.

“We were kind of worried that she had some knee problems and in the end it was purely a matter of she had some severely sore heels and bad feet. We put the bar shoes on her and she was immediately a different horse and she responded with the big race,” Schoenthal said. “Obviously we’ve stayed on that same plan and expect her to run a similar performance. Obviously, there’s a lot of value with well-bred fillies that can get a sliver of black type, or win one. So, we’re going to take our shot and see if we can’t get lucky.”

The maiden win was particularly satisfying for Schoenthal given the connections and their past success together, as well as a reward for hanging on to the mare that has given them all career highlights.

“It was great [to win]. Especially when you see them come down the stretch in the same silks and the same pink shadow roll, it just kind of had little shades of Miss Behaviour,” Schoenthal said. “Obviously, I don’t think anybody is confusing Miss Guided with Miss Behaviour at this point in her career, but it’s gratifying because the owner and breeder has been a tremendously good client for me and he’s turned into a great friend. To be able to have some success for him is what’s satisfying.

“They turned down a lot of money for her as a broodmare and decided that they would keep her and breed her and try to raise some foals, and it hasn’t exactly gone to plan so far. I was glad to see them rewarded with at least a win,” he added. “They’ve had some bad luck with the mare, she lost a foal or two, and I think in the end from a financial standpoint it would have been way better to sell her when they had the chance, but it’s nice now to see we’re having some success with her as a broodmare and looking forward to what’s next.”

R. Larry Johnson’s homebred Never Enough Time went unraced at 2 and opened this year with successive wins before being stepped up to the Miss Preakness (G3), where she was fifth behind subsequent Grade 1 winner Covfefe’s track-record performance. She last ran June 16 in the Alma North Stakes at Laurel, dueling for the lead on the outside before tiring to fourth.

“She’s doing good. She had a little setback and had some respiratory sickness there for a while but she seems to have put that behind her. I think we’re coming into this race in good order for the weekend,” trainer Mike Trombetta said. “She’s been training well leading up to it.”

Colts Neck Stables’ Introduced, also entered in a 5 ½-furlong turf allowance Aug. 15 at Laurel, set a course record at the distance June 1 (1:00.55). His lone try on the main track came last September, when he broke his maiden by three lengths going 5 ½ furlongs in a race that was moved off the turf.

Hillwood Stable’s Bunting, a homebred daughter of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox, has won one of five starts this year after going unraced as a juvenile. A granddaughter of sprint champion Orientate, she hasn’t raced since finishing fourth in a muddy May 3 allowance at Laurel, her second straight try against older horses.

“I like her a lot. I think she’s very mature,” trainer Rodney Jenkins said. “She’s run a bunch of times and that helps her a lot. She’s a mid-pack kind of horse. She came back off the layoff very good and she’s training well, so I just figured I’d give her a shot.”

Rounding out the field are Hickory Made, Past Perfect and Ten Oaks Miss.

Sophomores Seek Stakes Success in $75,000 Star de Naskra

Nine sophomores, including stakes-placed Distant Shore, Sky Magician and Trifor Gold, each go after their first stakes success in Saturday’s $75,000 Star de Naskra on Maryland Pride Day at Laurel Park.

The Star de Naskra for 3-year-olds and $75,000 Miss Disco for 3-year-old fillies, both at six furlongs, are among four stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses worth $300,000 in purses on a 12-race program that also includes the $75,000 Find for 3-year-olds and up and $75,000 All Brandy for females 3 and older, each going 1 1/16 miles on Laurel’s world-class turf course.

First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

R. Larry Johnson’s homebred Sky Magician will be trying stakes company for the third time in this his first race since finishing fifth behind multiple stakes winner Alwaysmining in the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Futurity Dec. 8 at Laurel.

The gelded son of Street Magician ran second in each of his first four career starts, including the Maryland Million Nursery last fall, before an impressive 2 ½-length maiden triumph over V.I.P. Ticket, who has gone on to win four races and run third in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness (G1) undercard May 18 at Pimlico Race Course.

“He’s coming off quite a bit of a layoff but he’s training well. I don’t know if he’s going to be quite fit enough, but he’s certainly fit enough to get a start under his belt and get his season started,” trainer Mike Trombetta said.

“He’s done real good for us in the short bit of time that he’s run. This is as good a place as any to get him going,” he added. “You’ve got to start somewhere and he’s about ready to run so we’ll go ahead and give him a shot.”

Distant Shore, trained by Tom Amoss, has finished in the top three in six of his eight lifetime starts with two wins, the most recent going six furlongs in the Keeneland mud April 20. In two stakes attempts as a juvenile, he was second in the Arlington-Washington Futurity and third at Churchill Downs in the Street Sense, the latter behind subsequent CashCall Futurity (G1) winner Improbable.

Copper Penny Stables’ homebred Trifor Gold has one win from nine starts but has gone up against Alwaysmining twice, running second in the Federico Tesio April 20 at Laurel. He has also faced the likes of Sir Barton winner King for a Day, who upset Florida Derby (G1) and Haskell (G1) winner Maximum Security in the June 16 Pegasus at Monmouth Park, and Top Line Growth. Top Line Growth set a Laurel course record for one mile on the dirt (1:34.07) June 8, one race before winning the Iowa Derby.

Mens Grille Racing’s Hall Pass is by far the most experienced of the group with 16 starts, all but one of them – a May 16 triumph over older horses at Pimlico – at Laurel. Each of the Freedom Child gelding’s last five races have come against his elders, including his most recent win, two of them on the turf.

“He held his own against the older horses, he just couldn’t beat them. And like I’ve been preaching all along, the 3-year-olds just can’t beat older horses with equal ability, so to speak. You’ve got to have truly the best horse,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “That’s the only place we had to run, but I think running against straight 3-year-olds will make it a little easier for him. I think the race [came] up pretty tough, but he might be tough himself.”

Hall Pass was never far from a sharp pace last out, a six-furlong grass sprint July 28 at Laurel won by Eastern Bay in 1:08.66, finishing third by 1 ½ lengths. The Star de Naskra will mark his stakes debut.

“That last race, they went in eight in change and I don’t know if it was the racetrack or the teletimer or what, but he stuck in there pretty good and he ran a credible race, I thought,” Smith said. “Off of that race, I thought it would be worth giving him a shot in a 3-year-old stake.”

Also entered are Great Herman, Seven On the Rocks, Tappin Cat, Thatwouldbegrand and Where Paradise Lay.