Multiple G3 Winner El Areeb Trying Turf in $100,000 Henry S. Clark
Multiple G3 Winner El Areeb Trying Turf in $100,000 Henry S. Clark
Sprint Stakes Winner Limited View Cuts Back Against Elders in Primonetta
Federico Tesio Marks Stakes Debut for New York Shipper Holland Park
All-Stakes Pick 4 Added to Saturday Wagering Menu
LAUREL, MD – M M G Stables’ El Areeb, a multiple Grade 3 winner on the dirt, is entered to make his 11th career start and first on turf in Saturday’s $100,000 Henry S. Clark presented by Fidelity First and Blackwell Real Estate at Laurel Park.
The one-mile Clark for 3-year-olds and up, contested over the Dahlia Turf Course layout, attracted a full field of 14 including fellow graded-stakes winners Ring Weekend and Ghost Hunter and Phlash Phelps, a four-time stakes winner over Laurel’s world-class turf course.
El Areeb won the 2016 James Lewis III at Laurel and Jerome (G3) and Withers (G3) last winter at Aqueduct to rank him among the country’s leading 3-year-olds before an injury training for the Wood Memorial (G2) knocked him off the Triple Crown trail.
He has raced three times since his comeback, all in Laurel sprints, with his best finish coming in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance March 30. In that race he led for a half-mile and was still in contention at the top of the stretch before finishing fourth as the favorite, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in a race where jockey J.D. Acosta dropped his whip.
“He was a little unlucky last time but he came out of it well and he’s been training good,” trainer Cal Lynch said. “I’ve been dying to get him on the turf. He’s an Exchange Rate and we worked him as a baby on the turf and he took to it very, very well. He worked with some nice turf horses like Undulated and did well, so we’re just kind of curious.”
The late Exchange Rate, a Grade 2 winner on dirt who was third in the 2001 Frank Kilroe Mile Handicap (G1) on the grass at Santa Anita, sired 68 stakes winners. Among his offspring is Ball Dancing, winner of the 2015 Jenny Wiley (G1) on Keeneland’s turf. Undulated won the 2016 Swynford Stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.
“I’m expecting him to handle it. The turf shouldn’t be an issue, I’m hoping, but you never know until you get into a race situation. You can breeze them on it but until they actually run over it you just don’t know,” Lynch said. “Fingers crossed, he comes back and runs well here and it opens up a few more alternatives.”
Winter-spring meet-leading rider Jorge Vargas Jr. inherits the mount on El Areeb from Post 6. They are listed at 12-1 on the morning line with Ring Weekend a lukewarm 7-2 favorite over Ghost Hunter (9-2) and Phlash Phelps (5-1).
“It’s a tough race. There’s two or three really live horses in there and I think we’re one of them if he takes to the grass,” Lynch said. “Fingers crossed he can jump up and like the turf. The course is in great shape, it’s fresh, and it’s the start of the turf season so if he likes it we’ve got a few options to get him through the summer; if he doesn’t, it’s early and he can concentrate on the dirt.”
Sprint Stakes Winner Limited View Cuts Back Against Elders in Primonetta
Multiple stakes winner Limited View, beaten as the favorite in the one-mile Beyond the Wire Stakes last out, takes on older horses for the first time as she returns to sprinting in Saturday’s $100,000 Primonetta at Laurel Park.
The six-furlong Primonetta presented by Ourisman Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep & Ram of Clarksville is the first of five stakes worth $550,000 in purses on an 11-race Spring Stakes Spectacular program. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
Co-owned by Fred Wasserloos, George Greenwalt and trainer John Salzman Jr., Limited View broke on top and held a 5 ½-length lead after a half-mile in the Beyond the Wire. Her advantage diminished to two lengths at the top of the stretch before being reeled in past the eighth pole and finishing second by 2 ¼ lengths.
Limited View has won all three of her career tries at the distance including a ¾-length triumph in the Marshua Stakes Jan. 27 to kick off her 3-year-old campaign.
“She’s doing super. She’s doing fine. I didn’t want to have to run against older fillies and mares right now and it’s come up pretty salty. It’s a tough race with a lot of speed,” Salzman said. “It was a last minute decision for me to go in there. It’s a tough race. I just have to get one more race in her before I go to the Miss Preakness. If I didn’t run here it wasn’t going to happen.”
The $150,000 Adena Springs Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs will be run Friday, May 18 at legendary Pimlico Race Course.
Limited View drew Post 7 in a field of 11 and is fourth choice on the morning line at odds of 6-1. Hall of Famer Edgar Prado, aboard for seven of the Freedom Child filly’s eight starts, is named to ride.
Prado, sitting nine wins shy of 7,000 for his career, is also named to ride Something Awesome in the Charles Town Classic (G2) Saturday, whose 5:36 p.m. post time comes two hours following the Primonetta. Salzman said Jevian Toledo, Maryland’s leading rider in 2015 and 2017, will ride if Prado cannot.
“Toledo has worked her two or three times during the winter so he knows her just as well. Hopefully, she can just lay a little bit off the pace and make a run,” Salzman said. “Naturally things don’t always work out the way they should, and she’s coming off that mile race where she went 23 [seconds] and change. Hopefully the rider can get her to settle.”
Jersey Girl Stakes winner Chalon, second in the Raven Run (G2) last fall at Keeneland, is the 9-5 program favorite from Post 9 for the Primonetta.
Federico Tesio Marks Stakes Debut for New York Shipper Holland Park
Godolphin homebred Holland Park, a Feb. 15 maiden winner at Belmont Park for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, finds himself in much deeper waters for his stakes debut in Saturday’s $125,000 Xpressbet Federico Tesio.
The 1 1/8-mile Tesio for 3-year-olds is a ‘Win and You’re In’ race for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (G1), the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, May 19 at Pimlico.
Holland Park, not among the Triple Crown nominees, will break from outside Post 11 in the Tesio and is 10-1 on the morning line. Unraced at 2, the gray or roan son of Tapit out of the Awesome Again mare Round Pond – all Grade 1 winners – has gone off as the favorite in each of his first three starts.
“He had some little issues with this and that but he’s doing really well. He’s improving all the time and he wants the distance,” McLaughlin said. “We’re happy that it’s a mile and an eighth. It’s a big step up from just breaking a maiden, but it is what it is. He’s so well-bred, we’d love to see him step up and get lucky and win a stake.”
Holland Park has raced exclusively at Aqueduct, debuting Dec. 10 with a second-place finish going 6 ½ furlongs before stretching out to nine furlongs for each of his last two starts. In his maiden win, he rated just off the pace, took over at the top of the stretch and held to the wire for a half-length victory in 1:57.55.
The third-place finisher from that race, Linda Rice-trained American Lincoln, also returns in the Tesio.
“There’s been some real slow tracks at Aqueduct this winter, so we’re kind of looking forward to trying a different surface and seeing how he handles it,” McLaughlin said. “He’s just improved a lot and he’s just doing well. He’s a well-bred, good-looking colt and we hope that he puts it all together and has a good trip and wins.”
All-Stakes Pick 4 Added to Saturday Wagering Menu
An all-stakes 50-cent Pick 4 covering Races 7-10 has been added to the wagering menu for Saturday’s Spring Stakes Spectacular program.
The new Pick 4 features the $100,000 Dahlia presented by B&B Commercial Interiors (Race 7), $125,000 Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies (Race 8), $100,000 Henry S. Clark presented by Fidelity First and Blackwell Real Estate (Race 9), and $125,000 Xpressbet Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds (Race 10).
It will be the fourth Pick 4 available on the program, along with wagers covering Races 2-5, Races 4-7 and Races 8-11. The $100,000 Primonetta presented by Ourisman Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep & Ram of Clarksville is carded in Race 6 to kick off the 20-cent Rainbow 6.
