Bonus Points, English Minister Among Rivals in 1 1/16-Mile Turf Stakes

LAUREL, MD – Skeedattle Stable’s multiple Grade 3 winner Just Howard, winless in four straight tries in his home state, looks to recapture some of that past Maryland magic when he tops a field of six in Saturday’s $75,000 Find Stakes on Maryland Pride Day at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Find for 3-year-olds and up is one of two stakes scheduled for Laurel’s world-class turf course on a 12-race program that features four stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses worth $300,000 in purses.

It is joined by the $75,000 All Brandy for fillies and mares 3 and up on the grass and a pair of six-furlong dirt sprints for 3-year-olds – the $75,000 Star de Naskra and $75,000 Miss Disco, the latter for fillies. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

Just Howard, trained by Graham Motion, ended a string of hard-luck finishes with a gutsy head victory over multiple Grade 1 winner Divisidero in the 1 1/16-mile Oceanport (G3) July 20 at Monmouth Park. It was the first win this year for the 5-year-old son of champion English Channel after losses in the Henry S. Clark and Prince George’s County at Laurel and Dixie (G2) at Pimlico Race Course by a total of 2 ½ lengths.

“He seems to have done well. To be honest, every time I’ve run him this year I’ve been really pleased with how he’s come out of the race,” Motion said. “I think he’s probably a better, more mature horse this year. I was just really glad that he kind of had his day at Monmouth. It was a stressful day, but I’m glad we stuck with it and he handled everything well and seemed to come out of the race well. He ran a powerful race, I thought.”

Part of the Haskell (G1) undercard, the Oceanport was contested on a day when several racetracks in surrounding states chose not to run due to extreme heat conditions. Monmouth pushed its races back to early evening, and Motion said Just Howard looked no worse for wear for the experience.

“It definitely worries you. It’s a little bit hard to gauge how much it takes out of them but really he ended up running in the cool of the night, although he was there all day,” he said. “He obviously had a hard race because he had to run hard, but from what I’ve seen I don’t think it has taken any more out of him than a race on any given day.”

Just Howard owns four wins, one second and two thirds from 10 career starts at Laurel, where he won the Caveat, Find and Commonwealth Derby (G3) in 2017 en route to being named Maryland’s champion 3-year-old and turf horse as well as Horse of the Year. He won just one of five starts in 2018 – an optional claiming allowance last August at Laurel – and was eighth in last year’s Find when the race was rained off the turf.

This year, he was fourth to graded-stakes winning stablemate Irish Strait in the Clark, third to Grade 1 dirt and turf winner Catholic Boy in the Dixie – beaten a neck for second – and third to multiple graded winner Doctor Mounty in the Prince George’s County, a head behind runner-up Divisidero.

“It just seemed like nothing worked for him last year, which was really frustrating,” Motion said. “He beat a solid group the other day and he ran very well in the Dixie, and I think that’s as good a group as you’re going to get. He’s been able to be competitive in these open races as well as the state-bred races.”

Trevor McCarthy is named to ride Just Howard from Post 2 at co-topweight of 123 pounds.

Three Diamonds Farm’s Bonus Points, a multiple stakes winner on dirt, and Mike Trombetta-trained stablemate English Minister, Fitzhugh LLC’s 9-year-old homebred who set a Laurel turf record in winning his third straight race earlier this month, both look to spoil Just Howard’s homecoming.

Bonus Points has been worse than third just once in 10 lifetime tries at Laurel, including four wins and four seconds, topped by victories in the 2017 Maryland Million Classic and Feb. 19 John B. Campbell, both 1 1/8 miles on the main track for previous trainer Todd Pletcher. The 5-year-old son of Majestic Warrior owns one third in five career turf starts, the most recent coming in the 2017 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) at Saratoga.

“It’s a good spot for him to get back at it,” Trombetta said. “He hasn’t run in a bit, so hopefully he’s fresh and hopefully he can run a decent race.”

In his most recent outing, Bonus Points was never a factor when ninth in the Ben Ali (G3) April 13 at Keeneland. He began 2019 with three races at Laurel, running fifth by two lengths in the Native Dancer and third by 1 ½ lengths in the Harrison E. Johnson Memorial around the Campbell.

“It’ll be the first time go-around for us,” Trombetta said. “I’ve had him for about six or seven weeks I guess now. I’ve trained horses for the owner for some time now so he just decided to send him on down to get him ready for down here. You’re glad to have a horse like that for these races. We’ll see how good he fits after we get him going here.”

English Minister broke the Bowl Game course record for 1 1/16 miles with a 1:40.41 effort Aug. 4, which came on the heels of back-to-back three-length victories over the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs.

Also by English Channel, English Minister will be making his 54th career start – the last 40 for Trombetta – seeking his first stakes win. He has placed in three stakes and will be trying the Find for the third time after finishing second in 2016 and fourth in 2017.

“It’s a little bit of short rest, but he seems to be up to it and he seems to be happy so we’re planning on being there. He’s been good. He’s treated us very well,” Trombetta said. “It depends what goes on and who’s in it, but he’s a very honest horse that he can adapt to whatever the circumstances are.”

Feargal Lynch, aboard in five of Bonus Points’ last seven races at Laurel, rides back from Post 6 at 123 pounds, while Julian Pimentel has the return call on English Minister from Post 1 at 121 pounds.

Also entered in the Find are Belfour, third last year behind Sonny Inspired and John Jones; multiple stakes winner O Dionysus, fourth in the Prince George’s County, a head behind Just Howard; and Taxable Goods.