Two-Time G3 Winning-Filly Alms Among 32 Dahlia Nominations
Among Five $100,000 Stakes, Three on World-Class Turf, April 23

LAUREL, MD – Three Diamonds Farm’s Field Pass, a multiple graded-stakes winner approaching $1 million in career earnings, tops a list of 38 horses nominated to the $100,000 Henry S. Clark Saturday, April 23 at Laurel Park.

The one-mile Clark for 3-year-olds and up is among five $100,000 stakes on the program and one of the first three stakes of the season scheduled for Laurel’s world-class turf course along with the Dahlia for fillies and mares 3 and up, also at one mile, and the 5 ½-furlong King T. Leatherbury for 3-year-olds and up.

A total of 146 nominations were made to the five stakes, including the 1 1/8-mile Native Dancer for 3-year-olds and up and six-furlong Primonetta for fillies and mares 3 and up. The Clark, Dahlia and Primonetta are part of the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

Field Pass came to Maryland last summer to capture the Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) at historic Pimlico Race Course by a neck. He ended 2021 with a victory in the Seabiscuit Handicap (G2) at Del Mar and has made one start this year, finishing a troubled 10th in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) at Gulfstream Park. Overall, the 5-year-old horse has eight wins and $938,143 in purse earnings from 24 starts.

Maker also nominated Michael Hui and WSS Racing’s English Group 3 winner Monarchs Glen, who was entered in a Keeneland allowance Sunday. The 8-year-old Frankel gelding

Michael Hui and WSS Racing’s Monarchs Glen, an English Group 3 winner most recently finished third in a third-level optional claiming allowance March 12 at Fair Grounds. Also an eight-time winner of nearly a half-million in purses, the 8-year-old Frankel gelding won the Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial last July in Indiana.

Also prominent among 38 Clark nominees are Highland Chief, multiple group-stakes placed in Europe yet to race in America; stakes winners Mandate, Oceans Map, Rock On Luke and Talk Or Listen, the latter second by a length in the 2021 Dinner Party (G2) at Pimlico; Talk Or Listen’s Arnaud Delacour-trained stablemate Chez Pierre, undefeated in four starts including her stateside debut March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs; and Worth a Shot, a winner of four straight but unraced since June 2021.

The Dahlia attracted 34 nominations led by Godolphin homebred Alms, winner of the Matron (G3) and Jimmy Durante (G3) in back-to-back starts to end 2019 for trainer Mike Stidham. Alms ran only three times in a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, winning the Shantel Lanerie Memorial and running third in the Appalachian (G2), and began 2022 finishing second to Regal Glory in the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G3) at Gulfstream.

Can the Queen, winner of the 2021 Sensible Lady at Pimlico; In a Hurry, a 2019 maiden winner at Laurel for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey that ran third in Gulfstream’s 2021 Suwannee River (G3); Irish Group 3 winner King’s Harlequin, unraced in the U.S.; Christophe Clement-trained stablemate Plum Ali, the 2020 Miss Grillo (G2) winner exiting a victory in the Winter Memories last November at Aqueduct; and stakes winners Out of Sorts and Precious are also nominated.

Gordon Keys’ multiple stakes winner Grateful Bred, unraced since a popular victory in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint last October, is among 32 Leatherbury nominees. Trained by Madison Meyers, the 6-year-old Great Notion gelding also won the Meadow Stable at Colonial Downs and had his year ended early after needing stitches to close a cut on his leg from breaking through the gate in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint in November. He has been working steadily since mid-March at the Middleburg Training Center in Virginia.

Other stakes winners nominated to the Leatherbury include Arzak, Bad Beat Brian, Determined Kingdom and Fortheluvofbourbon, along with Irish-bred True Valour, a graded-stakes winner in the U.S. and Europe; Battle Station, second by a nose in the Parx Dash (G3) and a neck in the Laurel Dash last year; and multiple stakes-placed Cannon’s Roar, a neck behind Battle Station in the Laurel Dash.

Flanagan Racing’s The Reds, promoted winner of the Federico Tesio last April at Pimlico, is among 21 nominees to the Native Dancer. Trained by John Kimmel, The Reds was second by a head in the Tesio but placed first following the disqualification of Excellorator for interference. Subsequently second in the Pennine Ridge (G3, he went nine months between starts until running third in a March 25 optional claiming allowance at Aqueduct.

Uriah St. Lewis-trained stablemates Informative, winner of the 2021 Salvator Mile (G3), and Informative, last out winner of the April 2 Excelsior at Aqueduct; and fellow stakes winners Bird King and Galerio are also nominated.

Among 21 nominees to the Primonetta are Five Hellions Farm’s Dontletsweetfoolya, a multiple stakes winner that has earned five of her six career victories at Laurel; trainer Jerry Robb’s trio of Fille d’Esprit, Princess Kokachin and Street Lute, who have combined to win 10 stakes; Eurphoric, third in last year’s Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico; and stakes winners Cinnabunny, Kaylasaurus and Prodigy Doll.