Noteworthy Peach Takes Laurel Feature Saturday
Noteworthy Peach Takes Laurel Feature Saturday
American Progress Upsets Stakes Winners in 2nd Race Allowance
Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $7,743 for Sunday
Brunch, Kids Zone Highlight Weekly Sunday Funday
LAUREL, MD – Non Stop Stable’s stakes winner Noteworthy Peach, Maryland’s champion 3-year-old of 2015, coasted to the lead on the outside at the top of the stretch and powered away to a 2 ½-length victory over Golden Glint in Saturday’s featured sixth race at Laurel Park.
Winner of the Jennings Handicap and second in the Federico Tesio last year, 4-year-old Noteworthy Peach ($7.20) only drew into the race when the $47,000 optional claiming allowance was switched from the Fort Marcy Turf Course to the main track.
Noteworthy Peach ran one mile in 1:37.33 over a fast main track for his fifth win from 11 career starts at Laurel.
“They were calling for storms today off and on and you never know where they’re going to be. Actually they skirted us top and bottom and yesterday the turf course was real soft, so I didn’t figure we needed much rain for them to take it off,” winning trainer Gary Capuano said. “I didn’t want to take him out too early. I was going to treat him with Lasix and take my shot. I knew we’d go to the flat mile. He likes the mud and he likes the mile and I just wanted to run, that’s the main thing. I wasn’t going to run him on the turf. I just took a shot and it worked out.”
Jockey Jevian Toledo was content to let his three rivals outrun him early from the inside post, saving ground behind a pace of 24.81 seconds for a quarter-mile and 48.64 for a half set by Souperfast and tracked by recent Find Stakes winner Eyeplayeveryday.
Toledo swung Noteworthy Peach to the outside where they cruised to the leaders and kept going, having plenty left to hold off a late bid from Golden Glint, followed by Eyeplayeveryday and Souperfast. Barrel of Love, Fredericksburg, M C Squared, Tekton and Top of Mind were scratched.
Noteworthy Peach returned from 5 ½ months between races to run fifth in a one-mile optional claiming allowance July 10 at Laurel. He opened the 2016 season finishing third as the favorite in a similar spot going seven furlongs Jan. 30.
“He wasn’t quite ready to win the first time. He wasn’t tight enough. It was a little closer than I wanted and he really needed a couple more works, but I figured I’d run him instead of working him,” Capuano said. “He made a nice run around the turn and just flattened out. We had him ready to run today. He’s coming back nice. He’s a cool horse.”
American Progress Upsets Stakes Winners in 2nd Race Allowance
Thomas J. McDermott’s American Progress emerged with the lead in upper stretch and stubbornly held off a determined drive from Twelve Stone in the stretch to capture Saturday’s second race allowance.
Sent off at 8-1 in a field of seven that included stakes winners Ravenheart and Corvus, American Progress ($18.40) ran six furlongs in 1:12.19 over fast main track. The $42,000 event for 3-year-olds and up was his first win in three starts since being claimed by trainer Pat Magill in mid-May.
All Fired Up, coming off an impressive maiden victory July 4 at Laurel, was third, followed by New York shipper Swell, the even-money favorite. Ravenheart, winner of the Maryland Juvenile Futurity winner last fall, was making his 3-year-old debut for Olympic gold medalist and world champion skier Bode Miller and checked in sixth.
Rainbow 6 Carryover Reaches $7,743 for Sunday
A 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot carryover of $7,743.33 will greet bettors for Sunday’s nine-race program.
First race post time is 1:25 p.m.
No one had all six winners in the Rainbow 6 for the 10th consecutive live program on Saturday. Tickets with five of six winners returned $62.58.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Sunday’s Rainbow 6 covers Races 4-9 and is kicked off by a $33,000 maiden claiming event for 2-year-old fillies. D Hatman Thoroughbreds’ Inspired Blue is the tepid 3-1 program favorite in the five-furlong main track sprint, making her second start for trainer Phil Schoenthal.
The 50-cent Late Pick 5, which offers an industry-low 12 percent takeout, was hit for $14,008.60 on Saturday. A total of $10,856 was wagered into the pool on top of a carryover of $4,455.24 from Friday.
Every Sunday during its 24-day summer meet Laurel serves up brunch as well as a Kids Zone with pony rides, crafts, a petting zoo and guest speaker. Brunch is $22 for adults, $11 for kids under 12 and free for children under 6, with bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys available for another $12.
Notes: Jockey Horacio Karamanos posted a riding triple aboard American Progress ($18.40) in the second race, Ruston Vow ($6.40) in the fourth and Shinkansen ($6) in the seventh. Trainer Lacey Gaudet won with both The Pulse ($3.60) in the third and Ruston Vow.
