Among Five Stakes Worth $500,000 on De Francis Dash Card

LAUREL, MD – Eric Rizer’s stable star Princess Kokachin, fast as ever at the age of 5, will attempt to stretch her speed and run away with a third career stakes victory over her home track against eight rivals in Saturday’s $100,000 Alma North at Laurel Park.

The seventh running of the 6 ½-furlong Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and older and 27th renewal of the $100,000 Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles are among five stakes worth $500,000 in purses on a 10-race program headlined by the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash featuring seven older sprinters including Grade 3 winners Wondrwherecraigis and Lightening Larry.

Rounding out Saturday’s stakes action is a pair of $75,000 events restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses – the Star de Naskra for 3-year-olds and Miss Disco for 3-year-old fillies, both contested at seven furlongs. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

Princess Kokachin, bred in Maryland by Rizer and his wife, Nancy, has a lifetime batting average of .500 with 12 wins from 24 starts, to go along with four seconds, one third and $507,720 in purse earnings. Her stakes victories have come in the 2021 Politely to cap a career-high five-race win streak, and the April 29 Primonetta.

“She’s one of my favorite subjects,” Eric Rizer said. “She’s so much better than anything I ever deserved, I’ll tell you. She’s been a wonderful horse. Ever since she’s been a baby, she’s always been just a really nice horse to be around. She’s always been a kind animal, never really a problem. She’s a bit full of herself, but other than that she’s just been a really, really sweet horse. I’m absolutely thrilled with her.”

Princess Kokachin has been even better at Laurel, where she has a record of 9-3-1 from 15 tries including both her stakes wins, each at six furlongs. The Graydar mare has raced beyond three-quarters only once, finishing fourth in a 2021 optional claiming allowance at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, her sixth career start and last before going on her win streak.

“She does love Laurel,” Rizer said. “We’re going a little bit further than normally she is accustomed to or does well at. We’ve learned a couple of things with her in the last couple of races so hopefully we can implement some of that coming up into this race to where she’ll be very viable at the end.”

Trained by Jerry Robb, Princess Kokachin drew Post 5 in the Alma North exiting a front-running 1 ¾-length open allowance triumph July 1 at Laurel. She has been first or second in four of her five 2023 starts, the exception coming when she ran fourth by 1 ¼ lengths behind Cheetara in the May 20 Skipat at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“Jerry and I talked about it, whether we wanted to go 6 ½ furlongs or not, but in her last race she didn’t show any slowing up at the six-furlong marker so we said, ‘What the heck. Let’s go another half-furlong and see how she does,’” Rizer said.

“She’s a speedy horse. She’s got quite a bit of early speed, she really does. For some reason she kind of likes to play with the other horses, too. She kind of likes to let them come up and then she likes to put them away. She’s really quite a character.”

Princess Kokachin will see some familiar faces, none moreso than stablemate Street Lute, a fellow 5-year-old mare owned by Lucky 7 Stables that owns 10 wins, eight in stakes, and $660,480 in purse earnings from 25 starts. After winning nine of 16 starts to open her career, Street Lute has gone 1-for-9 over the past two seasons and finished behind Princess Kokachin three times including the Primonetta and the July 1 allowance.

“Street Lute has always had a tendency to go a little bit further than we did, so Street Lute is going to be tough. She is another just fantastic mare and we’re proud to run against her,” Rizer said. “There’s some very good horses in this race.”

Charles Matses’ Grade 3-placed homebred Beguine, originally under consideration for the one-mile Caesar’s Wish July 15 at Laurel, was re-routed to the Alma North by trainer Ned Allard. The 4-year-old Gun Runner filly makes a slight cutback from her fifth-place effort in the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses (G2) June 17 at Belmont Park, where the top two finishers – Goodnight Olive and Wicked Halo – respectively ran first and third in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1).

“[Beguine] won very easily first time out this year, and she looked like she deserved a shot against that group last time,” Allard said. “But there were two Breeders’ Cup horses in there and that was a little more than she could handle.”

Beguine began her career in the Midwest with trainer Dan Peitz, beaten a neck when second to Yuugiri in the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy (G3) last April at Oaklawn Park. As the first also-eligible she did not get into the Kentucky Oaks (G1) field and instead wound up in Pimlico’s Black-Eyed Susan (G2), leading early before fading to 12th and going to the sidelines.

“She caved in that day and she had a little bit of an issue, no big deal,” Allard said. “The race in New York last time, I don’t know. Probably I was a little bit too high on her, I think. I think she’s going to be a very nice filly, or she already is. I think a little softer spot, something like [this], is perfect for her.”

Beguine opened her 2023 season with a front-running 9 ¾-length allowance romp sprinting six furlongs May 20 at Belmont. The Alma North will be her third start off the layoff and she’ll get the services of Maryland’s four-time leading jockey, Jevian Toledo, from Post 2.

“I expected her to run well [her first race back], but she exceeded my expectations,” Allard said. “Overall, she’s a very well-mannered filly. She only does what she needs to do.”

Warwick Stable’s Sweet Gracie is a 4-year-old daughter of Grade 3 winner Bandbox that is looking for her first stakes victory, having placed four previous times including a third at odds of 30-1 in the six-furlong Dashing Beauty July 8 at Delaware Park. She came within a nose of being a stakes winner when second to Grade 1-placed Divine Huntress in the 2022 Miss Disco for Maryland-bred/sired horses.

Grandview Equine’s Gunning, another Gun Runner filly, and Mia Patria Racing’s Six the Hard Way were each supplemented into the Alma North. Gunning, trained by Ken McPeek, is twice stakes-placed, running sixth by 2 ¼ lengths in the Skipat. Six the Hard Way, claimed for $30,000 by trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon in February, was third behind Cats Inthe Timber in the 1 1/16-mile Weber City Miss April 15 at Laurel.

Also entered are Dreamster, owned and trained by Mary Lightner yet to race outside of Florida, where she won a 6 ½-furlong optional claimer June 25 at Gulfstream Park; Mens Grille Racing’s Response Time, a seven-time winner that was fourth to Princess Kokachin July 1; and Robert James McGee’s Moody Woman, third or better in 19 of 24 career starts and placed in three stakes, most recently third at 59-1 in the Laurel’s Barbara Fritchie (G3) Feb. 18.

The Alma North is named for the Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year in 1971 and Maryland-bred champion older filly of 1972. Owned by the late Eugene Mori’s East Acres Stable, Alma North won 23 of 78 career starts with $513,597 in purse earnings from 1970-74. Her victories included graded-stakes scores in the Matchmaker (G1) and Vineland (G2), Margate (G3) and Betsy Ross (G3) handicaps in 1973.