Promising 3-Year-Old O Dionysus Gets Two-Turn Test in $100,000 Private Terms
Promising 3-Year-Old O Dionysus Gets Two-Turn Test in $100,000 Private Terms
Crabcakes Seeks Rebound from First Loss in $100,000 Caesar’s Wish
LAUREL, MD – Marathon Farms’ multiple stakes winner O Dionysus, worse than third only once in eight career starts, will get a chance to see how far he can stretch his talent when he makes his two-turn debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Private Terms at Laurel Park.
The 28th running of the Private Terms for 3-year-olds and the 29th running of the $100,000 Caesar’s Wish for 3-year-old fillies, both at about 1 1/16 miles, are among five stakes worth $425,000 in purses on an 11-race Maryland Jockey Club Celebration Day program that also includes the inaugural Fantasy Owners Day.
Also on tap are the $75,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, and the $75,000 Not For Love and $75,000 Conniver, both sprints restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses 4 and older.
Trainer Gary Capuano has patiently kept O Dionysus on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, primarily at Laurel, to await his first two-turn test. He shipped out of town once to win the 6 ½-furlong Christopher Elser Memorial in November at Parx but has otherwise made all his starts on his home track, including an impressive three-length victory in the one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 18.
In his two prior starts, he was second by a half-length to High Roller in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Jan. 21 and lost to subsequent Holy Bull (G2) winner Irish War Cry by a nose in the Marylander, both at seven furlongs, to cap his juvenile campaign. Though he has managed to avoid Laurel-based two-time Grade 3 winner El Areeb, he has continued to keep solid company such as multiple stakes winner Greatbullsoffire and graded stakes-placed Bonus Points and No Dozing.
“It’s all about trying to see how far he’ll go. We finally get a two-turn race to see how he actually likes it. I think he will; I don’t think he’ll mind it but you’ve still got to run it,” Capuano said. “We’ve been waiting a while to get to that without shipping him out of town.
“He’s one that I just feel needs a lot of racing. He’s run [eight] times now and he hasn’t missed a beat,” he added. “He was a bit of a handful early but he’s really started to settle down and be more professional. As far as tackling horses like El Areeb and those horses traveling, I figured I’d just let them do their thing and just stick local for a while. If he’s good enough he’ll meet them at some point.”
O Dionysus, a bay son of 2012 Arkansas Derby (G1) winner and Preakness (G1) runner-up Bodemeister, was able to track the leaders in the Miracle Wood through a half-mile in 49.30 seconds before moving into contention after six furlongs and pulling clear late. Jevian Toledo, aboard for all but one of his starts, gets the return call at topweight of 122 pounds from Post 7.
“He obviously ran a very good race,” Capuano said. “Toledo was able to get him to settle a little bit. He had a good trip and didn’t get in a ton of trouble, and he finished up well. They weren’t going that fast early but that mile is tough on a lot of them. He went the last eighth strong and galloped out good, so I was really happy with that.
“The race before that he got in a ton of trouble and he looked like the best horse, but it just didn’t work out,” he added. “The race with Irish War Cry was a tough beat, but he seems to bounce back off them and he’s moving forward and doing the right things so we’ll see where he goes.”
High Roller, trained by Capuano’s older brother, Dale, will try O Dionysus for a third straight time. Following his mild upset in the Whiteley the bay High Cotton colt raced near the front before taking a short lead along the inside with two furlongs to run until fading to fourth, beaten 3 ¾ lengths in the Miracle Wood. Winter meet-leading rider Trevor McCarthy rides from Post 2.
It marked the first time High Roller has been worse than third, beaten as the favorite when second in a 5 ½-furlong entry-level optional claiming allowance Dec. 26 after running third to El Areeb in the James F. Lewis III Nov. 19.
Harry and Tom Meyerhoff’s Dharmaster enters the Private Terms off a maiden special weight triumph at the distance Feb. 17 at Laurel. It was the fourth start for the Mike Trombetta-trained colt, also by Bodemeister, who didn’t debut until late November.
“He’s been a horse that we’ve been trying to run long. We had to give him a couple sprint races to get him educated,” Trombetta said. “The first time we ran him long he was good enough to win. I don’t know if he’s up to this task but I figured we’d enter and see what it looks like.
“He’ll do whatever he needs to do. He came out of it good and he’s trained well,” he added. “I think he could be a nice horse. I still want to hopefully try grass and everything else along the way but, right now, this is the next logical step.”
Cobra Farm, Inc. and R R Partners’ Twisted Tom ships in from New York for his stakes debut after opening his 3-year-old season with a half-length victory in a one-mile entry-level optional claiming allowance over Aqueduct’s inner track Jan. 28. He raced three times at 2, coming from way back to break his maiden by a neck over the Belmont Park turf last fall.
Owned and trained by Pimlico-based George Andreadakis, Greek Prince takes a two-race win streak into the Private Terms. The Tapizar gelding broke his maiden going seven furlongs Feb. 4 and came back with a front-running neck triumph at 13-1 his first time facing winners March 4, both at Laurel.
Rounding out the field are Hashtag Alex, five-length winner of a one-mile optional claiming allowance Feb. 28 at Parx, and No More Talk, most recently third in the Miracle Wood in his stakes debut.
Crabcakes Seeks Rebound from First Loss in $100,000 Caesar’s Wish
Buckingham Farm’s Crabcakes, who suffered her first career loss when second as the favorite in the Wide Country Feb. 18 at Laurel, looks to return to her winning ways in the Caesar’s Wish.
It will be the longest race yet for the Great Notion filly, who won her first three starts – all sprints – topped by the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Dec. 10 at Laurel just a week after cruising in her debut at Penn National, where trainer Bernie Houghton is based.
In the Wide Country, Crabcakes found herself in tight quarters early on but forged her way to a half-length lead entering the stretch before being collared and passed by China Grove. She wound up beaten 1 ¼ lengths, the same margin between her and third-place finisher Forever Liesl.
“That race knocked her out a little bit. She got a little tired after that for a couple of days but she tried hard. She ran into a little bit of a buzzsaw there, but she bounced back after a few days and is doing good actually,” Houghton said. “She was a little nervous last time down the backside, a little rank, and then she settled in. She ran good, she just got beat by a better horse last time really. I’m hoping her to be more settled, more relaxed the first part of the race.”
Houghton gave Crabcakes one breeze out of the Wide Country, a six-furlong move in 1:17.15 Monday at Penn National designed to get her used to the longer distance. Regular rider Angel Rodriguez has the call from Post 6; all eight fillies will carry 116 pounds.
“It took her a while to get settled down last time and that’s why I worked her that way. It was a slow work, long, almost like a two-minute lick the first part of it and then she picked it up,” he said. “I’ve trained her a little differently coming into this race. I did a lot of strong gallops with her and I hope that she’s going to go fine. I see that horse that beat her is not in there this time and of the ones I saw I think she’ll be competitive. As long as she relaxes the first part of it, that’s what she needs to do.”
Equine Prep’s Star Super makes her return to the races for the first time since kicking off her sophomore season with a gutsy neck win as the favorite in the six-furlong Marshua Stakes Jan. 21 at Laurel. The daughter of 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Super Saver made six starts at 2, running third in the Sorority and second in the Smart Halo and Gin Talking, the latter two at Laurel, before earning her first stakes victory.
Off a busy juvenile campaign and a tough season opener, and looking for an opportunity to run longer distances, trainer Cal Lynch decided to bypass the Wide Country and point for the Caesar’s Wish. Star Super will have had eight weeks since the Marshua after just a three-week gap between her 2-year-old finale and 3-year-old debut.
“She’s doing well. She’s danced every dance. She’s not a big filly and she’s a filly we think that the further she goes the better. We’ve been kind of gearing her up to go a mile,” Lynch said. “She’s doing fantastic. We [wanted] to give her a chance to catch her breath. We kind of wheeled her back quick last time. I think she bounced a little bit. She still won but it wasn’t as good a race. She’s a nice filly. We’re very optimistic about her chance to be a good filly. We just want to give her that chance.”
Jenda’s Agenda, Shacklefords Lady and Sine Wave, each undefeated through two starts, ship in from out of town for their stakes debut in the Caesar’s Wish. They are joined by Tickled Pink, a professional debut winner Feb. 19 at Laurel for trainer Graham Motion; Aspen Hilltop and Forever Liesl.
