Scrap Copper, Our Braintrust Tangle in Maryland Juvenile Futurity
Scrap Copper, Our Braintrust Tangle in Maryland Juvenile Futurity
Sip of Sunshine Takes Streak into $100,000 Juvenile Filly Championship
De Francis Runner-Up Laki Returns in $75,000 Bender Memorial
LAUREL, MD – Kathleen Willier’s Scrap Copper, professional winner of the James F. Lewis III Stakes last month, and Tremont Stakes winner Our Braintrust, undefeated but unraced since early June, will meet up for the first time on their home track in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel Park.
The 37th running of the Juvenile Futurity for 2-year-olds and the 33rd renewal of the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship for 2-year-old fillies, both at seven furlongs, are among three stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses worth $275,000 in purses on the nine-race program.
Also on tap is the $75,000 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs, where Grade 3-placed Laki makes his return in a field that includes fellow multiple stakes winners Lewisfield, Greatbullsoffire and Talk Show Man.
First race post time is 12:30 p.m.
Scrap Copper drew Post 4 and will have Laurel’s fall meet-leading rider Trevor McCarthy aboard for the third straight race. A debut winner going 5 ½ furlongs July 22 at Laurel, the Great Notion colt was beaten a nose in the historic Laurel Futurity on turf Sept. 22 before returning to dirt for the Maryland Million Nursery. In that race, his only time sent off as the favorite, he lost all chance after stumbling badly at the start and wound up seventh.
In the six-furlong Lewis Nov. 10, Scrap Copper bounced back with a strong break and four-wide move to reel in Nursery winner Follow the Dog and surge past to win by three-quarters of a length.
“The race in the Maryland Million he went right down on his nose and then he was boxed in and he had no chance to run. We threw that race out and thankfully he came back and ran big,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault. He just took a bad step leaving there and that was that. That’s part of racing.
“The last race he ran real good. He sat off the lead a little bit and when [McCarthy] asked him he went on about his business. The jock was real pleased with the way he ran and so was I,” he added. “The way he won the race he indicated he could handle a little more distance and that’s what we’re hoping for all along, trying to get him to go long. He’s going into the race good, so we look for him to run a good race.”
Our Braintrust ends a six-month break between starts for trainer Cal Lynch, who co-owns the Freud colt with Smith Farm and Stable. He has won each of his two starts by the same three-quarter-length margin – a 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight May 3 at Laurel and the 5 ½-furlong Tremont, where he chased the pace along the inside and found room late to prevail.
Jorge Vargas Jr., aboard for the maiden victory, gets the return call from Post 2. Our Braintrust tuned up for the Futurity with a bullet five-furlong move in 59.60 seconds out of the gate Nov. 30, fastest of 13 horses, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.
“He’s been training really well. He had a good work here last weekend. I was very pleased with him. He galloped out strong and that’s kind of what I was looking for,” Lynch said. “I think Scrap Copper is the horse to beat, but our horse is doing well. He’s coming off a little bit of a break, for sure, but he’s run well fresh. He won first time out so I don’t think it will be a problem for him.”
Sky Magician and Outofthepark, second and third, respectively, in the Nursery; Alwaysmining, exiting a front-running 10-length optional claiming allowance win Oct. 27; Thatwouldbegrand, V.I.P. Ticket and first-time starter Trifor Gold complete the field.
Sip of Sunshine Takes Streak into $100,000 Juvenile Filly Championship
Having won the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship last December with another daughter of Freedom Child, trainer John Salzman Jr. will be looking to make it two in a row with streaking filly Sip of Sunshine.
Owned by Salzman’s wife, Marla, Sip of Sunshine will be making her stakes debut in the Juvenile Filly Championship off three consecutive wins by six combined lengths, all at Laurel, going both 5 ½ and six furlongs. She finished fifth in her first two races before running second in a four-furlong maiden claimer Aug. 31 at Timonium that preceded her streak.
“It took her a little while. None of her races are bad; she’s run good from the time I started running her,” Salzman said, “but, she’s just matured now and filled out and is turning into a pretty nice filly. She’s done everything I’ve asked of her, lately anyway.”
Limited View won last year’s race for Salzman, clinching Maryland-bred champion 2-year-old filly honors. Salzman feels Sip of Sunshine could be on a similar track, despite more humble beginnings. Consigned to Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Winter Mixed Sale in January 2017, she failed to meet her $1,000 reserve.
“I bought her out of a field. A guy had her out in the field and somebody had given her to him to I guess keep his foal company,” Salzman said. “I went to the sale and I just happened to run into the guy. We were talking about Freedom Child and he said, ‘I got one out in the field. Come look at her.’ So, I went out there and looked at her and bought her. She was a late foal so everybody was laughing at her because she was a little, small-looking thing and I said, ‘You laugh now, but when she grows up you ain’t gonna laugh.’”
“I had a Freedom Child win last year and hopefully this filly might be a champion, who knows? We’ll see,” he added. “She’s turning into quite a little filly. She’s not a real big, strong one like Limited View but she’s my kind of horse – compact, speedy and all muscled up now. She’s a very pretty filly.”
Trainer Cal Lynch will send out Belial, a daughter of Tritap he co-owns with Norah B Stable. Also with seven starts behind her, Belial has finished first or second in her last four including a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance win Nov. 17 that followed a runner-up finish to My Star Potential in the Maryland Million Lassie.
“Belial came out of that allowance race really well. The seven-eighths suits her. I think the further she goes, the better. It just so happens it’s seven furlongs again in this race,” Lynch said. “There’s a couple nice fillies in there, but she’s doing well. She’s getting stronger and stronger and her numbers are going in the right direction. We expect her to run her race again.”
Make Family First Stable’s Money Fromheaven will test stakes waters for the first time, coming off a 1 ¼-length waiver maiden claiming triumph moved from the grass to the main track at one mile. Each of her last four races have come off the turf, and she has finished worse than third just twice in seven starts.
“Every time I’ve put her in it’s been on the grass because that’s what she’s bred for, but she’s been running well enough on the dirt, too,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “She hasn’t run a bad one yet. I don’t know how good she is but we’re going to take a little bit of a shot. We were going to give her some time off but we figured we’d try her one time against the Maryland-breds in the stake and see how it goes, so that’s what we’re doing. She likes a little route of ground. She’s a little, tiny thing and you wouldn’t think she would but with this race being seven-eighths, I thought it’d be a little bit of a better shot, too.”
Rounding out the field are Abbo, Like a Pro, Nine Martinis, No Mo Lady, Past Perfect, Questionoftheday Waiting for a Star.
De Francis Runner-Up Laki Returns in $75,000 Bender Memorial
Hillside Equestrian Meadows’ Laki, last seen finishing second at nearly 12-1 behind multiple graded-stakes winner Switzerland in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Sept. 22, is set to make his return in a small but competitive field for the $75,000 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial.
Laki, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Damon Dilodovico, clinched top 3-year-old and up sprint division honors in the revived Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series with his performance in the six-furlong De Francis, finishing just two points away from the overall title.
Winner of the seven-furlong Polynesian Stakes following the disqualification of Lewisfield in his previous start, Laki has earned all six of his wins, including the 2017 Not For Love Stakes, with three seconds in 10 tries over Laurel’s main track.
“He’s doing great. He’s been breezing well moving into the race,” Dilodovico said. “I think they all need a break. He was running pretty well, pretty much once a month against some tough, tough company. I was worried a little bit about breaking up that routine, but I think in the end the break is going to be what’s best for him moving forward.”
The De Francis was the third time in graded company for Laki, who was fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Maryland Sprint (G3) in 2017 and 2018. Horacio Karamanos is named to ride from Post 5.
“We were thrilled with the De Francis. We kind of knew a couple weeks out, just how he was in the barn, that we were going to get a special effort from him. Unfortunately, [Hall of Fame trainer Steve] Asmussen got a special effort from his horse, too. Still, I was thrilled with that and the experience put us on top of his group in the MATCH Series. And he came out of the race well, so it was all good.”
Dilodovico said he considered the six-furlong Fabulous Strike Nov. 21 at Penn National to start Laki’s comeback, but ultimately decided to keep the horse where he is most comfortable.
“I asked the owner about the Fabulous Strike. We kind of talked about it and we nominated to it and we just thought we’ll just wait and run him here,” he said. “It has to be easier than that race and we don’t have to ship. It’s his home track and he loves it here. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, being the freshest of the group maybe he gives us another special effort.”
Charles Town-based Lewisfield ran third as the favorite in the Fabulous Strike, one race after dominating fellow Maryland-breds with an 8 ¾-length romp in the Maryland Million Sprint. Fifth in the De Francis, the 4-year-old Great Notion gelding won the Not For Love in March in his second start this year.
Kathleen Willier’s Greatbullsoffire was a three-time stakes winner at 2, including the Maryland Juvenile Futurity in his season finale, but has made only five starts over the past two years. He raced just once in 2017, a distant eighth in the Coalition Stakes at Timonium, and is winless in four tries this year.
Trainer Hamilton Smith has been encouraged by his recent efforts, where the 4-year-old Bullsbay colt was second in the Maryland Million Sprint and third in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Nov. 22, a race where he took a short lead into the stretch before he wound up beaten 1 ½ lengths.
“He’s coming around. His last two races were pretty good, I thought. The seven-eighths last time, [jockey Trevor McCarthy] thought he might be better going three-quarters,” Smith said. “It’s a tough spot. It’s a pretty competitive race but we’re going to take a swing at it and see. I think he can hit the board. He’s a nice horse and he’s won some nice races. I think he’ll run well.”
Smith also entered 8-year-old Great Notion gelding Dr. Michael Harrison’s Talk Show Man, a two-time winner of the Maryland Million Turf that never got into contention while finishing last of nine in the 1 1/8-mile Richard W. Small Stakes on dirt Nov. 10.
Sonny Inspired, winner of an off-the-turf Find Stakes Sept. 29 at Laurel; Clubman, third in the Maryland Million Classic Oct. 20; and Fabulous Strike runner-up Rockinn On Bye, making his second start since being claimed by Laurel fall meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez are also entered.
