Singlino Seeks Second Career Stakes Win in $100,000 Heft
Singlino Seeks Second Career Stakes Win in $100,000 Heft
Street Lute Goes After Fourth Stakes in $100,000 Gin Talking
Reassured Tries Two Turns Again in $100,000 Howard County
Miss Leslie Gets Class Test in $100,000 Anne Arundel County
LAUREL, MD – No horse has come closer to beating Jaxon Traveler this year than Singlino, and the stakes-winning gelding won’t have his undefeated rival around when he returns to cap the 2020 season in the $100,000 Heft Saturday, Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.
The Heft for males and $100,000 Gin Talking for fillies, both sprinting seven furlongs, are among four stakes for 2-year-olds on a nine-race Christmastide Day program serving up eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses.
Juveniles will also go around two turns at about 1 1/16 miles in the $100,000 Howard County for males and $100,000 Anne Arundel County for fillies. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Owned and trained by 76-year-old John Worsley, Singlino enters the Heft having pressed Jaxon Traveler from the start of the Maryland Juvenile Futurity Dec. 5 at Laurel, also going seven furlongs, but was unable to get by and finished three-quarters of a length short in second.
“I think we should have beat him,” Worsley said. “They put the pressure on him a little bit early, you see, and it helps sometimes to take some of the heart out of horses. He won’t quit, this horse. He keeps digging in. That day they put sand on the racetrack and I think that slowed it down a little and probably helped me because the winner couldn’t get away.
“I thought there was no speed in that race to go with him and soften him up, and [jockey] Trevor [McCarthy] felt we couldn’t let him get away with murder so he went after him,” he added. “He’s pretty good, this horse. He’s fast. He’s no world-beater, I don’t think, but he can run a bit.”
Singlino won the First State Dash over his home track of Delaware Park Sept. 26, beating Heft rival Kenny Had a Notion, who would come back and win the Jamestown on turf and the Maryland Million Nursery. Prior to the Futurity, Singlino encountered trouble in back-to-back losses to another Heft contender in No Cents, including the six-furlong James F. Lewis III Nov. 14 at Laurel.
“He got in trouble at Monmouth the day [No Cents] beat him … and just got beat. He didn’t get the best [trip] in the world in the stake and he got knocked around a little bit, so that didn’t help him. Hopefully he’ll get a clean trip,” Worsley said. “He’s a big, strong horse, one of the biggest 2-year-olds in training, I would think. He’s a really big guy, he’s strong and he’s sound. That’s the main thing with this guy.”
With Trevor McCarthy taking off to ride No Cents, Singlino will have fall meet-leading rider Sheldon Russell aboard from outside Post 6.
Kenny Had a Notion had a two-race win streak snapped when sixth in the Lewis following a wide trip. No Cents has put together three consecutive wins making the steady climb from maiden special to open allowance to stakes company.
The three remaining horses in the field – The Wolfman, Tiz Mandate and Kenny Had a Notion’s Dale Capuano-trained stablemate Boss Notion – are all coming off wins and making their stakes debut. Tiz Mandate, trained by Damon Dilodovico, rallied from far back to capture a six-furlong maiden special weight by a neck Nov. 22 at Laurel.
“I was very pleased with how he performed that day. We had done a lot of work with him. We knew he wasn’t going to be a horse that was going to necessarily be early, so the fact that we were able to get a first-time starter to respond the way he did – in traffic and off the pace – you don’t see that a lot here,” Dilodovico said. “He’ll probably be the longest shot in the race. Hopefully he doesn’t peek over at the toteboard during warmups.”
Street Lute Goes After Fourth Stakes in $100,000 Gin Talking
Lucky 7 Stables’ Maryland-bred filly Street Lute, a neck shy of being undefeated through five starts, will go after her fifth win, fourth in a stakes and third in a row in the $100,000 Gin Talking.
Trained by Jerry Robb, Street Lute won each of her first two starts including her stakes debut in the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder Sept. 26 at Delaware Park. She got caught near the wire of the Maryland Million Lassie after taking the lead late, but has responded with wins in the six-furlong Smart Halo Nov. 14 and seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Dec. 5.
In all, Street Lute has won her races by 10 ½ combined lengths. Xavier Perez has been aboard for each of her last two starts and has the call again from Post 5 of seven.
Perez likened Street Lute to another Robb-trained star, the 6-year-old mare Anna’s Bandit, an 11-time stakes winner for whom he has been the regular rider. Perez took over on Street Lute after Brian Pedroza went down with an injury.
“She’s an easy-going filly to ride. It’s pretty similar to Anna’s Bandit, that’s why I think I got to bond with her so quick because she’s a straightforward filly and she’ll do whatever I ask her to do. She can go to the lead, she can settle and stalk and she’s not afraid of anything,” Perez said. “Like she showed the first time I rode her, she went through the rail, and the second time I rode her she spilt horses and showed bravery all the time. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to come back and I think it’s going to be a beautiful Christmas present for me.”
Respect the Valleys’ Out of Sorts rallied from dead last with a six-wide run on the far turn to be second behind Street Lute in the Smart Halo, beaten 2 ¾ lengths. That race came less than two weeks after the Dramedy filly romped by 10 ¾ lengths in a six-furlong maiden special weight at Laurel, just her second career start.
“We ran her back in 13 days and I thought it was a really good effort. Now that we’ve been able to give her a little bit of time and let her kind of catch her breath and get some works into her since then, I think she’ll run really well. I think she’s really like the seven-eighths, too,” trainer Brittany Russell said.
“Running her back in 13 days I think she was maybe just a little edgier and just letting her catch her breath this time around I think she’ll be better at the gate,” she added. “Hopefully she comes away a little better. If she can just sit like she did last time and make a run at them I think she’s sitting on a good effort.”
Fraudulent Charge, Aug Lutes, Whiskey and Rye, Beautiful Grace and Blissful Behavior complete the field.
Reassured Tries Two Turns Again in $100,000 Howard County
Hillwood Stables’ homebred Reassured will make his third consecutive start around two turns and second in two weeks as he steps up to open stakes company for the first time in the $100,000 Howard County.
Trained by Brittany Russell, who has connected with 38 percent of her 2-year-old starters this year (15-for-39) according to Equibase statistics, Reassured was a maiden when he ran third to Kenny Had a Notion in the Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 24 at Laurel in just his second start.
The son of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox came back to be second by a nose in a 1 1/16-mile waiver maiden claimer Nov. 19, his two-turn debut. Last time out, Reassured raced under snug hold early before being let loose to cruise by 8 ¾ lengths in a similar spot Dec. 10.
“That first run [going two turns], I think it was just a little bit of bad luck that day that he didn’t win, but looking back it was probably great because he now has two races under his belt going two turns. It’s all good experience,” Russell said.
“He ran huge last time,” she added. “We’re running him back in 16 days. I wish he had a little bit more time but he’s a big, good-training horse. He doesn’t miss a beat in the morning. I feel good about running him back, but we’ll see. Sometimes it catches up with them and they surprise you, but I think he’ll run well. He bounced out of that win like a good horse.”
Other Howard County horses with stakes experience are Erawan, last of five in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen (G2) Dec. 5 at Aqueduct for owner-trainer Jose Corrales, and Ain’t Da Beer Cold, who lost all chance when eighth after stumbling at the start of the Maryland Million Nursery and most recently was fourth in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity to undefeated Jaxon Traveler.
Laurel maiden winners Market Cap, Shackqueenking and Gun Law are also entered, along with Twitty City and maiden Brett’s World.
Miss Leslie Gets Class Test in $100,000 Anne Arundel County
BB Horses’ Miss Leslie, a winner first off the claim last time out for meet leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez, will get tested for class and distance when she steps up and stretches out in the $100,000 Anne Arundel County.
A juvenile daughter of Paynter, Miss Leslie broke her maiden at third asking with a popular 1 ½-length score Nov. 13 at Laurel. Gonzalez haltered her for $25,000 that day and brought her back in an entry-level optional claimer going six furlongs Dec. 10, and she was dominant in a 6 ¾-length romp.
“She ran an impressive race last time. She was doing good after I claimed her, training good, and she improved little by little. We took a chance that day and she ran big,” Gonzalez said. “The rider even lost the whip and she still won easy. She came back good, so that’s why we decided to run.”
Miss Leslie has yet to race beyond six furlongs but Gonzalez is confident she will be able to get the distance, sharing a sire with her stablemate, Pimlico Special (G3) winner Harpers First Ride.
“We’re going to try her for the first time long, and I think she can handle it because she has the same father as Harpers. That’s why we’re going to take a chance,” Gonzalez said. “If you see the times she ran before we claim her, she always tries. She was always right there. She’s a good-sized filly and she was doing good, so we decide to claim her.”
Also coming off wins for the Anne Arundel County are Guns Blazing, in a one-mile maiden special weight event Nov. 5 at Laurel; Malibu Beauty and Champagne Toast, respectively in waiver maiden claimers going six furlongs and 1 1/16 miles. Malibu Beauty is wheeling back just 13 days since her victory, while Champagne Toast will have more than a month between starts.
Completing the field are four horses with previous stakes experience – The Grass Is Blue, Zeyaraat, Targe and Buckey’s Charm. Buckey’s Charm was fourth, beaten just 2 ½ lengths by multiple stakes winner Street Lute, in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Dec. 5.
