Snowday Determined Winner of $100,000 Laurel Dash
Snowday Determined Winner of $100,000 Laurel Dash
Always Thinking Springs Upset in $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash
Two of Six Grass Stakes on Saturday’s Fall Festival of Racing Program
LAUREL, MD – Quiet Winter Farm’s Snowday, narrowly beaten in his graded stakes debut just 12 days earlier, forged a short lead approaching the wire and emerged from a four-way blanket finish with a head victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Fidelity First and Blackwell Real Estate Laurel Dash at Laurel Park.
The 19th running of the Laurel Dash for 3-year-olds and up and the inaugural $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash for fillies and mares 3 and older, both at six furlongs, were among six stakes over Laurel’s world-class turf course that complemented the 26th running of the $250,000 Xpressbet Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) on a 12-race Fall Festival of Racing program.
It was the third win in four starts and second in stakes company for Snowday ($5), a 7-year-old gelding who completed the distance in 1:09.02 over a firm Fort Marcy Turf Course layout. Even-money favorite Class and Clash was second despite a troubled trip, a head in front of 11-1 long shot Rapid Dan.
Snowday broke sharply from his far outside post and was kept in the clear three wide by jockey Daniel Centeno, tracking pacesetting 2015 Dash winner Spring to the Sky through a quarter-mile in 23.69 seconds with Triple Burner in between.
The top three rounded the far turn together after a half in 46.75 until Snowday began to edge away as Class and Cash looked for room between horses to challenge and Rapid Dan came with his late bid on the outside. Centeno kept Snowday, third in the five-furlong Turf Monster (G3) Sept. 4 at Parx last out, to task in deep stretch where they were able to withstand both challenges.
“I thought he lost the race and was second. He was really ready to run. That was a good race,” Sergio Rabadan, assistant to winning trainer J. Willard Thompson, said. “I told the jock not to rush him out of the gate and just make one move, and that’s exactly what he did. He did a really good job. The last race he ran a big race and just got beat. I know he was running a little close back but I know he was ready for the race.”
Centeno was aboard Snowday for the first time, inheriting the mount from Jose Ferrer, who had ridden in each of the previous two starts but was badly injured in a spill Thursday at Delaware Park.
“It was a short field. He broke really good and I just followed the pace,” Centeno said. “When I asked him for run, he kept running to the wire. I saw [Class and Cash] in the last sixteenth and my horse gave an extra little kick.”
Triple Burner, second in last year’s Dash at odds of 40-1, Spring to the Sky and Amelia’s Wild Ride completed the order of finish.
Always Thinking Springs Upset in $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash
Godolphin Racing’s Always Thinking rallied from far back with a powerful move on the far outside and challenged a record in posting a 25-1 upset of the $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash.
Trained by Tom Albertrani and ridden by Hall of Famer Edgar Prado, Always Thinking ($52) hit the wire in 1:07.68 over the firm going, just .39 off the Fort Marcy Turf Course record of 1:07.29 set by Jazzy Idea on Oct. 27, 2012.
The Sensible Lady marked a return to sprinting for Always Thinking, whose previous four races had come at a mile or longer. She was fifth, beaten four lengths, in the 1 1/8-mile Violet (G3) Aug. 19 at Monmouth Park in her previous effort.
“The filly ran huge. Normally she’s been going long but they shortened up the distance and she showed up today,” Prado said. “She was moving pretty strong at the end, finished up good and come back nice.”
Everything Lovely and Paquita Coqueta dueled through fractions of 22.44 and 44.65 seconds while Prado had Always Thinking settled in seventh in a strung out nine-horse field. The 4-year-old daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense began to pick up horses leaving the backstretch and swung out wide for the stretch drive, finishing 1 ½ lengths ahead of runner-up Fire Key.
They were followed under the line by Rocky Policy, Paquita Coqueta, Cali Thirty Seven, Dare to Be, 4-5 favorite Miss Ella, Everything LKovely and Catching Fireflies.
“I knew there was not much speed in the race,” Prado said. “Everybody kind of went at it and I just broke out of there, sat and took my time and tried to make her finish and it worked out beautiful for me.”
