Sophomores Take Center Stage in Laurel Feature Sunday
Sophomores Take Center Stage in Laurel Feature Sunday
Ode to Joy Takes Saturday Feature, Ylikedis Breaks Maiden
Rainbow 6 Carryover Jackpot Grows to $19,873 for Sunday
LAUREL, MD – Stakes-placed colts Skyscanner and Mine Not Mine and promising Dreams Untold, hailing from the same connections as 2004 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Smarty Jones, headline a dozen 3-year-olds set to gather for Sunday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.
First race post time is 12:40 p.m.
Race 9 is an open entry-level allowance for sophomores going a one-turn mile on the main track. The 5-2 program favorite is Someday Farm’s Dreams Untold, a gelded homebred son of Smarty Jones trained by John Servis. Dreams Untold was a runaway 14 ½-length maiden winner Jan. 4 at Parx but ran fifth as the favorite in his stakes debut, the Feb. 15 Miracle Wood at Laurel, also at a mile. In that race, he was unruly in the gate, stumbled badly and made a bold move into contention before tiring late.
O G Racing’s Skyscanner was a debut winner last July at Laurel for trainer Jerry O’Dwyer, then rallied to be second by a neck in the one-mile Sapling Sept. 1 at Monmouth Park before going to the sidelines. Sapling winner Big City Bob went on to run third behind top Triple Crown contender Tiz the Law in the Champagne (G1).
“He got a little chip, so we took that out and gave him the winter off. He seems to be going back good now, so we’re looking forward to the race. He could be a nice horse going forward for the rest of the year,” O’Dwyer said. “It’s exciting.”
Jevian Toledo will ride Skyscanner in place of Sheldon Russell, who will be aboard Mine Not Mine for his wife, trainer Brittany Russell. Mine Not Mine ran twice at 2 before joining Russell’s barn, and this year was second by less than a length in the Miracle Wood and third in the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms March 14, both behind his former Claudio Gonzalez-trained stablemate Lebda.
“We’re very excited to run him in an allowance race. I’ve had to run him in two stakes and he didn’t embarrass us by any means. He’s doing great,” Brittany Russell said. “To be fair, all this time has probably been the best thing for him. He’s a really big horse and he’s probably still a bit immature. He’ll probably just get better with age so having all this time in between, he looks really good. He’s never super flashy in the morning, but he’s traveling well and he just looks good this time, so I think he’ll run good.”
Mine Not Mine has had three times works since he last ran and will race with blinkers on for the first time.
“You’re never going to put speed in a horse like him so that’s not our intention by any means. I’d like to see him just travel on the bridle a little better and when Sheldon’s ready to call on him, hopefully he can get him running a bit sooner,” Russell said. “He loves that long stretch at Laurel, and he loves that second wire. In the Miracle Wood, had he gotten going two jumps sooner we might have won it. We’re just trying to get him focused and see if he doesn’t improve with the blinkers.”
Had things gone according to plan, Russell hoped to run Mine Not Mine in the Federico Tesio, a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Preakness, originally scheduled to run April 18 but currently on hold. The Preakness has been rescheduled from May 16 to Oct. 3.
“The Tesio was sort of our goal before all this COVID stuff, so basically we’re going to walk him over there and I hope he runs like I think he will and we can go from there,” Russell said. “They’re only 3 once, so we might try and have a little fun with him later in the summer, but we have to get through Sunday first.”
Order for Porky, Paradise Pride, Toy, Commence, Golazo, Bellarmine Hall, The Poser, Court Sky and Plot the Dots complete the field.
Ode to Joy Takes Saturday Feature, Ylikedis Breaks Maiden
Edward A. Seltzer and Beverly S. Anderson’s Ode to Joy overcame the far outside post with a steady late run through the stretch to nail stablemate Ellyb on the wire in Saturday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park.
Ridden by Sheldon Russell for trainer Arnaud Delacour, Ode to Joy ($7.20) ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:01.41 over a firm All Along turf course in the $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up.
It was the fourth career win for Ode to Joy, three of them coming over Laurel’s world-class turf course. This year, the 5-year-old Artie Schiller mare won an optional claimer and was fourth by 1 ¼ lengths in the Lighting City Stakes, both at Tampa Bay Downs, the latter behind nine-time stakes winner Jean Elizabeth.
Breaking on the extreme outside, Ode to Joy settled far back under Russell as A Great Time and Ellyb tussed through opening fractions of 22.20 and 44.17 seconds. The top two remained engaged straightening for home with Ellyb forging a short lead before being overtaken by Ode to Joy, who launched her winning move around the far turn.
Ellyb was second, with A Great Time third and 40-1 long shot Dance Or Stroll fourth and Hip Hop fifth.
“I really didn’t have much choice being on the way outside and you can see you’re pretty much breaking on the outside fence, especially if you’re running on the inner turf,” Russell said. “Arnaud spoke to me this morning and he pretty much said not to be in a big rush or fight the filly too much.
“She was comfortable the whole way. When we rounded the turn and she sort of circled them and was still on the bridle, I had a good chance to win,” he added. “She knuckled down and ran down her stablemate, but I think she deserved to win. She was good today.”
Kingsport Farm’s Ylikedis ($5.40), a $170,000 daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense making her fourth career start, graduated with a one-length triumph in Race 4, a $40,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3 and up. Ylikedis settled in fourth along the rail, tipped outside to challenge leader Pretty and Fast, slingshot past and turn back Deciding Vote to win in 1:40.88 for 1 1/16 miles over the Dahlia turf course.
Rainbow 6 Carryover Jackpot Grows to $19,873 for Sunday
No one selected all six winners in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 Saturday at Laurel Park, growing the carryover jackpot to $19,873.55 for Sunday’s 10-race program.
First race post time is 12:40 p.m.
The popular multi-race wager went unsolved during the last live program in Maryland March 15 at Laurel Park. First race post time Saturday is 12:40 p.m.
In the Rainbow 6, the carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Tickets with five of six winners Sunday each returned $33.94.
Sunday’s Rainbow 6 spans Races 5-10 and includes featured Race 9, an open $42,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds that attracted a field of 12 led by Triple Crown-nominated Mine Not Mine, second in back-to-back stakes at Laurel to open 2020, and Dreams Untold, and Skyscanner, stakes-placed as a 2-year-old.
The sequence includes two races over Laurel’s world-class turf course that saw a total of 29 horses entered, an average of 14.5 per race.
Notes: Jockey Jevian Toledo registered a pair of winners, aboard Sir Rockport ($10.40) in Race 7 and Father’s Luck ($97.80) in Race 9.
