Anna’s Bandit Goes for Sixth Straight Victory in $75,000 Politely
Prizes, Calendar Giveaway on Maryland Spectacular Day

LAUREL, MD – Still Having Fun and Alwaysmining, Maryland’s top Triple Crown race hopefuls the past two years who together have won eight stakes and more than $1 million in purses, are scheduled to meet for the first time as they launch their respective comebacks in Saturday’s $75,000 Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial at Laurel Park.

The Bender for 3-year-olds and up and $75,000 Politely for fillies and mares 3 and older, both at six furlongs, are among four stakes restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses worth $350,000 in purses on a nine-race Maryland Spectacular Day program.

Gates will open at 11 a.m. with a 12:25 p.m. first post. Festivities include a 2020 Maryland Jockey Club calendar giveaway and the chance to win prizes from the $10,000 giving tree, the latter with program purchase. Also, fans that bring in a new, unwrapped toy or make a donation qualify to receive an item from Laurel’s Give-a-Gift, Get-a-Gift table.

Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Terp Racing’s Still Having Fun won three of his first four career races at 2 and 3, including the Frank Whiteley Jr. and Miracle Wood in 2018. After attempts to stretch him out failed, he was cut back to sprints and ran second in the Chick Lang, now a Grade 3 race, and won the Woody Stephens (G2) at Belmont Park.

Still Having Fun has gone winless in eight subsequent starts, primarily in graded company, and is just 0-for-3 in 2019 after being shut down following an eighth-place finish in the Churchill Downs (G1) May 4.

“He certainly was great to us as a 2-year-old and 3-year-old. We did a lot of running with him and traveled all over, more than 10,000 miles,” trainer Tim Keefe said. “He took us to a lot of different places and he certainly earned his vacation. Talking to the three partners in the horse, the decision was made to give him the summer off, castrate him and just let him be a horse for a while.”

Still Having Fun spent the summer and early fall with Bruce Jackson at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., returning to Keefe’s barn in October. Since then, the 4-year-old son of Old Fashioned shows five sharp breezes, most recently going a half-mile in 48.40 seconds Nov. 30, sixth-fastest of 54 horses.

“Bruce did a great job with him and slowly brought him back,” Keefe said. “We didn’t really have a start date, we were just going to let him tell us when he was ready. He’s been training great, really super. With his works, he’s been moving right along so we decided we’d give him a shot to run here.”

Still Having Fun is three-for-seven lifetime at Laurel, not having raced over his home track since the General George (G3) in February in his seasonal debut. Feargal Lynch is named to ride from Post 2.

“Certainly from a trainer’s standpoint you just hope you’ve done enough with him. A horse like him, who has all ability in the world, sometimes they fool you a little bit in the mornings,” Keefe said. “You have to be careful that what you’re seeing on the track is not just because he’s an extraordinary individual; it’s that he’s fit enough and has trained long enough and he’s ready to run.

“This wasn’t our intention to run him back in December,” he added. “We were just going to let him tell us, and with everything he’s been doing in the morning he’s telling us he’s ready.”

Runnymede Racing’s Alwaysmining, a 3-year-old Stay Thirsty gelding, has not raced since finishing ninth after setting the pace for a half-mile in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby (G3) July 13. He, too, was given a break by trainer Kelly Rubley and has been working steadily since Halloween over Fair Hill’s all-weather surface for his return.

Alwaysmining put together a six-race win streak that lasted from the fall of his juvenile season to late April and included five stakes ranging from seven furlongs to the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio, which earned him an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes (G1). There, he was within striking distance through six furlongs, sitting third just two lengths from the front, before fading to 11th.

Three weeks later, Alwaysmining ran fourth but was placed third in the Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park, prior to the Indiana Derby. He has not sprinted since winning the seven-furlong Heft Stakes last Dec. 29 at Laurel.

“He had a little vacation,” Rubley said. “He actually went to the owner’s farm. They have a big farm in Pennsylvania. He just needed a little time to catch his breath. He put on a little weight and he looks really good. I’m very happy with him.”

Multiple stakes winners Clubman, a six-furlong allowance winner at Laurel Oct. 31, Lewisfield and Sonny Inspired; Taco Supream, a four-time winner this year who upset Call Paul and Lewisfield in the Maryland Million Sprint last out Oct. 19; Ben’s Cat Stakes winner Oldies But Goodies;  Eastern Bay, Fear the Turtle and Showalter complete the field.

Anna’s Bandit Goes for Sixth Straight Victory in $75,000 Politely

No Guts No Glory Farm’s Anna’s Bandit, a career 15-time winner that hasn’t lost a race since mid-July, goes after her sixth consecutive victory and 10th lifetime stakes triumph in the $75,000 Politely.

Anna’s Bandit, a 5-year-old Great Notion mare, hasn’t raced since capturing the Maryland Million Distaff Oct. 19 – her second stakes win in seven days following the West Virginia Cavada Breeders’ Classic at Charles Town.

Since launching her career in the spring of 2016, Anna’s Bandit has finished third or better in 24 of 31 career starts with a bankroll of $658,715 and stakes wins at Laurel, Charles Town and Timonium. She is nine-for-19 lifetime at Laurel, her home track.

Jockey Xavier Perez will be aboard Anna’s Bandit for the 27th consecutive time in the Politely. All but two of her wins have come under Perez, who is also her regular morning exercise partner. They were third, beaten a length and a neck, in last year’s Politely.

“She’s been very special to me since we hooked up. We’ve been knocking down some good races and she’s never let me down. She always proves when she’s out there that she’s all heart. She’s a hard-knocking mare and hopefully she keeps on going this upcoming year,” Perez said. “She feels better than ever.”

Anna’s Bandit has worked twice since the Maryland Million, firing a five-furlong bullet of 1:00.60 Nov. 30, the fastest of 18 horses. She and Perez will break from Post 3 at topweight of 124 pounds.

“She’s amazing. She’s just a push-button horse,” Perez said. “Like I always say, it’s Anna’s world and we’re just living in it. I ask her to do things that another horse can’t do. She just does it. We have a nice connection and she’s just lovely. She’s kind and she’s nice to ride in the morning. I get on her every morning. I don’t let anyone else get on her, she’s my special horse.”

Wayne Harrison, Robert Manfuso and Katy Voss’ Las Setas is also a multiple stakes winner, having captured the Wide Country, Beyond the Wire and Weber City Miss in succession during a four-race win streak this spring.

Trained by Voss, the 3-year-old filly got some time off after finishing seventh in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 17, having earned an automatic berth by virtue of her Weber City Miss win. She was entered and scratched from last weekend’s $100,000 Imagining Safely Kept, an open seven-furlong sprint that drew a field of 13.

“I thought there was too much speed in there, and there was. They went 22 and change and 45 and change,” Voss said. “I think she can go six or seven [furlongs]. She kind of likes being near the front and that’ll be easier going three-quarters. Trying to go 22 and 45 and change and go seven-eighths after six months off, that’s a tall order.”

Instead, Las Setas will begin her comeback against fellow state-bred/sired horses, although it will mean facing elders for the first time. Jevian Toledo rides from Post 1.

“She’s doing good. I gave her a big gallop last weekend because I knew we were going to have bad weather for a couple days. She’s ready. This race Saturday is not going to be easy, but I think it’s a better place to bring her back,” Voss said. “Of course we’re going to have to face Anna’s Bandit, but Anna’s a closer and if there isn’t too much other speed in there it may set up better for us than last week would have.”

Also entered are 2018 Miss Disco Stakes winner Majestic Reason, third in the Gallant Bloom (G2) two starts back; multiple stakes winner Limited View; Phantom Shot, fifth by 2 ¼ lengths in last year’s Politely; and Three Hawk.