Stretch-Out Suits Belial in Laurel Feature Saturday
Stretch-Out Suits Belial in Laurel Feature Saturday
Live Oak Homebred Souper Escape Sharp Maiden Winner
LAUREL, MD – A late-running second in her stakes debut last time out, Belial split horses in deep stretch under jockey Trevor McCarthy and stuck her neck out at the wire to edge Olive Kat in Saturday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park.
Owned by trainer Cal Lynch and Norah B Stable, Belial ($10.20) covered seven furlongs in 1:24.21 over a fast main track in the $42,000 optional claiming allowance for 2-year-old fillies. Olive Kat held second by a nose over Destiny Over Fate, while 4-5 favorite Workaholic wound up sixth of eight after stumbling at the start.
“We’ve been very pleased with her from Day One,” Lynch said. “She just does everything right, very straightforward. She just tries hard every time. Trevor found his way through there. To me, he’s a difference-maker. We’ve been very lucky together. I always appreciate a good ride, and I thought that was a very good ride. We’re delighted.”
Belial broke from Post 1 and found herself trailing all but two horses while saving ground as 50-1 long shot Channing Road went a quarter-mile in 23.16 seconds and a half in 46.89. McCarthy was able to work his way off the rail around the turn as Olive Kat took over the lead but drifted to the center of the track. Belial came with a steady drive and had room between Olive Kat and Destiny Over Fate on the inside to prevail.
Purchased for $25,000 as a 2-year-old in training in April, Belial owns two wins, three seconds and a third from seven career starts. In her prior race, she raced far back before launching a six-wide rally to finish second by 1 ½ lengths in the six-furlong Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 20 at Laurel.
“She wants to go a lot further. This was the first time we got to go seven-eighths. She was flying at the finish in the Maryland Million,” Lynch said. “She’s run hard a lot this fall. I don’t know how many more times we’ll run her this year. We might give her a little break. We’ll see how she comes back and go from there.”
Live Oak Plantation homebred Souper Escape, racing two furlongs longer than her Oct. 12 unveiling, swept to the lead on the far outside entering the stretch and pulled clear to a 3 ½-length maiden special weight victory in Saturday’s opener.
Ridden by Julian Pimentel for trainer Michael Trombetta, Souper Escape ($7.40) ran one mile in 1:37.57. The 2-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly was fifth as the favorite going six furlongs in debut.
Nightlife set fractions of 22.69 and 45.58 seconds with Souper Escape tracking in the clear to her outside. Pimentel cruised up to the leader on the turn and met no resistance while going past and opening up through the lane. Even-money favorite China Cat got up late to be second.
“She’s a very nice filly. We like her very much,” Pimentel said. “We knew that stretching her out today was going to be the difference. She showed up today.”
Notes: McCarthy swept the late daily double to give him three wins on the afternoon. In addition to Belial, he was first with Moon Virginia ($21.60) in the third race and Joy Drive ($3.80) in the ninth … There will be a carryover of $751.63 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Sunday’s nine-race program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Tickets with five of six winners Saturday were worth $187.90.
