American Pharoah Filly Entered to Make Career Debut Friday
Live Racing Returns Thursday with 10 Races, Rainbow 6 Carryover
Laurel Park to Host Rosé on the Rail Event Saturday, July 28

LAUREL, MD – His connections are hoping their patience pays off for Kathleen Willier’s stakes-winning juvenile Scrap Copper, entered to make his eagerly awaited 3-year-old debut in Thursday’s eighth race at Laurel Park.

The bay Maryland-bred son of Great Notion drew outside Post 8 in the $45,000 second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 6 ½ furlongs on the main track that was brought back after the July 20 program was cancelled due to extreme heat.

First race post time is 1:10 p.m.

Trevor McCarthy is named to ride Scrap Copper at co-low weight of 117 pounds. Eight of the nine horses from Saturday’s race return, including 2018 Challedon Stakes winner Old Time Revival, second in last year’s Gotham (G3); Parade of Nations, an eight-time winner at Laurel Park; Mr. Brix, winner of the Caixa Eletronica Stakes in March at Aqueduct; and multiple stakes-placed Tybalt, the other 3-year-old in the field.

“We’ve got to get him started somewhere,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “He’s doing fine. His works have been good and everything. Knock on wood, hopefully everything will turn out all right. He’s training well.”

Scrap Copper’s return is scheduled nearly a year to the day after his debut victory in the slop at Laurel over a pair of next-out winners. He got beat a nose in his subsequent start, the Laurel Futurity on grass, then lost all chance after stumbling badly out of the gate and finishing seventh as the favorite in the Maryland Million Nursery.

Smith wheeled Scrap Copper back in three weeks for the James F. Lewis III Stakes, where he rebounded to beat Nursery winner Follow the Dog by three-quarters of a length. Favored again in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity Dec. 8, he was third after a troubled trip behind stakes winners Alwaysmining and Our Braintrust.

“He had a great year. He lost the grass race by a whisker and he fell to his nose in the Maryland Million race and I think he would have been right there in that one had he not done that,” Smith said. “The only one he had no excuse in was the last one when he finished third, but he ran up against some good horses and that’s the race he came out of with the injury, so he might have had an excuse after all. With a little bit of luck, he might have been undefeated as a 2-year-old.”

Scrap Copper emerged from the Futurity with a fracture that required surgery and a patient recovery. He didn’t have a timed work until mid-June and since then shows five breezes at Laurel, three of them bullets, the most recent a five-furlong move in 1:00.60 July 20.

“When you work him and you put him on the fence, he really wants to rock and roll with it. So far, we’ve got no complaints and no problems,” Smith said. “It looks like he came off his injury and everything that he had last year in pretty good shape.”

Smith, 74, is closing in on a career milestone, sitting 25 wins away from his 2,000th. Scrap Copper’s performance Thursday will give his connections an idea of how to proceed for the second half of the year.

“We’ll see how he does and how he comes out of this one and then look ahead after that. We’ve got all the Maryland-bred stuff coming up in the fall. If everything holds together and he comes back like he was last year, we should be in good shape,” Smith said. “We’re glad to have him back, I can tell you that.”

American Pharoah Filly Entered to Make Career Debut Friday

Alex G. Campbell’s Bernadette the Jet, a chestnut daughter of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, is set to make her career debut in Friday’s eighth race at Laurel Park, a $40,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies going 5 ½ furlongs on the Kelso turf course.

Out of the Saint Ballado mare Saint Bernadette, Graham Motion-trained Bernadette the Jet fetched $425,000 at Keeneland’s September 2018 yearling sale. She was purchased by Campbell after failing to meet her $485,000 reserve at Fasig-Tipton’s 2-year-old in training sale in March at Gulfstream Park.

“She’s a horse we bought privately after the sale in Florida. She’s a filly that’s handled the dirt and handled the synthetic, so we’re in on the grass on Friday but we’ll run either way. Even if it were to come off the grass, I’d still run her,” Motion said. “I often like to start my 2-year-olds on the grass just because I think it’s a little bit easier on them. They don’t get all the kickback.”

Bernadette the Jet drew Post 2 in a field that attracted an overflow field of 13, with 2018 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Weston Hamilton named to ride. She has worked steadily since mid-May at Fair Hill Training Center for her unveiling, most recently firing a bullet five furlongs in 1:01.60 over its main track July 20.

“She’s kind of done everything since we bought her pretty forwardly. She’s a little bit on the small side. She’s still developing but she’s done everything professionally enough,” Motion said. “I haven’t missed any time with her.”

Bernadette the Jet is a half-sister to Social Inclusion, third in the Preakness (G1), Wood Memorial (G1) and Woody Stephens (G2) in 2014, and Road to Damascus, placed third in the 2018 Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park. She is among the first crop of American Pharoah’s offspring to race.

“Obviously that was part of the appeal. There was quite a lot of hype around the American Pharoahs when we bought her. It’s interesting that they seem to be running well on the grass; I guess it wouldn’t be a complete surprise with American Pharoah’s pedigree,” Motion said. “She’s precocious enough. She may need a race; a lot of my horses do first time out, but certainly she’s fit and ready to go.”

Motion was also pleased with the effort of Skeedattle Stable’s Just Howard, Maryland’s champion 3-year-old, turf horse and Horse of the Year in 2017. The 5-year-old snapped a hard-luck five-race losing streak with a gutsy head victory over two-time Grade 1 winner and fellow Fair Hill resident Divisidero in the Oceanport (G3) July 20 at Monmouth Park.

“That was neat. I was really happy for him,” Motion said. “He’s such a cool horse, and he deserved to win. He ran very hard, too.”

It was the fourth career stakes triumph for Just Howard and first since he became a graded winner in the 2017 Commonwealth Derby (G3) at Laurel to cap a four-race win streak. Motion said the son of turf champion English Channel may return to Laurel for a third straight try at the $75,000 Find Stakes, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 17.

Just Howard won the 1 1/16-mile Find for Maryland-bred/sired horses 3 and up in 2017 and finished eighth last year when the race was rained off the grass and onto the main track.

“We had always planned on running in the [Find],” Motion said. “We haven’t discussed that since we won the other day, but right now I would stay that’s probably still in the cards.”

Live Racing Returns Thursday with 10 Races, Rainbow 6 Carryover

Following a two-day cancellation due to extreme heat conditions, live racing returns to Laurel Park for the first time since July 19 with 10-race programs Thursday and Friday, July 25 and 26, each starting at 1:10 p.m.

There will be a carryover jackpot of $3,494.43 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which spans Races 5-10 Thursday. The sequence opens with a pair of $42,000 allowance events for 3-year-olds and up, one on dirt and one on turf, and includes featured Race 8 marking the season debut of juvenile stakes winner Scrap Copper.

In addition to the debut of American Pharoah filly Bernadette the Jet in Race 8, Friday’s program will see the return to Maryland of Jamie Ness-owned and trained Our Super Freak in a $45,000 optional claiming allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up going six furlongs in Race 4. Our Super Freak has finished second or third in six stakes dating back to last fall, five of them at Laurel. Her two most recent races have come at Delaware Park, including a second in the Light Hearted Stakes June 5.

In all, 10 races have been scheduled over Laurel’s world-class turf course Thursday (six) and Friday (four), drawing a total of 133 entries, an average of 13.3 starters per race. Horses will race over the Kelso and Fort Marcy course layouts.

Laurel Park to Host Rosé on the Rail Saturday, July 28

Wine tasting and Thoroughbred racing will be in fashion when Laurel Park hosts its inaugural Rosé on the Rail event Saturday, July 28.

Located in the grandstand’s Apron Tent Lounge, Rosé on the Rail runs from 1-5 p.m. alongside a full card of live Thoroughbred racing, which begins at 1:10 p.m.

The rosé tasting bar will feature a dazzling selection of wines, sparkling varietals and decadent cocktails to sip and savor, while offering prime picture opportunities with horses just feet away or champagne bottle photo wall and photo booth.

General admission to Rosé on the Rail is $28 and includes free entrance to Laurel Park, racing program and special tip sheet, six rosé tastings and a souvenir Rosé on the Rail wine glass. Upgrade to a $40 ticket to add a special rosé-inspired Bento box of delectable bites.

Attendees must be 21 or older, lounge seating is available on a first come-first served basis for both ticket levels, and a race day chic dress code is required. The event will be held rain or shine.

For more information or to purchase tickets, click here: Click here for Rosé on the Rail information and tickets