Trainer Capuano Targets Laurel Saturday Stakes Sweep
Trainer Capuano Targets Laurel Saturday Stakes Sweep
Seeks First 2016 Victory for Stakes Winner Lexington Street in $75,000 Politely
Sends Out Stakes-Placed Final Prospect in $75,000 Challedon
LAUREL, MD – Gary Capuano, off to a strong start at Laurel Park’s fall meet to rank among the leading trainers, looks to maintain his early momentum with starters in each of the two stakes that highlight Saturday’s 10-race program.
Capuano has stakes-placed Final Prospect entered in the $75,000 Challedon for non-winners of a sweepstakes age 3 and up, and stakes winner Lexington Street in the $75,000 Politely for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and older.
Both races will be contested over Laurel’s main track. The Challedon, named for the 1939 Preakness and Pimlico Special winner and Horse of the Year in 1939-40, is run at seven furlongs. The Politely, which honors the Maryland-bred multiple stakes-winning mare who raced from 1965-68, is run at six furlongs.
Laurel-based Capuano owns three wins through the first nine days of the Laurel meet, tied for second in the standings, and has finished in the top three with seven of his first 12 starters (58 percent) including Lexington Street, the 2015 Maryland Million Lassie winner that was third as the 8-5 favorite in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance on opening day Sept. 9.
The race was just the second start of 2016 for Marathon Farms, Inc.’s Lexington Street, a daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense who made her 3-year-old debut running fifth over a sloppy, sealed track Aug. 12 at Laurel.
“I put her in there. I’m going to take a look at the race. She’s just coming back and had a couple races. Her first race was kind of a throw out. It was in the slop and if it comes up pretty muddy I don’t know whether I’ll run her or not,” Capuano said.
“She ran decent last time. She didn’t much out of her first race because the track was wet and she didn’t get a hold of it too good,” he added. “Her last race was more like her first race back but she’s improved. She’s getting there; it takes a little time for her to get back into a rhythm.”
Lexington Street was first or second in her five starts at 2, winning three straight including the six-furlong Lassie last October and capping her campaign as the runner-up in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies Championship Dec. 26.
Regular rider Jevian Toledo will be aboard from Post 4 of eight at 115 pounds, five pounds fewer than co-topweights Candida H., Lovable Lady and Outwithbigdaddy.
Lovable Lady moves back to the dirt for the Politely after extending her win streak to two races with a 10-1 upset in the six-furlong Jameela Stakes on turf during Laurel’s Maryland Pride Day program Aug. 20. It was only the second grass start for the 5-year-old Not For Love mare, who won a six-furlong optional claiming allowance over Pimlico’s main track June 18. Horacio Karamanos gets the return call from post 3.
Candida H. has made three starts since winning the seven-furlong Conniver Stakes Jan. 30 at Laurel, finishing sixth after stalking the pace in the 1 1/8-mile All Brandy on turf June 25 last time out. Outwithbigdaddy is a winner of two of her last three races, including the six-furlong Tax Free Shopping Distaff Sept. 10 at Delaware.
Rounding out the Politely field are 2015 Geisha winner Brenda’s Way; stakes-placed My Magician; Deliver Me, sixth in the Jameela in her most recent stakes appearance; and Street Cruizer.
Non Stop Stable homebred Final Prospect enters the Challedon off the New Castle Stakes Sept. 10 at Delaware where he broke poorly and was bumped at the start, had to regather his momentum after being forced to check in the stretch and wound up third, beaten just a half-length, but was placed second via the disqualification of runner-up Cinco Charlie.
“It was a short field and he got in a lot of trouble. He stumbled coming out of the gate and he got caught up in a jackpot there in the stretch and had to come out of there and then regroup. He ran a great race. He ran a winning race, it’s just unfortunate he didn’t win. It happens,” Capuano said. “He came out of it well and he’s going into this race good so we’ll give it a shot.”
A gelded 4-year-old bay son of Jump Start, Final Prospect ran fourth in a pair of stakes during Laurel’s winter meet as well as the Maryland Juvenile Futurity in 2014. That same year he was third in the First State Dash Stakes in his second lifetime start.
“He’s a pretty decent horse. He trains well and he runs well,” Capuano said. “He’s had a few chances [to win stakes]. He’s had a couple of decent shots at it and ran some good races; he just needs a little bit of luck and he needs to run a big race, obviously. He runs fairly consistent all the time so we’ll give him another chance.”
Final Prospect will carry 118 pounds including Toledo from Post 1 in a field of 10.
Third in four of his previous seven stakes attempts, including the Maryland Sprint Handicap (G3) at odds of 54-1 on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard May 21, Stephen Ferguson’s Rockinn On Bye returns to a familiar surface and distance in the Challedon.
Trained by Stephen Casey, the 5-year-old Rock Hard Ten gelding’s past three Laurel starts dating back to May 1 have come in turf sprints, finishing a troubled eighth in the Mister Diz Aug. 20 in his most recent start. His last try over Laurel’s main track was a 2 ¼-length victory going seven furlongs last November.
GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm’s Mylute cuts back to seven furlongs for just the third time in his 31st career start in the Challedon. The 6-year-old son of champion sprinter Midnight Lute, now trained by Ralph Nicks, was fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and third in the Preakness (G1) in 2013 and is coming off a fourth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Seattle Slew Sept. 10 at Belmont Park.
Meet-leading rider Trevor McCarthy will be aboard Mylute from Post 7 at the 122-pound highweight they share with multiple graded stakes-placed The Truth Or Else.
Maryland Sprint Handicap runner-up All Star Red; Pimlico Special (G3) show finisher Warrioroftheroses; Connemara Coast, impressive front-running third-level allowance winner July 10 at Laurel in his only 2016 start; stakes-placed Big Guy Ian; and Chief Istan are also entered.
