Trainer Has a 'Notion' in $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery
Trainer Has a 'Notion' in $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery
Undefeated Street Lute Tops $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie
LAUREL, MD – Louis J. Ulman and Neil Glasser’s Kenny Had a Notion, a runaway stakes winner on the grass last out, wheels back in two weeks and returns to the main track for his latest assignment in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery at Laurel Park.
The Nursery for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Lassie for 2-year-old fillies, both at six furlongs, are among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 35th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.
First race post time is 11:25 a.m. The headliner comes in Race 11, the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up featuring historic Pimlico Special (G3) winner Harpers First Ride and fellow stakes winners Cordmaker, Monday Morning Qb and Top Line Growth.
A son of Great Notion, the Maryland Million’s leading active sire with 13 winners, Kenny Had a Notion hails from the barn of Dale Capuano, who leads all Maryland Million trainers with 11 wins. In all, Great Notion is represented by four horses in the Nursery including Kenny Had a Notion’s stablemate, Alwaysinahurry.
Kenny Had a Notion was a determined head winner of his maiden special weight debut July 30 at Delaware Park going six furlongs, then cut back to 5 ½ for the First State Dash there Sept. 26, contested over a sloppy track. Capuano brought him back in 13 days for the Jamestown Stakes, a 5 ½-furlong turf dash for Virginia-breds Oct. 9 at Laurel, where he romped by five lengths as the favorite.
“He’s a real big horse. He won the first time and he ran a pretty good race,” Capuano said. “Five and a half [furlongs] is a bit short for him and in the Delaware [stakes] race it was a speed-biased day and he really didn’t have much shot, but I didn’t think he ran that bad. In the last race against Virginia-breds, it was pretty easy for him. The competition wasn’t all that tough and he did it pretty easily, and he came out of it good so we’ll give him a try in this race.”
Jorge Ruiz, up in the Jamestown, gets the return call from Post 10.
Mopo Racing’s Alwaysinahurry raced four times with two seconds and a third before graduating in a front-running 5 ¼-length maiden claiming victory going the Nursery distance Sept. 30 at Delaware. He was fourth in his lone try at Laurel, a maiden special weight event Aug. 7 that also produced fellow Nursery rivals Ain’t Da Beer Cold, Depository and San Antone, who respectively ran 1-2-3, and Ladneedsahandler.
“The last race was his first time as a gelding and I think that made a big difference for him,” Capuano said. “He’d always showed promise but he always disappointed me because he never ran up to his potential, I didn’t think. His last race was a bit easier race but he ran pretty fast and he did it right, so he deserves a chance to see how good he is.”
Alex Cintron rides Alwaysinahurry from Post 4.
One of seven horses in the field with previous stakes experience, No Guts No Glory Farm’s Moochie is only the filly taking on males in the Nursery. A gate-to-wire winner of her June 29 debut at Delaware sprinting five furlongs on the dirt, she ran last of seven in the Colleen turf sprint stakes Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park.
“She had a real bad experience at Monmouth. She didn’t want to load and was sitting behind the gate, then broke through the gate, and then didn’t want to run in the race or the jock was afraid of her at that point, I’m not sure,” trainer Jerry Robb said. “We’ve done a lot of work with her.”
Robb’s stable rider Xavier Perez, aboard for her debut, returns from Post 6.
Hillwood Stable’s homebred Reassured will be making just his second start in the Nursery, exiting a runner-up finish Sept. 12 at Laurel where the Bandbox colt came with a five-wide run through the stretch. Jevian Toledo climbs back aboard from Post 3.
“We think the horse probably wants more ground in the future, but he’s really stepped forward from his first run,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “It’s definitely not my style to want to run a maiden in a stake, but he’s just trained so well since we figured he deserves a shot.”
Completing the main body of the field are Sky’s Not Falling, placed in four straight stakes in Virginia, New York, Canada and Pennsylvania for trainer Mike Trombetta; Tiz Golden, What the Flash, Katie’s Notion and Treasure Tradition. Singlino, Jaxon Traveler and Hunter Joe are the Maryland-bred also eligibles.
Undefeated Street Lute Tops $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie
Lucky 7 Stables’ stakes winner Street Lute, undefeated through two starts, puts her perfect record on the line in the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie.
A chestnut daughter of Street Magician out of the Midnight Lute mare Alottalute, Street Lute was bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman and Dr. Brooke Bowman. Her two wins, both coming at Delaware Park, have been by six combined lengths.
“She hasn’t done anything wrong yet, that’s for sure,” trainer Jerry Robb said. Robb previously won the Lassie with Ameri Allen in 1990 and Carnirainbow in 1992, when the Maryland Million was held at Pimlico Race Course, and Jonesin for Jerry in 2013.
Street Lute captured her unveiling by a length over next-out winner Spirited Beauty at odds of 9-1 Sept. 7 with a wide move past the eighth pole in the five-furlong maiden special weight sprint. Sent off as the favorite in the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder Stakes Sept. 26, she caught a sloppy track but led at every call to win going away.
“Her first start I didn’t think she was quite ready yet and she surprised me by winning,” Robb said. “The second time I thought she would run a lot better because she really wasn’t ready the first time, and she did.”
Street Lute has showed versatility in just two starts, relaxing behind a horse in debut prior to her front-running triumph. Delaware-based Brian Pedroza comes in to ride for the third straight race from Post 4.
“She can go both ways, either lay close or be in front,” Robb said. “She’s a nice filly.”
Robb’s fingerprints are also on Herman Braude’s Trip to Freedom, a Freedom Child filly he purchased for $1,000 last fall out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic fall yearling sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, where he went to $10,500 for Street Lute. Trip to Freedom debuted with a front-running nine-length maiden claiming victory Oct. 17 at Laurel for trainer Richard Sillaman.
“She ran huge the other day,” Robb said. “She should be tough in there.”
Maiden winners Proper Attire, Unrequited Love, Fearless Ideas and Miss Nondescript; maiden Closertotheheart, racing third time for trainer Graham Motion; and first-time starter Heartful are also entered with Buckey’s Charm, Breeze Off the Bay and Oil On Canvas – all coming off victories – as Maryland-bred also-eligibles.
