Undefeated Filly Never Enough Time Headed for Stakes Debut
Motion Targeting Preakness Weekend Stakes with Pair of Colts
Rainbow 6 Carryover at $38,488 for Thursday Return of Live Racing

LAUREL, MD – Starting with Thursday’s card, Laurel Park’s jockey colony will begin using cushioned riding crops in all races.

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The 360GT (gentle touch) crop, designed by Hall of Fame jockey Ramon Dominguez, has a larger, cushioned padding at the end designed to have less impact on horses. Laurel’s riders got a chance to get acquainted with the new crops during the special Easter Monday program.

“It looks almost like a big cat-tail. It’s got a big cushion on the end of it. It’s almost like a very spongy material,” said meet-leading rider Trevor McCarthy, Maryland’s winningest rider in 2014 and 2016.   

“To me, it’s different. It’s something new. I like it. I think it’s very good for the horses,” he added. “This is something very important for our game, for the protection of our horses and the jockeys, so I’m pretty excited to start using it.”

McCarthy leads Laurel’s spring meet with 15 wins and $535,748 in purse earnings with 54 mounts. The spring meet runs through Sunday, May 5.

Undefeated Filly Never Enough Time Headed for Stakes Debut

Mike Trombetta, leading trainer of Laurel Park’s current spring meet whose Kentucky Derby (G1) contender, Win Win Win, was scheduled to arrive in Kentucky Wednesday, is thinking big with another one of his promising 3-year-olds.

Trombetta said R. Larry Johnson’s undefeated homebred filly Never Enough Time will likely make her next start against graded-stakes company after crushing the competition in her second career outing April 14 at Laurel.

“She broke her maiden first time out, and then she came back and won the allowance race. Both times, she won by quite a few,” Trombetta said. “She’s good. This kind of accelerates her now; it’s into the big leagues. We’ll probably target the Miss Preakness. If she’s up for that level of competition and how that races shapes up, we’ll see.”

The $150,000 Adena Springs Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs is one of seven stakes, four graded, worth $1.15 million in purses on the 95th Xpressbet Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Day program Saturday, May 17 at legendary Pimlico Race Course.

Part of Trombetta’s string at Laurel, where he tops the trainer standings with eight wins from 23 starters (35 percent), Never Enough Time is a Maryland-bred daughter of multiple graded-stakes winning sprinter Munnings out of the Partner’s Hero mare What Time It Is.

Trombetta trained the dam, also bred and owned by Johnson, to six wins and more than $221,000 in purses from 26 starts, finishing third in three stakes and second in the 2006 Gin Talking at Laurel in her career debut.

“She’s trained real good here, and she looks good,” Trombetta said. “I wouldn’t run her against older horses at this time of year. She’s got two races under her; I’ll train to [the Miss Preakness] and see. It gives us a month to work with.”

Unraced at 2, Never Enough Time debuted with a front-running 5 ¼-length maiden special weight triumph over a muddy, sealed track on a snowy March 3 at Laurel. Still a bit green, she returned to win by 5 ½ lengths while in hand under Julian Pimentel, also in gate-to-wire fashion.

“Her second race was seven-eighths. That wasn’t what I was desiring … but she was good enough to do it,” Trombetta said. “She’ll have stuff down further in the calendar that would be Maryland-bred, but right now she’s off to a good start.”

Motion Targeting Preakness Weekend Stakes with Pair of Colts

Kentucky Derby winner Graham Motion, who swept the two one-mile turf stakes on Laurel’s Spring Stakes Spectacular program April 20, has designs on Preakness weekend stakes for at least two of his recent runners.

Still Dreaming, a 3-year-old half-brother to 2016 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, was a determined nose winner over Bozzini in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance April 13, his second win from five starts, both victories coming over Laurel’s main track.

On the same card, just over an hour later, Flying the Flag was beaten by the same margin in a second-level optional claiming allowance going one mile. West Point Thoroughbreds shares ownership in both colts, with Chris Larsen and Chester Thoroughbreds, respectively.

“Oh my gosh. I won a race that I never thought we won, and we lost one by about the same margin. It actually happened to me quite a bit [that day], not just at Laurel but across the country,” Motion said. “But, that’s the way it goes. They ran well and I was very pleased with them.”

Still Dreaming, by Flatter, broke his maiden Jan. 1 at Laurel and finished seventh in the Sam F. Davis (G3) in his subsequent start at Tampa Bay Downs. Prior to his allowance win, he ran fifth behind Preakness (G1)-bound Alwaysmining – a winner of six straight races, five in stakes – in the March 16 Private Terms.

“That was exciting. I give Erin [Birkenhauer] credit from West Point,” Motion said. “We had discussed shortening him up because he had been disappointing in the two-turn races, so I think we’ll probably point him to the Chick Lang now.”

The $200,000 Chick Lang for 3-year-olds going six furlongs, promoted to Grade 3 status for 2019, is among nine stakes, five graded, worth $2.65 million on the 144th Preakness Day program Saturday, May 18 at Pimlico.

Flying the Flag, 4, has yet to make his stakes debut. The son of Malibu Moon has finished first or second in five of his six lifetime races, two of them wins - a maiden special weight second time out Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs and an open allowance going 1 1/16 miles Feb. 10 at Laurel.

“Flying the Flag ran a big race the other day, and I might point him to the Pimlico Special,” Motion said. “He just got beat in the two-other-than. I thought that was a big step up for him, too. He’s been a very consistent horse for West Point.”

The historic $300,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, extended from 1 3/16 miles to 1 ¼ miles for 2019, will be run May 17 at Pimlico.

Motion won the $100,000 Henry S. Clark Stakes with Irish Strait and the $100,000 Dahlia Stakes with Secret Message April 20. He leads all trainers at Laurel’s spring meet with $230,615 in purse earnings from just 15 starters.          

Rainbow 6 Carryover at $38,488 for Thursday Return of Live Racing

Live racing returns to Laurel Park Thursday, April 25 with a nine-race program featuring a carryover jackpot of $38,488.88 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6.

Thursday’s card includes four races over Laurel’s world-class turf course which attracted a total of 43 entrants, an average of 10.75 starters per race. Thursday will mark the first time since turf season started last weekend that races will be conducted over the Bowl Game and Exceller course layouts.

Three of those grass races (Races 5, 7, 8) come during the Rainbow 6 sequence, which spans Races 4-9 and is highlighted by Race 6, a $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up that features 2019 Harrison Johnson Memorial and 2018 Jennings Stakes winner Cordmaker; 2018 Maryland Million Classic winner Saratoga Bob; 2017 Howard Bender Memorial and Hockessin Stakes winner Struth; and Rockinn On Bye, second or third in 38 of 68 career starts with seven wins, most recently third in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes April 20.

There will also be a carryover of $1,137.31 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Thursday’s opener, a $33,000 maiden claiming event for 3-year-olds and up. First race post time is 1:10 p.m.