$100,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes Tops Feb. 18 Holiday Program
Rockinn On Bye Chasing Elusive Stakes Win in General George (G3)
My Cousin Martha Tries Graded Company in Barbara Fritchie (G3)

LAUREL, MD – Analysts Richard Migliore and Ashley Mailloux preview Saturday’s $800,000 Winter Carnival Day at Laurel Park, highlighted by the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3) and $250,000 General George (G3).
   
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The 10-race program, with a first race post of 12:30 p.m., also includes the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds, the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies, and the $100,000 John B Campbell for 4-year-olds and up.

$100,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes Tops Feb. 18 Holiday Program

Stakes winners Isotope, Indy’s Lady and Timeless Curls are among a field of eight set to line up in the $100,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes on a special XX-race Presidents Day holiday program Monday, Feb. 18 at Laurel Park.

The 29th running of the Maryland Racing Media for fillies and mares 4 and older going about 1 1/16 miles will go off as Race 5. First race post time is 12:30 p.m.

Acqua Nova Stable’s Isotope has won three of her last four starts since joining trainer Jeremiah Englehart’s Maryland string last fall, the only loss coming by a head to Timeless Curls in a third-level optional claiming allowance Nov. 29. Her wins, all at one mile, have come by a combined 12 ¾ lengths.

    “She’s been doing really well,” Englehart said, “so, hopefully, she can put forth another good effort. We’re going two turns this time … but I think she’s one that’s been able to handle distance in the past so hopefully she can run her race and that race is good enough.”

Jockey Jorge Vargas Jr. will climb back aboard from Post 6 for Isotope’s 5-year-old debut. She capped 2018 by coming up the rail to capture the Thirty Eight Go Go Dec. 29, her first career stakes victory.

“She seems to really get over that track nice,” Englehart said. “I thought last time wasn’t really an ideal trip for her. The only thing I told Jorge before the race is she likes to be in the clear, and he was on the fence the whole way with horses outside of him and she ran well, so it was a pleasant surprise.”

Orlando DiRienzo and Southfield Farm’s Indy’s Lady won New York-bred stakes in her first and third career starts during the fall of 2017 at Finger Lakes, and didn’t visit the winner’s circle again until her 1 ¾-length score in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Dec. 26 at Laurel. Angel Suarez, up for that win, gets a return call on the 4-year-old Take Charge Indy filly from Post 4.

“She’s always been a really nice filly,” Englehart said. “She trains pretty straight-forward and she runs pretty straight-forward, other than a couple of times. We’re going to give her a try in this race and see how she handles it.”

Sookdeen Pasram’s Timeless Curls has won four straight and five of six dating back to last summer for trainer Dale Capuano, who also entered the 4-year-old daughter of Hall of Famer Curlin in Saturday’s $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3) at seven furlongs.

Four of those wins have come at a mile or longer, two at the Maryland Racing Media distance, including a 3 ¾-length decision under Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Weston Hamilton in the Nellie Morse Stakes Jan. 12 to kick off her 2019 campaign. Hamilton rides back from Post 8.

“She ran very well last time. She did everything the way we hoped she would,” Capuano said. “She’s gotten versatile so we can press the pace like we did that day. Wes eased her back and then she finished strong. She’s won on the lead, off the pace, inside, outside, in-between horses, so she’ll run pretty much anywhere. She’s been terrific for us thus far. No complaints with her.”

Timeless Curls never finished worse than third in nine career tries, five of them wins. The only loss during her recent streak came when she was second, beaten less than a length, in an entry-level optional claiming allowance going a mile and 70 yards Sept. 1 at Delaware Park.

“She got beat on a dead rail that day. She was down on the inside and no one was winning from in there,” Capuano said. “But, since then, she’s been pretty good. Hopefully she’ll be able to continue. She can’t win every time, I’m sure, but she’s been doing very well.

“She’s acting like a horse that’s getting better as she gets older, and it doesn’t seem like distance is too much of a problem for her either,” he added. “I’m kind of anxious to get her stretched out a little bit further and see how she does. I think she’ll be able to go a mile and eighth without much trouble, maybe a tad further. We’ll see.”

Completing the field are 2018 Wide Country Stakes winner Enchanted Ghost, 2019 Nellie Morse runner-up Mzima Springs; Saint Main Event, third in the 2018 All Brandy Stakes and riding a two-race win streak; Blue Union Rags and Sweet Maggie Mae.

Rockinn On Bye Chasing Elusive Stakes win in General George (G3)

Super C Racing’s Rockinn On Bye, second in each of his three starts since being claimed by Maryland’s leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez, will make his 65th career start seeking his first-ever stakes victory in the $250,000 General George (G3).

The 43rd running of the General George for 4-year-olds and up and the 67th renewal of the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3) for fillies and mares 4 and older, both at seven furlongs, co-headline a 10-race Winter Carnival program that features five stakes worth $800,000 in purses.

A trio of $100,000 stakes are also on tap – the one-mile Miracle Wood presented by Blackwell Real Estate for 3-year-olds and Wide Country at about 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies, and the 1 1/8-mile John B. Campbell presented by Fidelity First for 4-year-olds and up.

First race post time is 12:30 p.m.

In addition to live racing, Saturday’s program will include ice sculptures, an ice carving demonstration, an ice wall with $3,000 in prizes and Tech Glove giveaway with program purchase, while supplies last.

Rockinn On Bye has run in 28 stakes without a win, finishing second or third 20 times. The General George will be his first try against graded company since finishing ninth in the 2017 Maryland Sprint (G3). In 2016, the 8-year-old Rock Hard Ten gelding was second in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and third in the Maryland Sprint Handicap (G3).

Taken for $50,000 out of a third-place effort Nov. 4 at Laurel, Rockinn On Bye has been runner-up in three consecutive stakes, the last two coming against Maryland-breds at Laurel – the six-furlong Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Dec. 8 and the one-mile Jennings Dec. 29. The winners of those races, Laki and Cordmaker, respectively, are also entered in the General George.

Victor Carrasco has ridden in all three races for Gonzalez and has the mount again from Post 11 of 14 at 120 pounds, four fewer than topweight Something Awesome. Rockinn On Bye is listed at 15-1 on the morning line.

“I believe the distance is going to be perfect for him because all the time at six furlongs, he needs a little more. I gave him a little rest and he’s fresh and doing really good. He’s happy,” Gonzalez said. “It’s going to be tough. He’s going to have a lot of traffic because he comes from behind, but I think Victor is going to do a good job.”

Gonzalez also has Tybalt entered in the Miracle Wood and Grasshoppin in the Campbell. Michael Jester’s Grasshoppin, a multiple Pennsylvania-bred stakes winner, drew far outside Post 13, also under Carrasco, also at 15-1.

“The post position [hurts] because he has speed. We have to see if we have to rush a little or take a good position because the post is really tough,” Gonzalez said. “He’s doing good and he likes the track here, that’s why I put him in there.”

My Cousin Martha Tries Graded Company in Barbara Fritchie (G3)

My Cousin Martha, multiple stakes-placed at Gulfstream Park, will look to reward her new connections when she races for the first time outside of South Florida in the Barbara Fritchie.

Keith Crupper and Perry Harrison purchased My Cousin Martha, a 5-year-old daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, from previous owner-trainer Steve Dwoskin following her sixth-place finish in a one-mile optional claimer Jan. 16. She owns two wins, five seconds and two thirds from 16 career starts.

“The owners purchased her with this race in mind, usually because it comes up with a short field. Unfortunately for us, it came up this year with 11 and a Grade 1 winner, but she is multiple stakes-placed and it seems the seven-eighths will do her right,” trainer Peter Walder said. “She’s run good going seven-eighths before. I think the jock fits her like a glove, and going from warm to cool weather, sometimes that’s a little bit of an advantage.”

Julian Pimentel will ride from Post 6 in the Barbara Fritchie, where My Cousin Martha is rated at 30-1in the program. Grade 3 winner Late Night Pow Wow, on an eight-race win streak, is the 7-2 program favorite in a field that includes La Brea (G1) winner Spiced Perfection and defending champion Ms Locust Point.

My Cousin Martha has two seconds in five tries at seven furlongs, and her stakes ledger includes thirds in the Wasted Tears and Barely Even in back-to-back starts last summer, as well as a second in the 2016 Hut Hut, all at Gulfstream where Walder is based.

Walder was on hand to school My Cousin Martha in the paddock prior to Friday’s races at Laurel. The trainer’s last starter in Maryland was Double Entendre in the 2016 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at legendary Pimlico Race Course.

“As far as running in Laurel, it’s been a few years since I left Monmouth and Delaware,” he said, “not since we ran year-round back home [in Florida]. But, it’s great here and I have a lot of friends here like I do in Florida.”