Race 2: Clm $12.5k F&M 6F
1st: #6 Bagels and Lox, terrific name, don’t love taking horses against winners for the first time, but that maiden breaking win last out was pretty convincing, winning by 3 open lengths. The Beyer improvement is solid and she should win with continued improvement today. A lot to like with the last two drills.
2nd: #9 Very Charming, will be her fourth try against winners, even Beyers of late.
3rd: #2 Paz the Wine, broke her maiden locally, first attempt against winners will be a strong step forward, will need to improve.
Race 3: The Heft Stakes $100k 2 Year Olds 7F
1st: #2 Win Win Win, extremely tough decision putting this one on top, Trombetta colt looks like a real good one as he’s 2-2 and got a 101 DRF Speed Rating (fastest 5.5F time in last 3 years locally by 1/5th). Gets added distance but based on last out that appears to be no problem. We’ll see if he can avoid a speed duel with Always Mining.
2nd: #1 Always Mining, tough decision, the last for this one was terrific where he earned a career best 81 Beyer and won by 2 at this distance. Love the improvement at end of 2 year old campaign and has 3 wins locally. 10 length win two back is probably an outgrowth of the wet track that day, still a good effort.
3rd: #6 Press Virginia, never discount a John Servis horse shipping down to Laurel, this one looks live in 2 wins from 2 tries up in Pennsylvania. Will face much tougher field than he has yet and the Beyer would need to improve.
Race 4: MdSpWt $44k Two Year Olds 6F
1st: #6 Going for Gold, Ham Smith trains this nice looking one who debuted excellently earning a 71 Beyer and a second place finish by just a neck. Any improvement at all wins this one, and the drills are decent.
2nd: #4 Higher Purpose, steps up in class from the claiming ranks out of the always strong Tom Morley barn. We’ll see if his stamina has improved, has problems finishing at 6F.
3rd: #5 Wendell Fong, first time starter out of the Englehart barn, a $160k buy at Keeneland September last year, excellent slate of published works up in NY. Englehart winning 17% with debuters.
Race 5: The Jennings Stakes $75k 1M
1st: #3 Rockinn on Bye, last out second place finish in the Bender Stakes was a phenomenal effort as he was just edged by Laurel wiz Laki while earning a sizzling 93 Beyer and a 103 DRF Speed Rating. Sent out by Gonzalez.
2nd: #7 Sonny Inspired, 5th place finish in the Bender Stakes suits him well and was ran off his feet with a blistering pace in his two back. 4 back he won the Find Stakes beating John Jones also entered here.
3rd: #2 John Jones, how can you not mention this one who is the two-time defending champ of this sweepstakes. 8 for 19 locally, an obvious threat here.
Race 6: Gin Talking Stakes $100k 2 Year Olds F&M 7F
1st: #1 Our Super Freak, you’re not going to see the 12-1ML this one received after the recent two absolutely brilliant workouts locally 58 and 3 and 57 and 2 both in the last two weeks. Ness backed off this one a bit after she ran well in the Smart Halo Stakes finishing second to Congrats Gal. If workouts are any key it has given her some juice back in her legs, she’s ready to win.
2nd: #9 Please Flatter Me, tough post position for this shipper down from Pen but all she’s done in her short career is win and the Beyer figs are respectable. Going to face much stronger competition today.
3rd: #7 Enjay’s Brass, Trombetta thought highly enough of this one to try the G3 Tempted Stakes at Aqu two back. Came back from that with a strong win locally at the OC$50k level.
Race 7: The Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes $100k F&M 1M
1st:#4 Sower, this 3 year old shipping down out of the Linda Rice barn has had a terrific season including two most recent tries in open stakes company in New York winning the Pumpkin Pie over a sloppy track and 3rd in the Garland of Roses Stakes, both times earning Beyers in the 90s.
2nd: #6 Forever Liesl, coming off her two highest career Beyers an 81 and 86 respectively including the last out second place finish in the G3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap to Theresa Z who is a very accomplished stakes winner.
3rd: #12 Timeless Curls, I left this one out of my trifecta mistakenly in his last out and he won at 10-1 making it 3 wins in a row. Must include in all exotics.
Race 8: The Dave’s Friend $100k 6F
1st: #5 Laki, previously mentioned in this post, The Laurel Wizard winner of 7 of 10 tries here with 3 seconds, won the Bender Stakes last out beating the fastest time in the past 3 years locally by 4 tenths of a second. Two back earned a 98 Beyer in the G3 DeFrancis Stakes finishing second. The one to beat.
2nd: #7 Colonel Sharp, earned a 94 Beyer in last out win locally, was just 3 lengths behind Laki in the G3 DeFrancis. McMahon barn always potent.
3rd: #2 Altissimo, have been burned by these midwestern ringers my whole life. Obvious ability with eye-popping figures and multiple wins this year. The fact is the competition faced at Mahoning Valley and Thistledown is just not strong enough so the numbers get inflated. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him win here, but most likely one to round out your exotics.
Race 9: The Politely Stakes $75k F&M 6F
1st: #3 Crabcakes, how can you pick against this one who is 3 for 4 this year and a whopping 7 for 9 at Laurel in her career. Two time winner on Maryland Million day, the Beyers are superior. 4-5ML is not pretty and it will likely get worse by post time.
2nd: #2 She’s Achance Too, a good long shot try for my value bettors out there, this one was coming off 4 wins in a row when she lost to Timeless Curls, my 3rd place pick in the 7th today. Was 7th that day but only by 2 lengths in a tremendous field. 15-1ML is pretty but think she’ll go off under 10-1.
3rd: #4 Elevated Vision, like patterns like this: lightly raced three year old coming off decent first-off freshening effort on a track she likes. 2 for 3 locally. She should help those exotic plays.
Race 10: Clm $5k F&M 6F
1st: #10 When It Reigns, she broke her maiden bigly here at the $16k level last December. She was freshened for nearly a year when Robb brought her back with a solid effort getting 3rd by just a length at this condition over a sloppy track. A little improvement should win this one.
2nd: #7 Girl Drama, Gonzalez sends this one away after a decent first effort in her first for his barn coming in from California. She Beyered 60 in her maiden-breaking win at Del Mar this summer. Claudio magic?
3rd: #6 Expect Wonderful, has decent efforts at the MdSpWt level here, should improve second time facing winners.