G3 Winner Just Howard Targets Repeat in $75,000 Find
G3 Winner Just Howard Targets Repeat in $75,000 Find
Pair of Stakes Winners Top Full Field in $75,000 All Brandy
Class on the Grass’ Program Features Six Stakes, Four on Turf, Worth $650,000
LAUREL, MD – A triumphant return to his favorite track already completed, Skeedattle Associates’ Just Howard – Maryland’s 2017 Horse of the Year – goes about the business of rekindling his stakes success in the $75,000 Find at Laurel Park Saturday.
The Find for 3-year-olds and up and the 47th running of the $75,000 All Brandy for fillies and mares 3 and older, both at 1 1/16 miles over Laurel’s world-class turf course and restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses, are among six stakes worth $650,000 in purses on the 12-race ‘Class on the Grass’ program.
Highlighting the card are the $200,000 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) for 3-year-olds and up and inaugural $150,000 Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds, also on the grass. First race post time is 12:30 p.m.
A 4-year-old son of 2007 turf champion English Channel, Just Howard snapped a four-race losing streak – all in graded-stakes – with a 1 ¼-length win in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Aug. 9 at Laurel, contested over a yielding course.
It was the first victory for Just Howard since capping a four-race win streak in the Commonwealth Derby (G3) last fall at Laurel, where he owns four wins, one second and one third in seven career tries.
“I think anytime you get a horse’s nose in front, it’s got to help his confidence,” trainer Graham Motion said. “He’s handled soft turf and I think he’s training really well. We’ve kind of been pointing him to this for a while. I’m very happy with how he’s doing.”
Just Howard blossomed after breaking his maiden last spring at legendary Pimlico Race Course, reeling off three consecutive stakes wins including the 1 1/16-mile Caveat and the Find, run at 1 1/8 miles last year over a soft course. He ended 2017 finishing off the board in a pair of graded events in California, but was voted Maryland’s champion 3-year-old and grass horse in addition to Horse of the Year.
This year, Just Howard debuted finishing third in an off-the-turf edition of the Dixie (G3) on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1). He was rank early and wound up fifth, beaten two lengths, in the Arlington Handicap (G3) prior to his popular allowance win.
“He’d always trained well but I can’t tell you I thought he was this good when he was running in maiden races and knocking on the door. I was a little surprised it took him so long to break his maiden but once he did he sort of went to the next level,” Motion said. “At the end of last year we kind of threw him into the deep end a little bit with those 3-year-old stakes in California but I don’t think he’s that far from being competitive in open company in graded races. He trains like he’s a very good horse and I think he’s improved.”
Hillwood Stable’s multiple stakes winner Phlash Phelps will be making his third start this year and just his fourth in nearly two years in the Find, a race where he finished third by a half-length during the summer of 2016 at Pimlico.
The 7-year-old Great Notion gelding won the six-furlong Mister Diz Stakes in his lone start of 2017, missing the rest of the year with bruising in his cannon bones. This year he took a lead into the stretch but finished a game third in the Henry S. Clark Stakes on grass April 21 and an open allowance that was rained off the turf Aug. 3, both at one mile.
“If it stays on the turf or if it comes off, I still think in that race he’ll be tough. He’s training probably the best he’s trained in two years, so we’ll see,” trainer Rodney Jenkins said. “He’s always shown that versatility. He’s a neat horse.”
Winner of the Maryland Million Turf in 2015 and 2016, Phlash Phelps tuned up for the Find with a five-furlong work in 1:00 Sept. 21, the fastest of 14 on the day under regular rider Victor Carrasco, who will be back aboard Saturday.
“His last work I thought was real good. He went five-eighths in a minute and he was in hand that day. He worked like he’s supposed to. Victor was happy with it. He seemed to come out of the work very good so it’s about all we have to go on,” Jenkins said. “We’re trying to get him ready for the Maryland Million so this seems like a logical spot for him.”
The competitive Find field includes Spartianos, front-running winner of the 2017 Maryland Million Turf for trainer Michael Pino; multiple stakes winners John Jones, Sonny Inspired and O Dionysus, who is also a stakes winner on the dirt; Tizarunner, eighth in last year’s Find but a winner of his two other starts at Laurel; Dothat Dance, Enough is Enough and both Belfour and Saratoga Bob for main track only.
Pair of Stakes Winners Top Full Field of 15 in $75,000 All Brandy
Stakes winners My Sistersledge and Peach of a Gal top a full, evenly matched field entered in the $75,000 All Brandy to close Saturday’s stakes action at Laurel.
John and Cheryl Banner’s My Sistersledge drew the far outside post in her first race since rallying to be third in the six-furlong Jameela Stakes against fellow Maryland-breds Aug. 18, beaten 1 ¾ lengths. She has never been worse than third in seven tries on the Laurel turf, three of them wins, including a nose victory in the 1 1/8-mile Maryland Million Ladies last fall.
Glenangus Farm’s homebred Peach of a Gal is one of three Graham Motion-trained horses entered in the All Brandy along with Caught Dream’n, a recent addition to the barn, and Miss Disco Stakes winner Majestic Reason, entered for main track only.
Peach of a Gal finished off the board in her two previous starts at Woodbine, over both the grass and synthetic surfaces. Prior to that she was a one-length winner of the Christiana Stakes June 20 at Delaware Park, which came four weeks after running third over a soft Pimlico turf in the one-mile Hilltop Stakes.
The 3-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin won her only previous start at Laurel, a 1 1/16-mile restricted allowance over older horses May 5.
“There aren’t many opportunities for grass black-type now, especially for a filly like her who’s a 3-year-old Maryland-bred. We thought we’d try older horses; at least she’s running against Maryland-breds so it’s restricted in that respect,” Motion said. “I think she fits with these horses and I think honestly she’ll prefer a little further next year, but this will be a good indication of what we do with her.”
Dark Hollow Farm, Dorsey Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Davidov and Mr. and Mrs. David Schwaber’s Caught Dream’n has finished in the top three in each of her six career starts, all on dirt, including the 2017 Smart Halo Stakes and the Miss Disco last time out for previous trainer Phil Schoenthal.
“This is something the owners have been wanting to try with her and get her on the grass. She’s a little bit difficult to train so Phil had suggested trying her out at Fair Hill and see if she’d make it a little easier on herself,” Motion said. “We’ve kind of been playing around with her here a little bit.”
Sagamore Farm’s homebred pair of Riley’s Choice and Chubby Star are each looking for their first stakes victory. Riley’s Choice, by Distorted Humor, will remove blinkers for the All Brandy off a fourth-place finish in the Jameela, where she was beaten two lengths. She came within a nose of winning the 1 1/16-mile Pearl Necklace Stakes last summer at Laurel.
Chubby Star, by Malibu Moon, exits a three-quarter-length win as the favorite in a Laurel allowance Aug. 18 where she beat fellow All Brandy entrants Good Roll and Irish Actress for her first victory since last spring at Keeneland. Second in the James W. Murphy Stakes last May at Pimlico, she was fourth in the Regret (G3), Lake George (G3) and Riskaverse Stakes last summer, the latter two at Saratoga.
Completing the All Brandy field are Annie Boo Boo, Capucine, Complete St., Proud Maid Marian and main track only entrants Beyond Forever, Justa Scoch and Saint Main Event.
