Laurel-Loving Lewisfield Returns to Winner's Circle in Friday Feature
Laurel-Loving Lewisfield Returns to Winner's Circle in Friday Feature
$100,000 James Lewis, $100,000 Smart Halo Highlight Saturday Program
20-Cent Rainbow 6 Carryover Unsolved Friday, Grows to $14,637
LAUREL, MD – Linda Zang’s multiple stakes-winning Maryland homebred Lewisfield, a last out third in his bid for a second lifetime Maryland Million Sprint victory, cut back to the shortest distance of his 27-race career and responded with a 1 ¼-length triumph in Friday’s featured sixth race at Laurel Park.
Ridden by Horacio Karamanos for Charles Town-based trainer Jeff Runco, Lewisfield ($4.60) went off as the 6-5 favorite in a field of seven for the $47,000 third-level optional claiming allowance. The winning time was 1:03.16 over a fast main track.
“Three-quarters is about all he wants, anyway. Seven-eighths is a little bit much for him,” Runco said. “So, I thought it was definitely worth a try. He ran like I’d hoped.”
Karamanos settled Lewisfield in third along the rail while longshots Free Dancer (13-1) and Fiber and Emily (24-1) were in front through a quarter-mile in 22.42 seconds. Karamanos tipped Lewisfield out three wide on the turn and straightened for home with sights set on the leader, reeling in Fiber and Emily after a half in 45.13 and drawing away approaching the wire.
It was only the fourth start this year for the 6-year-old Lewisfield, a gelded son of leading Maryland sire Great Notion. Eight of his nine career wins have come at Laurel, four in stakes including the Howard & Sondra Bender Memorial last December – his most recent victory.
“With the covid going on I just didn’t get many places to run this year. It made it tough on a lot of horses when you don’t have many spots to run,” Runco said. “We finally got him back on track with the Maryland Million. I saw this spot coming back going 5 ½. I really liked the spot and the condition was right, so it was super getting him back here at Laurel. He loves the track, he liked the distance and he ran super today.”
There is one remaining sprint stakes for 3-year-olds and up at Laurel in 2020, the $100,000 Dave’s Friend going six furlongs Dec. 26.
“We’re going to see how he comes out of it and just kind of look for some spots but certainly going to be pointed here at Laurel,” Runco said.
$100,000 James Lewis, $100,000 Smart Halo Highlight Saturday Program
Stakes action returns to Laurel Park Saturday with a pair of six-furlong sprints for juveniles, the $100,000 James F. Lewis III and the $100,000 Smart Halo.
Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m.
The Smart Halo, for fillies, is carded as Race 7 and drew a field of eight led by 2-1 program favorite Out of Sorts, an impressive maiden special weight winner last out. Stakes winner Street Lute and recent Laurel allowance winner Prodigy Doll are co-second choice at 5-2.
Race 8 is the James Lewis, where Kenny Had a Notion will go after his third consecutive stakes victory and second straight on dirt following the Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 24. The 5-2 program favorite is Dalton, second by a nose in the Smoke Glacken Stakes to subsequent Nashua (G3) winner Pickin’ Time.
Both races are part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9) sequences, the latter offering an industry-low 12 percent takeout.
The Rainbow 6 went unsolved during Friday’s program, growing the carryover jackpot to $14,637.23. Multiple tickets with all six winners each returned $191.50.
There will also be a carryover of $1,060.13 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Saturday’s opener.
Notes: Jockey Trevor McCarthy swept the early daily double with wins aboard Lady Commissioner ($5.60) in Race 1 and Lake Chicot ($6.80) in Race 2 … Timothy Hopkins’ Odds On ($5.40), with Roimes Chirinos up, captured Race 4 to give trainer Kieron Magee his 800th career victory … Isabelle Haskell de Tomaso’s homebred 3-year-old Tapiture filly Cool Stuff ($4.20), second in three of her first four starts, collared Moma Tiger with a sixteenth of a mile to go and edged clear to a three-quarter-length victory in Race 3, a $40,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3 and up. The winning time for seven furlongs was 1:25.06 … BTR Racing, Inc. and Dark Horse Racing’s Hello Hot Rod ($2.80) was a front-running winner of Race 7, a waiver maiden claimer for 2-year-olds, in 1:24.02 for seven furlongs.
