Multiple Stakes-Placed Forever Liesl Captures Laurel Feature Thursday
Multiple Stakes-Placed Forever Liesl Captures Laurel Feature Thursday
Partisan Divide, Timeless Curls Win Open Maiden Races
Hall of Fame to Welcome Preakness in Friday Ceremony
LAUREL, MD – Kallenberg Farms’ Forever Liesl, who placed in a trio of stakes last winter and spring, turned back bids from Follow the Petals to her outside and pacesetter Bluegrass Flag along the rail to edge clear late in Thursday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park.
Ridden by Victor Carrasco for New York-based trainer Michelle Nevin, Forever Liesl covered one mile over a main track rated good in 1:37.05 for her third career win and second in four starts this year. Bluegrass Flag rallied to be second, with Follow the Petals third.
Kept in the clear two wide as Bluegrass Flag led through a quarter-mile in 24.02 seconds and a half in 47.62, Forever Liesl moved up to even terms leaving the far turn and straightened for home with a slight advantage as Follow the Petals launched her bid in the middle of the track. Carrasco kept Forever Liesl to task through the stretch and they pulled away approaching the wire to win by two lengths.
A 4-year-old daughter of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, Forever Liesl was third in the Wide Country and second in the Caesar’s Wish and Weber City Miss at Laurel to open her 2017 campaign. A maiden winner at Laurel in her juvenile finale, she was coming off a fourth-place effort in the 1 1/16-mile Lady’s Secret Stakes June 30 at Monmouth Park.
“It’s always nice to win the feature of the day. A winner is a winner for me, but that was a real special one for Michelle. When she sends horses down here she always gives me an opportunity to ride them,” Carrasco said. “For a little bit I thought [Follow the Petals] was going to go by me and I had to move a little bit early before he covered me up, but as soon as we turned for home and I hit her she gave me a little kick and I knew she was going to be game to the wire.”
Thursday’s co-feature saw R. Larry Johnson’s Maryland homebred Questionoftheday chase long shot leader Lucky be a Lady into the far turn, take over upon straightening for home and sprint clear to win Race 2, a $42,000 entry-level optional claiming allowance for 2-year-old fillies. Sixth in the My Dear Stakes over Woodbine’s all-weather surface July 7, Questionoftheday ($15.20) ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:04.50.
Partisan Divide, Timeless Curls Win Open Maiden Races
Jerry Romans and JoAnn Smith’s Partisan Divide, stretched out off his career debut on the grass last month, swept past his rivals around the turn and steadily gained on pacesetter Golden Noguez through the lane to complete a last-to-first maiden-breaking rally in Thursday’s third race.
Partisan Divide ($6.80) ran one mile in 1:40.99 over a fast main track in the $40,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-olds, originally carded for 1 1/16 miles over the All Along turf course. Even-money favorite Scaramucci – a $220,000 purchase by Hillwood Stable last winter in just his second career start – made a belated run to be second, with 30-1 long shot Golden Noguez third.
“We knew he’d go long and would prefer a route of ground, and he did it well,” trainer Hamilton Smith said. “We had him in on the grass, which I think is the surface he’s really going to excel on. Hopefully, that’s the case. But, we’ll take this and we’ll look for another spot. It’s good to have options. He’s been pretty kind to handle and he’s a pretty smart horse.”
In his July 13 debut at Laurel, Partisan Divide was fractious in the gate and raced wide in a 5 ½-furlong sprint over Laurel’s world-class turf course, finishing eighth, beaten less than five lengths in a race where Scaramucci was third. He was unhurried in the early going trailing the field as Golden Noguez opened up by as many as eight lengths before being reeled in by Partisan Divide, who coasted home under a hand ride in the final sixteenth to win by 4 ½ lengths.
“We’re looking to maybe run him back one more time and maybe go out to Kentucky Downs with him,” Smith said. “One of the owners is from out that area and it might be fun to go out and try him on that course out there.”
In Thursday’s other open maiden special weight, a $40,000 event for fillies and mares 3 and up, Sookdeen Pasram’s Timeless Curls ($2.20) led from start to finish to take the 1 1/16-mile event by 4 ¼ lengths in 1:45.13.
Favored at 1-9 and trained by Dale Capuano, Timeless Curls set unpressured fractions of 24.25 and 49.53 seconds, turned back a bold move from Another Broad around the turn and edged clear down the stretch for the first win in four starts for the chestnut daughter of Hall of Famer Curlin, including a pair of seconds.
Holiday Hopes ($4.20) was an easy 8 ½-length winner in Thursday’s opener, a $40,000 maiden special weight restricted to Virginia-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up. The winning time was 1:39.01 for one mile.
Hall of Fame to Welcome Preakness in Friday Ceremony
Namesake of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, run annually on the second Saturday in May at legendary Pimlico Race Course, 19th century racehorse Preakness will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame Friday morning in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Preakness and trainer William Lakeland were elected by the museum’s Historic Review Committee. They join contemporary racehorse Heavenly Prize and a dozen individuals chosen as Pillars of the Turf in the Class of 2018.
In his 3-year-old debut, Preakness won the 1870 Dinner Party Stakes for owner Milton Sanford during Pimlico’s inaugural meet. He won the Jockey Club Handicap, Long Branch Stakes and beat Hall of Famer Harry Bassett in the Manhattan and Grand National at Jerome Park in 1873.
Other stakes wins for Preakness came in the 1874 Jockey Club Stakes and 1875 Baltimore Cup and Saratoga Cup, dead heating in a record time for 2 ¼ miles that stood for more than decades. After winning one of four races in England as a 9-year-old, Preakness was retired with a record of 18-12-2 and purse earnings of $39,820 from 39 starts.
Notes: Apprentice jockey Weston Hamilton rode back-to-back winners Thursday with Timeless Curls ($2.20) in the fourth race and Kierland ($35.40) in the fifth. Daniel Centeno bookended the card with victories in the first on Holiday Hopes ($4.20) and ninth on Coop Tries Harder ($3) … There will be a jackpot carryover of $1,404.17 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for Friday’s nine-race card (Races 4-9). Multiple tickets will all six winners Thursday were worth $731.76. First race post time Friday is 1:10 p.m.
