Scrap Copper Looks to Shine in $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery
Scrap Copper Looks to Shine in $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery
My Star Potential Favored in $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie
33rd Annual ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ Saturday, Oct. 20
LAUREL, MD – Kathleen Willier’s Scrap Copper, beaten a nose in his stakes debut on the grass last month, returns to the main track as the horse to beat in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery at Laurel Park.
The Nursery for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Lassie for 2-year-old fillies, both at six furlongs, are among seven stakes and four starter stakes that help comprise ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races,’ highlighted by the $150,000 Classic and named for the late Hall of Fame broadcaster who helped launch the groundbreaking concept in 1986.
Post time for the first of 12 races is noon.
Trainer Hamilton Smith won the Nursery in 1997 with Carnivorous Habit and 2016 with Greatbullsoffire, and entered the pair of Scrap Copper and Mens Grille Racing’s Hall Pass. Scrap Copper is the 3-1 program favorite in a field of 11 Maryland Million-certified horses and three Maryland-bred also-eligibles.
A bay son of Great Notion, who has sired nine previous Maryland Million winners including fellow favorites Phlash Phelps in the $125,000 Turf and Crabcakes in the $100,000 Distaff, Scrap Copper debuted with a front-running half-length victory going 5 ½ furlongs on the dirt June 22 at Laurel over next-out winners Boss Boss and Beyond the Victory.
Smith brought Scrap Copper back in the historic Laurel Futurity Sept. 22, a race where he was unhurried early, rallied seven wide through the stretch and forged a short lead inside the sixteenth pole before losing a head bob at the wire to fall a nose short over a yielding turf course.
“He did some things on the farm that impressed the guys down there before he came up to me. He looked the part before he ran the first time so I expected him to run good and he did,” Smith said. “He came back in the stake and just got beat and has been training forward since. He’s a pretty nice colt.
“On the soft turf and everything and first time on the grass, I thought he ran real well,” he added. “Horses by that stud, they’re the kind that run short, long, turf or dirt. He’s a pretty versatile stud, so I wasn’t’ afraid of the grass when I put him in there last time. We do expect to run him long eventually.”
Hall Pass has run five times, debuting July 14 and breaking his maiden last time out in a one-mile maiden special weight that was rained off the grass to a fast main track. He led by as many as six lengths early and took a four-length lead into the stretch before holding on for a head victory.
“The Maryland Million only comes around once for these 2-year-olds so the owners wanted to take a chance,” Smith said. “He won his last outing going a mile and he ran a pretty good race that day. He deserves a chance along with the rest of them I think, so we’ll put him in there and see what he can do.”
Trevor McCarthy has the call on Scrap Copper from Post 5, while Jevian Toledo will ride Hall Pass from Post 10, both at 122 pounds.
Victor Carrasco had ridden Scrap Copper in his first two starts but instead will be aboard Outofthepark for Ellen Charles’ Hillwood Stable and trainer Rodney Jenkins. In his only previous start, also with Carrasco, he was sent to the lead early but faded to be fifth in a five-furlong maiden claimer July 14 at Laurel.
Outofthepark will race for the first time as a gelding in the Nursery. He is a son of Bandbox, also campaigned by Hillwood and trained by Jenkins to five wins, four in stakes including the 2014 General George (G3), and $390,345 in purse earnings from 15 starts.
“Bandbox was a pretty awesome horse. If he’d have stayed sound he’d have been a pretty top-notch horse,” Jenkins said. “This one is a pretty nice horse. He might be a grass horse … but when I worked him he doesn’t act like he hates the dirt. If everything goes good, he should run well. I like him a lot.”
Outofthepark tuned up for the Nursery with a five-furlong breeze Oct. 13 in company with Grade 2-placed 6-year-old Curlin gelding Top of Mind, also owned by Hillwood. He drew Post 8 and is 10-1 on the morning line for Jenkins, winner of the 2014 Nursery with Golden Years.
“He’s very fast,” Jenkins said. “He had a brilliant work the other day and he beat Top of Mind. I worked them together five-eighths and he just kind of strolled away from him. I like him a lot. His first start he wasn’t fit enough. He was just outworking a lot of my 2-year-olds so I thought I’d just sneak one in but it didn’t work out that way. He’ll be better for the race.”
R. Larry Johnson homebred Sky Magician, 4-1 on the morning line for trainer Mike Trombetta, has finished twice in his two career starts, both five-furlong maiden claiming events at Laurel, the latter as the favorite Sept. 15 after being overlooked at 21-1 in his debut. Horacio Karamanos rides from Post 3.
“We’re going to try it,” Trombetta said. “This will be his third race and his first two efforts have been pretty darn good so we’ll give him a crack at it and see how he does. He has always trained good and run like it.”
Also entered are Seany P, Stormin Hongkong, Lippi Lorenzo, Known Quantity, He’s Not Curly, Tappin Cat and Follow the Dog and also-eligibles V.I.P. Ticket, Grand River and Alwaysmining.
My Star Potential Favored in $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie
Euro Stable’s My Star Potential, a nose away from being undefeated in her brief career, will make her Laurel Park debut as the 2-1 program favorite in the $100,000 Lassie.
From the barn of trainer Claudio Gonzalez, Maryland’s leading trainer of 2017 who also tops the current fall meet standings, My Star Potential will break from Post 2 in a field of 12 Maryland Million-certified horses and one Maryland-bred also eligible.
My Star Potential, a gray or roan daughter of Tritap, won her unveiling by three-quarters of a length in a four-furlong maiden special weight Sept. 2 at Timonium. Gonzalez stretched her out to six furlongs for her next start, an open entry-level allowance Oct. 1 at Parx, where she overcame an awkward start to be on the pace and fall a nose short on the wire at odds of 17-1.
“She won at Timonium first time out and then I took her to Philadelphia and she finished second. She didn’t break that sharp that day and she had a lot of excuses and she still ran good to be second,” Gonzalez said. “We’re pretty high on her. I like her a lot. She’s doing good. I think she has a big chance.”
Jomar Torres, up for both her starts, will ride My Star Potential from Post 2 at 119 pounds.
Breaking from the rail is Three Diamonds Farm’s Better Yet, a 16 ½-length maiden winner last out over a sloppy, sealed main track Sept. 9 at Laurel. She has run twice at a mile since being moved to the barn of trainer Mike Trombetta, who won the Lassie with Spectacular Malibu (2006), Doing Great (2010) and My Magician (2014).
“She really took a liking to the slop. I don’t know if she’ll show up in the same kind of way on a fast track and she’s cutting back in distance; however, she’s worked and trained very good,” Trombetta said. “It’s a general concern; you like to stick with what works. She’s in good form and I’d much rather be taking my chances with that with a horse that’s in good form than one that’s trying to find their best form.”
Julian Pimentel will ride back at 119 pounds. Better Yet is 10-1 on the morning line.
Three horses enter the Lassie with stakes experience. Little Miss Raelyn, like Better Yet a daughter of graded-stakes winner Super Ninety Nine, was off the board in the six-furlong Selima over a yielding Laurel turf Sept. 22. Little Cat Gee and Knock Out Kid were fifth and seventh, respectively, in the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder Sept. 29 at Delaware Park.
Completing the field are last out maiden winners Yours to Keep, Who U Gonna Call and Knitted Gloves, along with Barbsgray Lion, Miss Philly Dilly, Belial and Zig. Destiny Over Fate is the lone also-eligible.
