Past De Francis Dash winners clash in Dave’s Friend
Talented Takethemoneyhoney “possible” for Willa On the Move
LAUREL, MD— “He’s a throwback from yesteryear,” trainer Henry Walters said after Barbadian Runner upset heavily-favored Post Time in the $150,000 Milton P. Higgins III Maryland Million Classic on Oct. 11.
Considering the current age of limited racing campaigns, it’s a very fair assessment, as Barbadian Runner has started 18 times without a break since his career debut on June 30, 2024.
He’ll enter the gate once again at Laurel Park on Saturday in the Richard W. Small Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at 1 1/8 miles.
The Richard W. Small shares top billing on the nine-race program with the $100,000 Dave’s Friend Stakes for 3-year-olds and upward at six furlongs and the $100,000 Willa On the Move Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 ½ furlongs.
The first post time is 12:00 p.m. ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each with a low 12% takeout rate.
A rags-to-riches story, Maryland-bred Barbadian Runner was purchased for $5,000 as a yearling, and has banked $730,630 for owners A J Will Win Stables.
“He surprised me from day one,” Walters said after the Maryland Million. “When we purchased him, we never thought he’d turn out to be this good. He’s gotten better each time. He’s got way more talent than his breeding suggests.”
A 3-year-old gelding by Barbados out of unraced Quiet Run, by Northern Afleet, Barbadian Runner was twice stakes-placed as a juvenile. He started 2025 in grand style, winning the Spectacular Bid Stakes by a head on Jan. 25, and the Miracle Wood Stakes by a nose on Feb. 22. His first win around two turns came three starts later when he splashed home 7 ¼ lengths in front in the off-turf Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park.
Two races after that, Barbadian Runner successfully handled the tight turns at Charles Town by upsetting the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial at seven furlongs.
Going into the Maryland Million, Barbadian Runner had two major questions to answer. The first was whether he was good enough to dethrone Post Time, a Grade 2 winner that finished second in the 2024 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and was unbeaten from ten prior starts at Laurel Park.
The second was the nine-furlong distance. Barbadian Runner had only started once in a race longer than a mile. He finished second in that heat, the Delaware Derby at 1 1/16 miles.
“If you had asked me three or four months ago, I’d have said [nine furlongs] was not in his limits,” admitted Walters. “The race at Charles Town was seven-eighths for 3-year-olds. He beat some pretty good horses, and he couldn’t blow a match out after the race, so you knew there was more in the tank. He was getting better and better.”
He ran his best race in the Maryland Million.
Utilizing his excellent tactical speed under jockey Forest Boyce, Barbadian Runner got the jump on late-running Post Time, who skimmed the fence with a daunting stretch bid. At the eighth pole, Barbadian Runner’s tenacity kicked in. He looked Post Time in the eye and turned him away to win by three-quarters of a length. For the effort, Barbadian Runner was awarded a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He’s tough,” Walters said. “He just loves to run with horses. You give him a target and he’ll chase him down, or he’ll dig in. He runs comfortably that way.”
Barbadian Runner, the 124-pound top weight, will break from post five under Boyce in the Richard W. Small, and was installed the 6-5 morning line favorite by Horse Racing Nation’s Ed DeRosa.
While Barbadian Runner is the horse to beat in the Richard W. Small, Secret Zipper looks like the one to catch for owner Frank Sample and trainer Gary Capuano.
A hulking 4-year-old gelding, Secret Zipper steps up into stakes competition for the first time after finishing third in a high-level allowance on Sept. 14.
“He’s very strong,” Capuano said about the last race. “It was hard to get him to relax. He did hang in there pretty tough, I thought. When they came to him, he fought back for a little bit. It just took a little too much out of him early.”
Multiple stakes-placed Hittheroadjak, stakes-placed Hardspun Reason, Phantom Speed, and Formal Affair also entered.
Baltimore-born Richard ‘Dickie’ Small served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a Green Beret before becoming a trainer. He won at least one stakes race in Maryland every year but one between 1974 and 2014. Among the top horses he campaigned were Broad Brush, a four-time Grade 1-winning millionaire. Small also trained Broad Brush’s son, Concern, who notched the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1994. The Broad Brush Stakes was renamed in honor of Small following the beloved horseman’s death from cancer in 2014.
*Past De Francis Dash winners clash in Dave’s Friend
Subrogate and Dean Delivers, the last two winners of the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park, face off in the Dave’s Friend.
Trained by Jorge Duarte Jr. for Colts Neck Stables, Subrogate rallied from off the pace to grab the 2025 edition on June 28. Freshened following that start, he finished fourth, beaten four lengths, in the Grade 3 Bold Ruler at Aqueduct on Nov. 2.
“I wish we broke a little better,” Duarte said of the Bold Ruler. “The horse that was next to him broke through the gate, and it seemed like it took a little bit of that sharpness away from him. That was the first run to get to this race. That was the plan all along.”
Subrogate drew the rail post under jockey Jevian Toledo, and is listed at 5-1 on DeRosa’s line.
Stonehedge LLC’s Dean Delivers was in razor-sharp form when wiring the field in the 2024 DeFrancis, as he was in the midst of a four-race winning streak, all coming in stakes company. Fourth, beaten three lengths by Subrogate in this year’s renewal, Dean Delivers finished last of seven in a high-level allowance at Laurel on Oct. 19.
“He didn’t run well in his last start, and it was a big disappointment,” said trainer Ned Allard. “It was the first time I put him on Lasix in a long, long while, and I really think I put him to sleep. I gave him a break at the beginning of the summer because it was so hot that it seemed to affect his training a little bit. Now, with the cooler weather, he’s been training dynamite, so I feel like I really need to run him.”
Michael Dubb and Morris Bailey’s Prince of Jericho, a three-time stakes-winner at Laurel Park, is the 5-2 morning line favorite for trainer Brittany Russell and jockey Sheldon Russell. Although Prince of Jericho hasn’t raced since finishing third in the General George Stakes on Feb. 15, the Russells have recently combined for a 14 for 43 record (33%) with horses returning from layoffs of six months or greater. In fact, Prince of Jericho captured his 2024 debut when returning from 182 days on the sidelines.
James C. Wolf’s Petingas Twin beat Dean Delivers in that allowance race last month for trainer Anthony Farrior.
“We [gelded] him two races before,” Farrior said. “We thought he’d run a big race, but we didn’t think he’d run that big of a race. It seemed like everything worked out after cutting him.”
Farrior noted that Petingas Twin is feeling good after a bullet five-eighths workout on Nov. 7.
“He’s never been a pain in the butt,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t cut him until [recently]. I was working him with [multiple stakes-placed] Faster Gator, and he ran off backwards, and the kid fell off. It was not good, so we had to wait a couple of days to work him. He worked good and came out of the work good.”
Restricted stakes-winner Showstopper Copper and Uncle Cat are also expected. Sunny Breeze, Twisted Ride, and Maximus Meridius all cross-entered in next Wednesday’s $75,000 Turkey Trot Stakes at Parx.
Dave’s Friend raced nine seasons and retired at age 11 with a record of 35 wins from 76 starts. At the time of his retirement, the millionaire was the all-time leading money earner among Maryland-breds. Dave’s Friend won 17 stakes races at nine different tracks, including the Grade 3 Marylander and Grade 3 Patriot. Dave’s Friend set records at four different tracks, was named Maryland’s Horse of the Year in 1980, and was inducted into the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2016.
*Talented Takethemoneyhoney “possible” for Willa On the Move
Kasey K Racing Stable, Michael Day, and Final Turn Racing Stable’s Takethemoneyhoney wowed fans at Laurel Park on April 13 when the 4-year-old Maryland-bred ran off and hid from eight other fillies and mares in a second-level allowance at a one-turn mile.
The following month, she earned her first stakes victory when wiring three foes in Monmouth’s Serena’s Song Stakes at 1 mile 70 yards.
Takethemoneyhoney has won four of five starts, and is a nose away from being unbeaten. Trainer Mike Moore listed her as “possible” for the Willa On the Move Stakes, as he also cross-entered her in next Wednesday’s $75,000 Cornucopia Stakes at Parx.
“She’s had some issues, and she needed time, unfortunately, because she has a ton of talent,” Moore said about the 195-day layoff since the Serena’s Song. “She’s really a good horse.”
Moore also cross-entered Alani in the Cornucopia.
Sample and Capuano are also undecided about whether Shamrock Farm Maryland Million Distaff winner Onyx Ten will return in the Willa On the Move, especially since the filly is eligible for next week’s $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.
The three-time stakes-winner returned from a March layoff to win a restricted allowance prep at Delaware before rallying from off the pace to take the Maryland Million Distaff.
St. Benedicts Prep has cracked the exacta in 15 of 29 starts for owner Ronald Stewart and trainer Linda Rice. Based in New York, St. Benedicts Prep is no stranger to racing at Laurel Park. She won the Alma North over this course and distance on June 28.
Miss Harriett returns from a late-May layoff for owner Narrow Leaf Farm and trainer Brandon McFarlane. The speedy gray daughter of Blofeld proved her debut victory at 62-1 odds in the 2023 Maryland Million Lassie was no fluke, as she won two more stakes races last year. Forest Boyce rides the Maryland-bred from post nine.
Grammy Girl hit the board in her last three starts for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr, including a good second-place finish at Aqueduct nine days ago. Beaten a head by favored Senza Parole, Grammy Girl appears to be in career form for the partnership of Red Storm Stable, Miller Racing, and Flower Power Stables.
Sultry Lass, claimed by owner Joel Politi and trainer Tom Amoss for $80,000 at Keeneland on Oct. 5, makes her stakes debut under jockey Sheldon Russell. Stakes-winner Spencerian, stakes-placed Bailintin, Wisconsin Gal, Gallop d’Hermes, and Passage East also entered.
Willa On the Move was the name of two separate Maryland-bred graded stakes winners. Leon Blusiewicz trained the first, and she took the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland. The second Willa On the Move raced for Peter Angelos’ Marathon Farm and trainer Rodney Jenkins. Her career highlight came when she won the Grade 3 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga.
