Just Philtored favored in Gin Talking
LAUREL, MD—On Saturday, Laurel Park hosts Maryland’s final two stakes races of 2025, the $100,000 Heft for 2-year-olds and the $100,000 Gin Talking for juvenile fillies. Both races are contested at seven furlongs.
The first post time for the nine-race program is 12:00 pm ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers featuring a low 12% takeout rate.
Trainer Gary Capuano has enjoyed a fantastic season with his juvenile performers, sending out 16 individual winners. He entered four of them in the Heft, including Probably Dreaming, listed as the 2-1 favorite by Horse Racing Nation’s Ed DeRosa.
Owned by Larry Fowler, Probably Dreaming won his first three starts, including two stakes races at Delaware Park, before finishing second, beaten 3 ½ lengths by the Brad Cox-trained My World in Aqueduct’s Nashua Stakes at one mile on Nov. 1.
“I got no complaints on that race,” Capuano said. “He had a pretty good chance turning for home, but that horse was a little too tough for him. It was a really good performance. I was happy with it.”
Carlos Lopez rides Probably Dreaming, the sole three-time winner in the field.
Oak Tree Stable’s Very Volatile was the beaten favorite in his career debut at Delaware Park on Sept. 25.
“I was a little bit disappointed the first time he ran because he had trained really good going up to that race,” Capuano said. “At the top of the stretch, I thought he was sitting nice, he’s on the outside, he’s getting a great trip, he’ll just go on. And then he just chucked it in. [Jockey Yedsit Hazlewood] came back and said [Very Volatile] lost his footing turning for home. His back leg kind of slipped from under him.”
Very Volatile rebounded with a speedy maiden special weight score racing seven furlongs at Laurel Park on Nov. 29.
“We gave him a little time, we gelded him, and he trained really, really well going into his maiden [win],” Capuano said. “He came out of it really well. I thought we’d take a shot here. He drew a decent post outside. He’s still got to step up. It’s not maidens anymore.”
Hazlewood, 17, who has sewn up the jockey’s title at the current Laurel Park meeting and looms a strong candidate for the 2025 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, retains the mount.
While Very Volatile displays good early foot, Pocket 3’s Racing’s Hollywood Import boasts a strong late kick.
A last-to-first debut winner racing six furlongs at Delaware on Oct. 9, Hollywood Import then rallied for second in Laurel’s James F. Lewis III Stakes on Nov. 8. The favored winner of the James F. Lewis, Balboa, flattered the form by subsequently finishing third in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes.
Capuano then wheeled Hollywood Import back in 15 days, and the Honor A. P. colt finished fourth as the favorite in a first-level allowance at one mile.
“That one-turn mile was just an even race,” Capuano admitted. “I might have run him back a little bit quick doing that with him. He didn’t run bad. I thought he’d run a little bit better. We got a good draw on the outside, and we’ll see if he can step it back up because he’s run with some tough ones.”
Mychel Sanchez will ride Hollywood Import.
Capuano’s fourth entrant, Worker Bee, is only a possible Heft starter as of Tuesday morning.
Mens Grille Racing’s Power Grid enters the Heft in sharp form following two victories for trainer John Robb. The City of Light colt was stakes-placed as a second-start maiden in the restricted Hickory Tree at Colonial on Aug. 2, graduated from the maiden ranks racing seven furlongs at Laurel on Oct. 17, then gave a sustained rally to beat Hollywood Import in that first-level allowance last month.
Robb’s go-to rider, Xavier Perez, has the mount on Power Grid.
Thomas Coulter’s Red Zone Runner hasn’t finished off the board from three starts, and adds blinkers after placing third in Parx’s restricted Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes on Nov. 26. Trained by Erin McClellan, Red Zone Runner is partnered with Inoel Beato.
David Raim’s Gurney Halleck overcame a slow start to finish third, 2 ¼ lengths behind Hollywood Import in the James F. Lewis. The winner of the restricted Henry Mercer Memorial Stakes at Charles Town on Sept. 20, Gurney Halleck drew the rail post position with jockey Jevian Toledo aboard.
Wildncrazyguy and stakes-placed Ihaveanappforthat complete the field.
The Heft Stakes at Laurel Park is named in honor of the late Arnold Heft, a Maryland native and longtime horse owner. Arnold Heft was a prominent figure in Maryland horse racing, known for campaigning several successful horses, including the millionaire Eighttofasttocatch, a three-time Maryland Million Classic winner.
*Just Philtored favored in Gin Talking
Capuano used to train Just Philtored, who is named after his three children, Justin, Phillip, and Tori.
After winning her debut by eight lengths on May 23, Just Philtored was purchased privately by Red White and Blue Racing and London Reid Thoroughbreds and has blossomed into one of the region’s top juvenile fillies.
Her success shouldn’t be too surprising considering her pedigree. Just Philtored’s dam, Slow and Steady, has foaled 12 winners from as many runners. Among them are stakes-winners Malibu Beauty, Steady Warrior, and Steady N Love, as well as stakes-placed performers Lucky in Malibu, Hanky Doodle, and Fast Tracked.
Just Philtored has won three of five starts since being transferred to trainer Michael Trombetta, including two stakes victories on dirt, and one on turf. In her most recent start, she captured the restricted Maryland Juvenile Filly Stakes at seven furlongs on Dec. 6.
“You can pretty much put her anywhere,” assistant trainer Tana Aubrey said after the Maryland Juvenile Filly. “She likes to be forwardly-placed, but she kicked on and finished up well.”
Just Philtored, the 6-5 favorite on DeRosa’s line, breaks from the rail with Mychel Sanchez up.
Slewperstitius, the winner of the Maryland Million Lassie on Oct. 11, must prove that Just Philtored doesn’t have her number. The two have squared off three times before, and Just Philtored got the better of Slewperstitus each time.
A homebred owned by Eric Rizer and trained by Robbie Bailes, Slewperstitus wears blinkers for the first time on Saturday. Jevian Toledo, who guided Slam Notion to victory in last week’s Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Stakes at Laurel for Rizer and Bailes, rides Slewperstitus from the far outside post.
“She’s been a special little filly for us this year,” Bailes said before the Maryland Juvenile Filly. “She tries every time we put her out there. From Day One, she’s just been all racehorse.”
Brittany Russell, who will win the year-end Maryland training title for the third consecutive season, entered two fillies.
Dazzling Dame, owned by Respect the Valleys LLC, is already a multiple stakes winner, having garnered Monmouth’s Sorority on Aug. 17 and Delaware’s White Clay Creek on Oct. 11, both at a two-turn mile distance. She has won three of four starts, with the only defeat coming against tough Grade 3 competition at Churchill Downs two races back.
Peach Tie, campaigned by the Estate of Brereton C. Jones, finished third in the Presque Isle Debutante Stakes over synthetic footing on Sept. 19. She is perfect from three dirt starts, however, including a 4 ¼-length victory in a first-level allowance at Laurel on Nov. 14.
C’est Chouette, a Gun Runner homebred owned by Caroline and Gregory Bentley’s Runnymoore Racing, finished second last month in the restricted Shamrock Rose Stakes at Parx for trainer Cal Lynch.
David Heaton’s Midnight Ginny makes her first start since winning her debut in gate-to-wire fashion at Monmouth Park on Sept. 14.
Gin Talking was named Maryland’s 2-year-old filly champion in 1999 after a perfect season that included three stakes wins. She won three more stakes in 2000, including the Grade 3 Anne Arundel, to earn both champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year honors.
