Just Peach-y for Russells in Gin Talking
Hazlewood, Gary Capuano win three races apiece
LAUREL, MD—It wasn’t surprising that Hollywood Import won Saturday’s $100,000 Heft Stakes for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs.
After all, his trainer, Gary Capuano, has saddled 16 juvenile winners this year. His record with babies has been so strong that they should nickname Capuano “Daddy Day Care.”
What was startling was how Hollywood Import earned his first stakes victory.
A horse that came from last in each of his previous starts, Hollywood Import went immediately to the lead under jockey Mychel Sanchez, cleared to the rail on an uncontested lead through fractions of 23.48 and 47.28 seconds, and had enough left to score by 1 ¾ lengths over favored stablemate Probably Dreaming.
“He warmed up really, really well,” Sanchez said. “He’d been breaking good, but when he got covered with dirt, he [found himself] back. Now, with the outside post, I had an idea he’d be closer. He broke really, really well, and I took it from there.”
Red Zone Runner finished another neck back in third. Gurney Halleck, Power Grid, and another Capuano-trained entrant, Very Volatile, completed the finishing order.
Hollywood Import covered the distance in 1:27.06 on the fast track and returned $21.20 as the fifth choice on the tote board.
“I kept him nice and quiet and put my hands down,” Sanchez continued. “I think they were getting in trouble behind me. I could hear [the riders]. He was always calm, in a beautiful, good rhythm all the way around.”
Bred in Kentucky by George Krikorian, Hollywood Import is a colt by Honor A.P. His dam, the unraced Curlin mare Baby Zito, is a half-sister to Grade 2 turf winner Kitten’s Roar.
Purchased by Pocket 3’s Racing for $50,000 as a yearling, Hollywood Import made a strong impression in his career debut, a maiden special weight at Delaware on Oct. 9. He was outsprinted to the back of the pack, then swung five wide into the stretch and gobbled up the ground to win by a head.
Capuano wasn’t afraid to test Hollywood Import, and the colt rewarded his confidence with a second-place finish in Laurel Park’s James F. Lewis Stakes over muddy ground on Nov. 8. The winner of the James F. Lewis III, Balboa, flattered the form by finishing a solid third in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes.
Hollywood Import was the beaten favorite in his final start before the Heft, a first-level allowance race at one mile on Nov. 23.
“That one-turn mile was just an even race,” Capuano admitted earlier this week. “I might have run him back a little too quickly doing that with him.”
Even Capuano was surprised by Hollywood Import’s new running style.
“I wasn’t sure what happened,” he said in the winner’s circle. “It worked out, so all plans go out the window sometimes when they break.”
It was a huge day all around for all the connections. Hollywood Import was Sanchez’s second winner on the card, following his ride of Wyoming Class in the second race.
Pocket 3’s Racing completed the late daily double when Work Hard took the finale. Work Hard’s win capped a hat trick for Capuano, who also sent out Rina Is Fire to an open-lengths victory in the fourth race.
“It’s crazy,” Capuano said when asked to reflect on his success with 2-year-olds this year. “It’s hard to do. All the horses have just run really well this year. How do you figure?”
The Heft Stakes at Laurel Park is named in honor of the late Arnold Heft, a Maryland native and longtime horse owner. He 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 Peach-y for Russells in Gin Talking
It isn’t uncommon to see Brittany and Sheldon Russell in the winner’s circle after a stakes race at Laurel Park.
It is unusual for them to be there with the longest shot on the board.
Peach Tie ($6.60), dismissed at 2-1 in a three-horse field, battled between rivals before drawing off by eight lengths in the $100,000 Gin Talking Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Left in her wake were stakes winners Just Philtored and Slewperstitus.
Peach Tie ran the seven furlongs in 1:27.30. C’est Chouette, Midnite Ginny, and Dazzling Dame were scratched.
“She’s done everything right,” Sheldon Russell said. “The goal was to get her out there and put her in a comfortable spot, especially going seven-eighths. I was going to let [Just Philtored] go because [Peach Tie] has done it before, sitting outside a horse and always traveling well. I was relaxing her, and [Slewperstitus] came to me to keep it honest. At that stage, I had to just set my hands. Once I saw we were all running, it was going to be who stayed the longest. She did it the hard way because we didn’t really get a breather.”
Peach Tie won her debut at Colonial Downs on Aug. 13, then earned black type by finishing third in the Presque Isle Downs Debutante over Tapeta on Sept. 19. Sent to Keeneland, she won a starter allowance race over sloppy going on Oct. 19, then beat three other rivals in a first-level allowance on Nov. 14.
“She’s been easy,” Brittany Russell said. “Even when we took her to Keeneland to run her in a spot like that, it was like a bonus race. It was good for her education. Everything she’s done, she’s answered each question.”
Foaled in Kentucky, Peach Tie is a homebred daughter of Preservationist, owned by the Estate of Brereton C. Jones. A $19,000 buyback as a yearling, she is out of a half-sister to the stakes-winning miler Fact Finding. Her second dam, the Deputy Commander mare Sweet Belle, was a stakes-winning miler on turf.
Brittany Russell is curious to see how far Peach Tie is willing to go.
“She has that sprinter-y build, but I did notice today, when I was putting the tack on her, that she’s going through a growth spurt,” Russell said. “Physically, she might improve.”
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, earning both champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year honors.
*Hazlewood wins three races again
For the second consecutive day, teenage apprentice rider Yedsit Hazlewood won three races at Laurel Park.
Hazlewood and Capuano combined with Rina Is Fire ($3.20) and Work Hard ($7). Hazlewood’s other winner was Indy Charges On ($4.60) for trainer Anthony Farrior in the third race.
Hazlewood, 17, a leading candidate for the 2025 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, has 70 wins at the current meeting, twice as many as veteran Jevian Toledo.
A native of Panama, Hazlewood rode his first career winner on April 4. Despite missing two months due to injury, he has recorded 128 wins from 562 rides, including five stakes scores.
He won four races on the prestigious Jim McKay Maryland Million program and has since posted two more four-win days. The leading rider at the Maryland State Fair at Timonium, he has earned $4,201,251 in purse money this year. Hazlewood has ridden winners at Laurel, Pimlico, Timonium, Aqueduct, Delaware, Parx, and Penn National.
Heading into the final day of racing in Maryland this year, Hazlewood leads Sheldon Russell by ten winners in the race for year-end honors at The Maryland Jockey Club’s tracks.
*Around the track:
Lonesome Road, a half-brother to multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Mindframe, earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure in his 8 ½-length maiden victory on Friday afternoon. A 3-year-old homebred gelding owned by the Estate of R. Larry Johnson and trained by Michael Trombetta, Lonesome Road made his first dirt start after twice running on turf at Colonial Downs over the summer.
Special thanks to John Deere for sponsoring Saturday’s “Best Turned Out” Awards. Live racing resumes Sunday with an eight-race card. First post time is 12 p.m. ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each with a low 12% takeout. Sunday is also the final day of the Laurel Park Fall Meeting. Mandatory payouts will apply to all wagers with carryover potential.
The FREE “Laurel Park Handicapping Guide” is available every racing day. Get picks, analysis, trainer stats, horses to watch, track bias information, and more from The Maryland Jockey Club’s team of handicappers. Sunday’s Guide is online: click here to view.
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