Takethemoneyhoney favored in Conniver
LAUREL, MD—Paul Berube, Karen Linnell, and Heather Hunter’s Quint’s Brew is listed as the even-money favorite on Horse Racing Nation’s Ed DeRosa’s morning line for Saturday’s $100,000 Not For Love Stakes for 4-year-olds and up, racing six furlongs at Laurel Park.
The Not For Love is one of two stakes races limited to Maryland-bred or -sired and Virginia-bred or -sired runners on the eight-race card, with the $100,000 Conniver for fillies and mares at seven furlongs. The first post time is 12 pm ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each with a low 12% takeout rate.
Quint’s Brew, a three-time stakes winner with $441,220 in total earnings, finished third as the favorite in last month’s $200,000 General George Stakes at seven furlongs.
Trainer Ned Allard believes his charge had a valid excuse that afternoon.
“I was on the fence about running to begin with,” Allard said Wednesday morning. “He was training great, but that was the period when we had four weeks of awful weather. We missed quite a few days of training, and I did a lot of tacking under the shed row. I felt like everybody was pretty much in the same boat, but I wasn’t 100% comfortable because I didn’t get in a few works. I didn’t get in a few things I would have liked to do with him. I really think I possibly ran a short horse that day. It might have hurt his chances a little bit.”
Allard feels much better about Quint’s Brew’s preparation leading up to the Not For Love.
“For Saturday, he hasn’t missed a day,” Allard said with enthusiasm. “We got a solid workout into him. I pushed him a little bit. I believe we’ll see a different horse on Saturday.”
Quint’s Brew will also have a different jockey. The 5-year-old Mosler gelding has recently been ridden by Yedsit Hazlewood and Mychel Sanchez, but will now be guided from the inside post position by Forest Boyce.
Allard has no issues with how Hazlewood and Sanchez rode Quint’s Brew, but believes Boyce might be the best fit.
“He’s a horse that you need to be a little patient with,” Allard explained. “He doesn’t like being spanked on his rear end with the whip. You can tap him on his neck, you can encourage him a little, but he’s one of the horses that is giving you everything he’s got. When you reach back and get him behind, he always ducks out a little bit, he changes his lead. It throws him off.”
Quint’s Brew’s main rival is likely DEA Thoroughbred Racing’s Blue Kingdom, who finished just a nose behind Quint’s Brew in the restricted $100,000 Jennings Stakes on January 17, before reversing the order with a second-place finish in the General George.
“Quint’s Brew and this horse have a bit of a rivalry. It’s been a back-and-forth, so it’s kind of nice,” said Blue Kingdom’s trainer, Jamie Ness, who wasn’t thrilled that Blue Kingdom broke from the rail in the General George.
“The one-hole, it really isn’t his thing,” he said. “He wanted to get off the inside the whole time, but never really had a good opportunity.”
On Saturday, Blue Kingdom, the 8/5 second choice on the morning line, will start from the outside post with jockey Sanchez. Ness believes that the shorter distance is also advantageous.
“[The distance] is way better,” Ness stated. “I like the post. The jock likes the post. It gives us a few more options. We don’t have to force his hand up there. It makes us a little more versatile from a running style perspective.
After undergoing throat surgery last year, Best A Luck Farm’s Suremeanttoobe has been unstoppable, winning two allowance races this year by a combined 5 ¾ lengths for trainer Michael Trombetta.
Suremeanttoobe, a 4-year-old colt by Complexity, finished off the board in three consecutive starts before the procedure.
“Given his last few races, we figured something was amiss,” assistant trainer Tana Aubrey said after Suremeanttobe captured his seasonal debut on January 16. “We knew he was a better horse than that. We scoped him and saw a little something going on in there. [The surgery] worked. We’ve always thought he had some ability. He can get his air now.”
Kasey K Racing Stable, Michael Day, and Final Turn Racing Stable’s Twisted Ride, a 7-year-old gelding by Great Notion and a multiple stakes winner, returns to Laurel after finishing third in a high-level allowance at Parx on February 4. Prior to that, he finished sixth in the $100,000 Fire Plug Overnight Handicap at Laurel on January 17.
Twisted Ride finished second in last year’s $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint at Laurel Park and has earned nearly $800,000 throughout his career.
“He tries really hard,” Moore said admiringly. “When we were at Laurel two back, he missed the break, and that basically took his race away from him. He will always show speed. He fights. Head-to-head, it doesn’t seem to bother him. That’s just the way he runs. The one thing he does not do – he will not run on an off track. If it comes up sloppy at all, he can’t run.”
S S Sinatra finished a close second in this race last year. A game allowance winner two starts ago, S S Sinatra finished eighth of nine in the Fire Plug. Kerry Hohlbein trains S S Sinatra for 3 Reasons Racing.
Hard Ten Stables’ All the Hardways also entered the Not For Love.
The Not For Love Stakes is named after the legendary Maryland stallion. Named Maryland Stallion of the Year 13 times, Not For Love sired 91 stakes winners and is the broodmare sire of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome.
*Takethemoneyhoney favored in Conniver.
Win or lose, Takethemoneyhoney always shows up.
The 5-year-old mare by Golden Lad has raced nine times, with six wins and three second-place finishes. When other horses beat her, they don’t win by much.
Her first defeat happened last year in a first-level allowance at Aqueduct on the Ides of March, when she finished a nose behind Catherine Wheel. Three races later, she was beaten by a narrow head in Laurel’s $100,000 Willa On the Move Stakes. Last month, she was nosed out in the $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes.
“That was tough,” Moore said about the Barbara Fritchie race. “I thought the winner, Passage East, who ran great, had a slightly better trip than we did. We had to go head-to-head with [the pacesetter], then brace for [Passage East] coming outside of us. She ran all the way to the wire. She just got beat. She couldn’t have tried any harder.”
Takethemoneyhoney, who will ship down from Parx for the same ownership group as stablemate Twisted Ride, was listed as DeRosa’s 3/5 morning line favorite in the Conniver.
John Middleton’s Grayson’s Girl is the 3/1 second choice on DeRosa’s morning line.
Grayson’s Girl, the winner of last year’s Safely Kept Stakes, made a successful seasonal debut, coming from behind to win a second-level allowance on February 22.
“I felt like she traveled with confidence,” said trainer Brittany Russell. “She’s a pretty tough, gritty little filly.”
Dwelling Legacy, a 5-year-old homebred owned by Frank Perri’s Pinochle Partners, won two of her last three races, including a 3 1/4-length victory in an allowance race on February 20.
Trainer Gary Capuano works with the Blofeld mare, who has an interesting backstory.
“Her mom colicked the day she was born, and I had to get a nurse mare,” Perri explained. “It was a tough road, but she’s toughened it out and proved her mettle. Gary has done a fantastic job developing this horse. She’s grown up a little, and we were lucky.”
Teresa Beste’s You’re the One turns back in distance for trainer Lynn Ashby. The 6-year-old Bandbox mare won her last two races around two turns at Parx. Before her recent performances over longer distances, You’re the One had secured seven wins in sprint races.
Jean Mahoney and Mary Jo Amlie’s Destination defeated claiming competition in her last two races for trainer Miguel Vera.
Isabella’s Glory, owned by Barak Farm and Dino’s Thoroughbreds, completes the field.
The Conniver Stakes is named after Conniver, the Champion Older Female of 1948. Inducted into the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2021, Conniver won 15 races, including major stakes such as the Beldame, Brooklyn Handicap, Comely, and Vagrancy Handicap.
