It’s a Toledo Triple!
LAUREL, MD—Jockey Joe Rocco Jr. and trainer John Salzman Jr. have a long history.
“He was my agent twenty years ago, back when his dad had Xtra Heat,” Rocco said after guiding Rerun Table to a gate-to-wire triumph in Saturday’s featured eighth race, a $50,000 optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.
Dismissed by the betting public as the longest shot on the tote board, Rerun Table was the fastest from the gate. She cleared to the lead and the rail through an opening quarter in a reasonable 23.83 seconds, opened a clear advantage after a half-mile clocked at 47.27 seconds, and never had any trouble handling a quality field.
Rerun Table streaked home under the wire, finishing 3¾ lengths ahead of stakes-winner Slewperstitus. Stakes-placed Our Golden Gator finished another three lengths back in third. Sweet Shenanigans placed fourth and was followed home by stakes-placed Momaxie and Soaring Angel.
“John and I thought that our best chance was to send her on out of there and let her skip on up,” Rocco said. “Every time I needed her, she was there for me. We turned for home, she switched leads on me, and she cut.”
Rerun Table completed the distance in 1:11.90 on the fast track and paid $28.60 to win. She was Salzman’s second winner this afternoon.
Bred in Maryland by Dreamtime Stables and Candyland Farm, Rerun Table is by Blofeld out of D D Renegade, by Medallist, and is a half-sister to stakes-placed Jamaican Don.
Purchased for $8,000 by Bird and Grady LLC, Rerun Table was sent to Salzman’s shed row, where the trainer immediately took a liking to the bay filly.
Rerun Table graduated at first asking in a half-mile maiden special weight race at Timonium. “Brittany [Russell] had one in there coming from Saratoga that was real fast,” Salzman Jr. mentioned. “[The jockey] didn’t panic. Turning for home, I still didn’t think she’d get there, and she still got up even when lugging in and all.”
Rerun Table then finished fifth in the Maryland Million Lassie. “I think she’s a nice filly, and I always did,” Salzman said before that race. “I had her ready for one of the first 2-year-old races [of the year], and she got hurt like two days before the race, and I had to give her some time off. At that time, I thought she’d win that race. She’s a professional.”
Since the Maryland Million, Rerun Table has been consistent, winning three of six starts. She has earned $138,275.
*It’s a Toledo Triple!
Jockey Jevian Toledo won three turf races at Laurel Park on Saturday.
A native of Puerto Rico, Toledo executed a perfect pocket trip aboard Salzman’s Salty One ($17.20) in the third race.
He rode Gift of Gab ($3.60) with supreme confidence in the fifth race for trainer Suzanne Stettinius, angling the veteran mare into the clear turning into the long stretch before storming home.
Toledo then rallied down the center of the track aboard Annette Eubanks’s Lovely Lookin Lili ($23.60) in the eighth race.
Toledo, 31, is the winningest jockey in the history of the Jim McKay Maryland Million. He has won 1,805 races out of 10,667 mounts, earning $64,208,072, and won the year-end riding title in Maryland in 2015, 2017, 2022, and 2023.
*Around the track:
Live racing resumes Sunday with a nine-race card. Additionally, Laurel Park offers two “Value Pick 5” wagers, each with a low 12% takeout rate.
The free “Laurel Park Handicapping Guide” is available on every race day. It provides picks, analysis, trainer stats, trip notes, horses to watch, track bias info, and more from The Maryland Jockey Club’s team of handicappers. Sunday’s guide is available. Click here to view it.
Reserve your spot for our weekly “Bubbly Brunch Sundays.” Kick back with friends over delicious brunch favorites and bottomless mimosas at our vibrant Stone Bar Restaurant and Bar. Sunday Brunch starts at 11:00 am ET. For more information, click here.
Enjoy all the excitement of the Kentucky Derby at Laurel Park’s “Kentucky Derby Watch Party and Buffet.” Take in live racing at Laurel Park and the full simulcast of races from Churchill Downs, including the “Run for the Roses.” For ticket information and the full menu, visit here.
Never miss a second of the action on the Laurel Park YouTube channel. Click here to watch full pan and head-on replays.
Watch “Today at the Races,” the Maryland Jockey Club’s morning handicapping show every racing day at 11 am ET on the Maryland Jockey Club X account. Click here to watch.
