My Sweet Affair Tops Turf Sprint on Sunday’s Father’s Day Card
Doctor Davis Prescribed Stakes Following Saturday Feature Win

LAUREL, MD – With momentum on his side and a date at Royal Ascot next week, trainer George Weaver will have one final starter before running overseas in R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables’ My Sweet Affair for Sunday’s $100,000 Stormy Blues at Laurel Park.

The Stormy Blues, scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the Bowl Game turf course, is the headliner on a nine-race Father’s Day program that starts at 12:25 p.m. Carded as Race 8, post time for the Stormy Blues is 4:06 p.m.

My Sweet Affair is the 7-5 program favorite in a field of eight 3-year-old fillies that includes Alva Star, entered for main track only. A daughter of Grade 1 winner Twirling Candy, My Sweet Affair went unraced at 2 and was a popular 2 ½-length maiden special weight winner over 10 rivals in debut sprinting five furlongs on the Gulfstream Park turf March 5.

The following month My Sweet Affair was sent to Kentucky and stretched out to 5 ½ furlongs for her stakes debut in the Limestone, rallying from far back to be third by a length behind Wesley Ward-trained multiple stakes winner Love Reigns.

In her most recent start, the 5 ½-furlong Mamzelle May 3 at Churchill Downs, My Sweet Affair chased a fast pace on the outside and moved up to second at the top of the stretch before finishing fourth, beaten 4 ¼ lengths by Danse Macabre, 12-1 upset winner of the one-mile Herecomesthebride (G3) March 4 at Gulfstream.

My Sweet Affair shows a pair of half-mile maintenance works at Belmont Park for the Stormy Blues, where she will be ridden by Feargal Lynch from Post 4.

Also prominent in the Stormy Blues are Bosserati, stakes-placed on dirt and winner of back-to-back sprints at historic Pimlico Race Course since being moved to the turf; Caroline Krystyna, front-running debut winner on the Pimlico grass May 19; 2022 Colleen winner Sweet Harmony; and After Eight, seventh after setting the pace in Pimlico’s one-mile Hilltop May 19.

My Sweet Affair comes to Laurel Park with her trainer on a roll, having won five straight races at Belmont Park beginning June 11 and ending when Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) runner-up Sacred Wish, exiting the May 19 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico, was second in Friday’s finale.

Weaver is scheduled to run two horses during the June 20-24 Royal Ascot meeting, each earning a fees-paid berth and $25,000 shipping stipend courtesy of May 13 stakes wins at Gulfstream – Crimson Advocate in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies and No Nay Mets in the Royal Palm Juvenile.

Crimson Advocate will compete in the Queen Mary (G2) for 2-year-old fillies, the opener on Wednesday’s Royal Ascot program, while No Nay Mets will kick off Thursday’s racing in the Norfolk (G2) for 2-year-olds, both sprinting five furlongs. Irish-bred No Nay Mets, who races for Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros, is the son of 2013 Norfolk winner No Nay Never.

Laurel’s Father’s Day program also includes a second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles in Race 7. Favored at 2-1 on the morning line is Brilliant Chase, claimed out of a three-length win sprinting seven furlongs on Laurel’s main track May 7. Trainer Jamie Ness clicks at 28 percent first off the claim (116 starts), first race off a 45 to 180-day layoff (188 starts) and with horses going from a sprint to a route (211 starts).

Doctor Davis Prescribed Stakes Following Saturday Feature Win

Team Hanley’s Doctor Davis, given a masterful ride by jockey Feargal Lynch, led every step of the way and flirted with a course record to win Saturday’s Race 8 feature at Laurel Park and likely earn himself a shot against stakes company for his next start.

Doctor Davis ($8.40) captured the stakes-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up over seven rivals including graded-stakes winners Double Crown, Flop Shot and his Arnaud Delacour-trained stablemate Eons, as well as stakes winners Bodecream, twice graded-stakes placed, Oceans Map and two-time Maryland-bred champion Joe.

Breaking from Post 2, Doctor Davis quickly found himself on an uncontested lead through fractions of 23.51 and 48.35 seconds tracked closest by Oceans Map and Flop Shot, a French group stakes winner exiting a 2 1/8-mile race over jumps. Doctor Davis maintained his advantage after going six furlongs in 1:12.55 and opened up through the lane to earn his second straight victory.

Royne, similarly coming off a maiden trip over hurdles, closed to be second followed by 3-2 favorite Eons, Oceans Map, Flop Shot, Joe, Double Crown and Bodecream. Shadow Sphinx was scratched.

The winning time of 1:40.63 over a firm Bowl Game turf course approached its track record for 1 1/16 miles of 1:40.41 set by 9-year-old English Minister Aug. 4, 2019.

“He obviously likes that kind of turf,” Delacour said. “He’s very efficient. He’s got a very high cruising speed. Earlier in his career he was really unsettled and the owner, credit to him, gave him plenty of time and gelded him, which a big factor also. It looks like he’s really coming into himself.”

Doctor Davis broke his maiden sprinting six furlongs on the Laurel turf last July, his first start in nine months and his first for Delacour. He has now placed in five of his last six races, three of them wins, including a season-opening triumph going 1 1/16 miles in similar front-running fashion May 19 at historic Pimlico Race Course on the undercard of the Black-Eyed Susan (G2).

Delacour hinted that Doctor Davis and Eons could come back in the $100,000 Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and up, also going 1 1/8 miles on the Laurel turf, July 15. Eons has run in the stakes the past two years, running third by two lengths in 2021 and being placed first via disqualification after being beaten a nose when second behind English Tavern in 2022.

“We’ll have to look at the stakes next month,” Delacour said. “We’ll probably put those two horses together and see how it plays out.”

Notes: The husband-and-wife team of jockey Sheldon Russell and trainer Brittany Russell doubled Saturday with The Addison Pour ($4.60) in Race 5 and Be Better ($4.60) in Race 9 … The Elkstone Group’s 4-year-old Maryland homebred The Addison Pour, favored at 6-5, came with a steady run on the far outside to nail Crabs N Beer at the wire and win the entry-level allowance for Maryland-bred/sired horses 3 and up … … Repole Stable’s homebred Be Better, by champion Uncle Mo, made a bold move into contention on the far turn and wore down longeshot pacesetter Nostalgic Run for his second straight win in the third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up. The winning time was 1:42.82 for about 1 1/16 miles … Stuart Grant’s Elkstone notched a second straight win with 3-year-old homebred gelding Vax a Nation ($6) in Race 6, a maiden claimer for horses ages 3, 4 and 5 … ARD Racing Stables’ Holy Synchronicity ($13) swept past stakes winner Cynergy’s Star at the eighth pole and went on to win Race 7, a second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs, in 1:23.28 under Jean Alvelo … There will be a carryover of $3,577.07 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and $3,308.05 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) for Sunday’s Father’s Day program. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.