bably Dreaming overcomes stumbling start

LAUREL, MD – “Horses like her, it’s a joy to ride them,” Tais Lyapustina said after guiding Ginger Girl to a win in Saturday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park, a $40,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares at seven furlongs. “The one-dimensional ones make your job a little trickier.”

It’s Ginger Girl’s versatility that impresses Lyapustina. They’ve won five races together, and it hasn’t mattered whether they lead throughout, race from off the pace, sprint, or travel around two turns.

Simply put, Ginger Girl is all racehorse.

Since returning from a winter layoff for trainer Joanne Shankle, Ginger Girl won all three starts on fast dirt, beginning with a one-turn mile victory on March 8. The 5-year-old Alternation mare took a two-turn route at 1 1/16 miles on May 24, then successfully cut back in distance this afternoon.

Ginger Girl broke nicely from the far outside post in the seven-horse field and tracked the pace outside Lovely Charm and Golden Charm through an opening quarter clocking of 24.46 seconds.

Golden Charm backed out of there after a half-mile in 48.52, and Lyapustina pushed the button aboard Ginger Girl.

“I was hoping that I could tail the speed,” Lyapustina explained. “She’s always had pretty good tactical speed in races. Even going seven-eighths, I’ve found that once she has a good break, you let her do her thing the first few jumps and then try to settle and save some horse and try to rate her if you can. If she wants to go, and she’s going easy enough, then let her go.”

Ginger Girl attacked Lovely Charm from the outside and poked a head in front. Too Many Kisses, the winner of the 2024 Conniver Stakes, rallied outside under Sheldon Russell, but the late bid fell a half-length short.

“She never stopped trying,” said Lyapustina. “The whole way down the stretch, I knew that [Too Many Kisses] was coming, and she just kept digging in and finding more.”

Ginger Girl stepped the distance in 1:26.48 and returned $9 as the second choice in the betting. I’m a Cutie Pie placed third, 1 ¼ lengths behind Too Many Kisses. Lovely Charm, favored My Flicker, Golden Charm, and Haint Blue completed the order of finish.

Ginger Girl was bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Robertson and Brenda Robertson. A $21,000 yearling purchase, she was claimed by Shankle for $30,000 out of a runner-up effort in her career debut.

Ginger Girl won twice for Shankle before being claimed for $10,000 by Kieron Magee out of a second-place finish on November 9, 2023.

Shankle knew what she had, however, and she immediately reclaimed Ginger Girl for $12,500 on December 3. Since then, Ginger Girl has won seven times from fifteen starts. She boasts a record of nine wins from 30 races with $259,738.

*Probably Dreaming overcomes stumbling start

Twenty-four hours after Dreaming of Alys posted a professional score, trainer Gary Capuano celebrated another juvenile debut winner with Probably Dreaming.

Breaking from the inside post under jockey Carlos Lopez, Probably Dreaming ($8) stumbled leaving the gate and was last after the opening quarter in the 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-olds.

Unfazed by the poor start, Lopez maneuvered Probably Dreaming outside and in the clear, and they gradually advanced on the leaders on the turn.

Probably Dreaming swung four wide into the stretch, changed leads, and was off to the races, prevailing by 3 ½ lengths in 1:07.29 seconds. G Q Worthy nipped favored Let’s Go Lando for second. Then came Mister Roscoe, Hoppetosse, Mose Smokin, and El Papacito.

“To recover from that [start], it shows a lot of grit and ability,” said Capuano’s son, Phil Capuano, a successful trainer in his own right. Phil Capuano deputized for his dad as Gary saddled Malibu Beauty to upset the $150,000 Obeah Stakes at Delaware on Saturday. “He was pulling away [late].”

Phil Capuano praised Lopez’s ride. “He kept him in the clear. He didn’t gun up.”

Bred in Kentucky by Tropical Racing, Probably Dreaming was purchased for $37,000 as a yearling. Owned by Larry Fowler, Probably Dreaming is a colt by Improbable out of three-time winner Dreaming as Always. The second dam, Leonor Fini, was multiple stakes placed on turf. Probably Dreaming hails from the family of French 2,000 Guineas winner Riverman.

Probably Dreaming was Capuano’s fourth juvenile debut winner at Laurel Park this year, following in the hoofsteps of Just Philtored, Worker Bee, and Dreaming of Alys.

“Knowing my father, he’ll go to the farm for a little bit,” Phil Capuano mentioned regarding Probably Dreaming’s short-term plans.

*Around the track

Live racing resumes on Sunday with a special 11-race program. The first post time is 12:10 ET, and there will be THREE “Value Pick 5” wagers with a low 12% takeout rate…Sunday’s featured race is the $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 5 ½ furlongs on turf… Laurel Park hosts steeplechase racing for the first time in 25 years. The opening race on the Sunday program is a $40,000 maiden special weight for 4-year-olds and upward at 2 1/8 miles. The big name in the field is British Royalty, who captured the Breeders’ Stakes, the third jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, in 2023. Now conditioned by Katherine Neilson, British Royalty finished third in a maiden special weight over jumps at Malvern on May 17…The second race, also at 2 1/8 miles, is a $45,000 “non-winners of two” allowance. Travesuras, second in the Daniel Van Clief Memorial Hurdle Stakes at Foxfield on April 26, looms a prime contender along with Sa’ad, who was stakes-placed over the flat in his native France.