Ultimate Love Heads Selima

Laurel Park Hosts Autumn Handicapping Challenge

LAUREL, MD — Impressive debut winner Proton steps up in class and distance in Saturday’s $125,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

The Laurel Futurity is one of two stakes races on an 11-race program that drew 119 entries for an average of 10.8 horses per race. Sharing top billing on the excellent betting card is the $125,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Plus, Laurel Park hosts the Autumn Handicapping Challenge, a hybrid on-site and online contest. The $500 buy-in gives entrants a $250 live money bankroll. Players must bet a minimum of five Laurel Park live races with a $50 minimum wager per race. Bets are limited to Win, Place, Show, Exacta, and Daily Double. Prizes include cash, a full seat to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and two National Handicapping Championship prize packs.

A gelded son of Astern owned by Stone Farm, Clyde Linwood Miles Jr., Ken Wheeler Jr, Lynwood Napier, and Deborah Easter, Proton professionally snatched his debut, racing 5 ½ furlongs at Colonial Downs on August 20 for trainer Graham Motion.

Ed DeRosa of Horse Racing Nation tabbed Proton as the tepid 3-1 morning line favorite in the Laurel Futurity. He drew post four with Jorge Ruiz aboard.

“The question is what was behind him,” Motion said of Proton’s debut. “It was a restricted race. But, he couldn’t have done it more impressively.”

Proton completed his morning preparations with a half-mile breeze in company with recent Kentucky Downs maiden winner Turf Star.

“He’s done well,” Motion mentioned. “I had the dilemma of whether we could run back very quickly at Colonial, or take our time and run him back here. We decided to take the conservative route.”

Jutland, a homebred owned by NBS Stable and trained by Kelsey Danner, recently placed second in Colonial’s Kitten’s Joy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on September 6.

A colt by Raging Bull, Jutland won his career debut at Horseshoe Indianapolis despite “still figuring the game out,” according to Danner. The trainer was pleased with Jutland’s Kitten’s Joy performance, a race won in gate-to-wire fashion by Casa Cielo. Jutland breaks from the rail under Axel Concepcion.

While Jutland drew inside, Sunrise was assigned the far outside post position. Trained by Todd Pletcher for Harrell Ventures, Sunrise is a full brother to Grade 1-winning turf router Spendarella and multiple stakes-winner Spanish Loveaffair. Another half-sibling, Spanish Queen, scored the Grade 1 American Oaks on turf in 2015.

Sunrise showed improved speed in his second start at Saratoga, a maiden special weight at 1 1/16 miles on August 31. He prompted a slow pace, then gamely fended off all challengers to prevail by a head. Mychel Sanchez rides Sunrise on Saturday.

Trainer Kenny McPeek entered two horses in the Laurel Futurity. Sultan Racing’s S S Quality races on grass for the first time after notching a maiden victory travelling seven-eighths at Colonial on September 6. A son of Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality and Grade 1 Spinster Stakes heroine Romantic Vision, S S Quality should have enough pedigree to last the extra distance. Daniel Centeno rides from post five.

Green Light Day made his turf and route debut a winning one by taking advantage of a quick pace to roll by maiden special weight competition at Colonial on September 12. Bred by Magdalena Racing, the Unified colt runs in partnership with Robert Calabrese, and breaks from post six under Christopher Elliott.

Gerar Stable’s Parkes opened some eyes when storming past seven others to grab his career debut racing 5 ½ furlongs on September 14. Purchased for $3,250 as a foal as part of a three-in-one package along with his dam, Grant Park, who was in foal to Paynter, Parkes overcame a slow start.

“That was one of my most exciting wins,” trainer Suzanne Stettinius told TMJC’s Mackenzie Pfeiffer. “You’d have thought it was the Kentucky Derby. I did everything with him – broke him, trained him. When he got left at the start, I just hoped he wouldn’t be last. Then, he started moving up. I thought maybe he could be third. Then, he just fired.”

Jeiron Barbosa climbs aboard Parkes from post seven.

Majestic Blue and Blue Forty Two, the two-three finishers in Delaware’s Dover Stakes on August 14, both try turf for the first time.

Debut winner Blue Suede Hooves and stakes-placed Kid Charlemagne complete the field. Probably Dreaming runs Main Track Only.

Morvich won the inaugural Laurel Futurity in 1921 and would go on to capture the Kentucky Derby the following spring. Since then, the winner’s list reads like a who’s who of racing legends. Triple Crown champions Count Fleet, Citation, Secretariat, and Affirmed all cut their teeth in the Laurel Futurity, along with future Kentucky Derby winners Barbaro, Spectacular Bid, Riva Ridge, and Jet Pilot.

*Ultimate Love heads Selima

Ultimate Love, unbeaten after two impressive victories at one mile, makes her stakes debut for trainer Michael Trombetta in the Selima Stakes as DeRosa’s 3-1 morning line favorite.

A homebred daughter of Curlin owned by Live Oak Plantation, Ultimate Love won her debut by 2 ¾ lengths at Colonial on July 24, then dominated a first-level allowance group at Laurel on September 5 by 6 ¾ lengths.

“I didn’t know how she would do on the turf,” Trombetta admitted in the winner’s circle after the most recent start. “From when we ran her on it the first time at Colonial, all the feedback was good, so here we are again. Curlin will get you dirt. The dam-side is more turf. What I like about this filly is that I think she’s going to be a mile-and-an-eighth, mile-and-a-quarter type of filly.”

Ultimate Love breaks from post three. Jorge Ruiz rides.

Motion counters with two entrants. Amberia, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Ken Reimer, makes her North American debut after finishing last of ten in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot on July 26.

“She seems pretty classy,” Motion said. “Hopefully, she’s fit enough. I’ve only given her the two [workouts]. But, it’s the time of year where you need to find out what you’ve got.”

Jockey Victor Carrasco drove up to Fair Hill to breeze Amberia a half-mile in company with unraced juvenile filly Swindelle on September 19. Amberia drew post seven.

Immediately inside Amberia is her uncoupled stablemate, Wertheimer & Frere’s homebred Autonome. The Munnings filly graduated in her third attempt, a 7 ½ furlong maiden special weight at Delaware on August 28. Autonome wore blinkers for the first time that afternoon.

“The blinkers definitely helped, but also having the racing experience [helped her improve],” Motion added. Kevin Gomez retains the mount.

Repole Stable purchased Celebrity Warrior for approximately $109,000 as a European weanling, and she ran a game second in her debut at Saratoga on August 22. The Saxon Warrior filly, a half-sister to juvenile Group 3 winner Rumble Inthejungle and juvenile Group 2-placed performer Great Prospector, pushed a solid early pace, opened a clear advantage after working hard through a quick third quarter, then was kicked down in the stretch.

Celebrity Warrior breaks from the rail for jockey Sanchez and trainer Pletcher.

Danner and Concepcion team up again with Lovely Grey, a Vekoma filly owned by JoAnn Adams and Anna Marie Carrico. A winner of her turf debut, a maiden special weight racing 1 1/16 miles at Colonial on August 14, Lovely Grey then finished sixth at 6 ½ furlongs in a first-level allowance at Kentucky Downs on September 7

“We always thought she was long on the turf,” said Danner, who felt the distance of the most recent race was too sharp. Lovely Grey starts from post two.

Spitfire, owned by Arindel and trained by McPeek, placed second in Monmouth’s Sorority Stakes on dirt on August 17. The McKinzie filly, a half-sister to multiple stakes-placed turf sprinter Two of a Kind, makes her initial start on grass. Elliott rides from post four.

She’s Country, a six-length debut winner of a restricted maiden special weight at Saratoga on August 13, starts for trainer George Weaver, who won the 2023 Selima with fellow New York-bred Brocknardini. She’s Country races for West Point Thoroughbreds, James Politano, and LVD Racing. Jevian Toledo rides from post nine.

Maiden winners Oscar’s Encore and My Lady Jbella, and maidens Sweet Little Lila and Beach Ballad, also entered.

Past winners of the Selima Stakes include Hall of Famers Busher, Bed o’ Roses, Shuvee, La Prevoyante, and Mom’s Command. Motion’s Sharing won the race in 2019 en route to taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.