Passage East takes What A Summer Overnight Handicap

By Vinnie Perrone

LAUREL, MD--On a cold, gray afternoon, Takethemoneyhoney cut a vivid figure through the Laurel Park homestretch.

Carrying Eliseo Ruiz in fluorescent green silks and the laden hopes of horseplayers, Takethemoneyhoney slipped free of two dogged pursuers through the far turn and scampered to a 6 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Geisha Stakes as a 1-10 favorite.

The mare's third stakes victory, and sixth overall in eight starts, scripted another colorful passage in the unlikely racing tale of breeder and co-owner Bob Krangel of Kasey K Racing. He and wife Sue live in New Jersey and board at Sylmar Farm in Pennsylvania a single broodmare, Goodonehoney, whom they bred to Golden Lad in 2020. Goodonehoney delivered her first foal, Maryland-bred Takethemoneyhoney, the following April.

The rangy bay with a dab of forehead white again toasted the means and discretion of trainer Michael Moore, who's managed the 5-year-old mare's periodic soundness issues with scarcely a hiccup. When she hasn't won, Takethemoneyhoney has missed victory by a head and a nose.

Takethemoneyhoney went seven months unraced after her debut victory, July 2024, then found a six-month layoff last year. "Horses have issues," Moore said. "We gave her time off, let her get herself together."

The results have spoken, the Geisha bumping Takethemoneyhoney's lifetime haul to $311,770, or $38,971 per start, for Kasey K and co-owners Michael Day and Final Turn Racing Stable.

An adaptable mare that can speed or rate, Takethemoneyhoney took the early lead from post 6, found pressure from Late Nite Call inside and Kissedbyanangel outside along the backstretch and into the far turn, which brought jockey Ruiz no upset.

"She was, like, galloping," he said.

As the favorite pushed away, Ruiz peeked under a shoulder and enjoyed the ride. Takethemoneyhoney cruised under wraps the final half-furlong and finished a mile in 1:38.81.

Navani, the highest price of seven starters at 32-1, rallied along the rail under Martin Chuan to take second by two lengths over 16-1 Late Nite Call. By then, Takethemoneyhoney was galloping out after another sparkler.

"She's a runner," Ruiz said. "She's special."

Trainer Moore offered neither counterpoint nor itinerary. A one-turn mile like the Geisha, and the company of Maryland-breds, he said, suit the mare nicely. The Geisha was restricted to fillies and mares bred or sired in Maryland or Virginia.

Owner Krangel captured with a quip the wondrous racing deeds of Takethemoneyhoney and homebred stablemate Twisted Ride, a near $800,000 earner that finished sixth in the $100,000 Fire Plug Handicap later on the card.

"People think that I know what I'm doing," Krangel said. "We're just lucky as hell."

*Passage East takes What a Summer Overnight Handicap

Four days after Christmas, 2024, Hugh McMahon saw the light.

The faith-driven trainer had a revelation at Laurel Park that appeared as a dark 2-year-old filly. "She was big, beautiful, desirable," McMahon said. "Wow."

McMahon made Passage East a $30,000 claim for fellow believer Larry Rabold of Lancaster, Pa., with divine results. In her 4-year-old debut today, Passage East continued her ascension by taking the $100,000 What a Summer Overnight Handicap over spirited challenger Dwelling Legacy.

Bolt Enoree finished third, Disco Ebo fourth, Vieux Carre fifth, and 124-pound highweight Hold Your Breath sixth and last after setting a rapid pace as 3-5 favorite.

With the $60,000 score, Passage East pushed her post-claim earnings to $350,893, her record to 11-7-3-1 and her stable to try to explain the unexplainable. A trainer's plans and horse's means so often go awry, McMahon said, yet Passage East has found an uninterrupted pilgrimage through 2025 and into the new year.

"I've been careful with the filly, with a bit of divine supervision," he said. "You can only calculate so much. There are a lot of variables that are invisible, left in the unseen realm. I'm a man of prayer. We've been led from one race to another."

The mystery took hold in earnest last April, when McMahon left Laurel Park to start Passage East in a Kentucky-bred maiden race at Keeneland largely to avoid any 3-year-old trained by Maryland stalwart Brittany Russell. Passage East won that race and six of the next seven.

Shouldering 120 pounds and second choice at 5-2, she mastered the What a Summer Overnight Handicap in accustomed style, staying close to the lead, advancing through the turn, closing with sufficient vigor. Dwelling Legacy proved tenacious after putting away Hold Your Breath and ceding the lead to Passage East and jockey Sheldon Russell soon into the stretch, but ended three-quarters of a length shy. Bolt Enoree held third as a 31-1 longshot.

Passage East negotiated the six furlongs in 1:11.90.

A Kentucky-bred by Audible from the Congrats mare Salten Sapity, Passage East has finished third or better in all 13 starts and reached another new height today. Intentional or not, McMahon concluded with a parable involving an unseen phenomenon.

"For her, the confidence of winning, it's like wind in the sail," he said.