Forest Boyce rides two winners

LAUREL, MD—Tim Keefe has shown great patience with Too Many Kisses, and the seasoned mare rewarded her trainer on Friday with a solid 2 ½ length victory in Laurel Park’s ninth race, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

Too Many Kisses broke well from the rail and was guided to a pocket position on the first turn under Forest Boyce, who rode her second winner of the day.

Up front, Old Bay controlled leisurely fractions of 24.65 and 50.17 seconds while being prompted from the outside by both Estocada and Shirl’s Delight.

Old Bay dispatched her pace challengers after passing the six-furlong mark in 1:16.28, but Boyce eased Too Many Kisses off the inside for a clear run at the leader.

Too Many Kisses overtook Old Bay at the eighth pole and finished in 1:49.21 on a fast, sealed track. Old Bay finished second, five lengths ahead of the favorite Disco Rules. The Goddess Factor, Shirl’s Delight, Secret Journey, and Estocada followed.

Bred in Maryland, Too Many Kisses is a 6-year-old mare by Arrogate. She was bred by Keefe and Cynthia McGinnes and is owned by McGinnes and Francis Clemens.

“She has plenty of ability,” Keefe said. “She’s just been unlucky. Cynthia and Fran have been patient. She’s a neat filly, but she’s tough [to handle]. She gets a lot out of her training, and she knows what to do.”

Unraced at two, Too Many Kisses became a maiden winner in her fourth start, running six furlongs as a 3-year-old. The next season, she won the restricted Conniver Stakes at seven-eighths of a mile.

Too Many Kisses began her 5-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the restricted Geisha Stakes at one mile, but she raced only twice more that season.

“I was really looking forward to a big year last year,” Keefe admitted. “Then she got hurt with a condylar fracture, and we had to screw her back together. Everything went great. I was sure that Cynthia was going to stop and breed her, but she [told me] that she had plenty of broodmares, and [that] hopefully we have a good, clean year this year.”

Too Many Kisses is a rarity these days because she doesn’t race with Lasix. However, she has worn a hood in her last three races.

“She gets herself wound up,” Keefe said of Too Many Kisses. “In the paddock, if you watch me saddle her, I always do it in the same spot. She’s not terrible. She’s just always on the go. Forest [advised me] to try the hood with her just to quiet things down. I think it has helped her.”

Too Many Kisses returned from a 274-day layoff to finish fifth in a second-level allowance race at seven furlongs on March 15. Thirteen days later, she finished third, directly behind stablemate The Goddess Factor, at this course and distance.

Too Many Kisses is a half-sister to Still Having Fun, who won the Grade 2 Woody Stephens Stakes for Keefe in 2018.

She boasts a record of five wins from 17 starts, earning $252,710.

Keefe provided updates on two of his top 3-year-olds.

Stakes-winner Code of Silence, who finished sixth in last Saturday’s Federico Tesio Stakes, “came out fine. I can’t come up with the reason for the performance. I was a little disappointed. I knew we were stepping up a little bit. He’s done everything right. Nine races in that short period of time. We’re going to back off just a little, find some easier spots, maybe build his confidence a little bit.”

Top Manipulator, who has reeled off three consecutive victories, including a high-level allowance last Friday, is being pointed for Laurel Park’s $150,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-olds at six furlongs on the Preakness Stakes undercard.

Keefe stated that Top Manipulator earned his first two victories despite “not knowing what he was doing, [racing] on the wrong lead both times. We got a little more time with him, and he was a little more educated [in the recent win].”

*Around the track:

Live racing resumes Saturday 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. Saturday’s guide is available. Click here to view it.

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