Alwaysmining tries two turns in Private Terms

Alwaysmining has been unstoppable in one-turn races at Laurel since October, winning four in a row, three of them stakes.

On Saturday a new test awaits in the $100,000 Private Terms at Laurel. At about 1 1/16 miles on the main track, the race marks Alwaysmining’s first attempt around two turns, and there are some fresh challengers to face him. They include Joevia, runner-up in the Feb. 9 Jimmy Winkfield at Aqueduct, and Still Dreaming, the seventh-place finisher from the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa on Feb. 9.

The Private Terms, one of five stakes at Laurel on Saturday, is the second local stakes race for 3-year-olds to serve as a stepping-stone to the May 18 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. It follows the one-mile Miracle Wood from Feb. 16, a race Alwaysmining won on the lead, and precedes the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio on April 20, which provides an automatic berth into the Preakness for Triple Crown-nominated horses.

Besides his victory in the Miracle Wood, Alwaysmining won the Maryland Juvenile Futurity and Heft, both at seven furlongs at Laurel. All those wins, as well as an earlier allowance score back in October, came in front-running fashion under jockey Daniel Centeno, who has a return assignment Saturday in the Private Terms. Alwaysmining carries high weight of 122 pounds.

Alwaysmining has the pedigree to route. He is a son of Stay Thirsty, who won the 2011 Travers at 1 1/4 miles, and his dam, the Anees mare What Will Be, won as far as 1 1/8 miles on grass.

“I’m confident he can do it,” trainer Kelly Rubley said of racing two turns. “The way he gallops in the mornings, he can go forever.”

Alwaysmining is not alone in lacking route experience. Of his six rivals, only Red Gum, whom Rubley also trains, has won a two-turn race, having taken a first-level allowance by 6 1/4 lengths when racing 1 1/16 miles at Laurel on Feb. 21.

Joevia, second choice on the morning line at 7-2 behind 4-5 Alwaysmining, has not even raced beyond seven furlongs. But what he has shown in shorter races has been encouraging. Most recently in the Jimmy Winkfield, he dueled for the lead after starting a step slowly and was beaten a neck by Haikal, next-out winner of the Grade 3 Gotham.

Since then he has recorded three works over the Belmont training track, two of which were among the fastest of the morning.

“We’ll evaluate where we stand after the race,” trainer Greg Sacco said. “If he runs well, one of the major Derby preps could be a possibility.”

Another Private Terms threat is Still Dreaming, a half-brother to 2016 Derby winner Nyquist. After being outrun in the Sam F. Davis, he returns to a Laurel strip over which he won a maiden race at a mile Jan. 1. He worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.60 seconds at Tampa on March 9.

“I want to give him one more shot to see if he’s the caliber I think he is,” trainer Graham Motion told Laurel publicity.

In addition to the males in the Private Terms, 3-year-old fillies are in action Saturday at Laurel in the Beyond The Wire, a mile dirt race headed by Las Setas, winner of the Wide Country at Laurel on Feb. 16.

A speedy daughter of Seville, Las Setas appears the filly to catch, and over her last couple of starts at Laurel no one has been able to do that. She led throughout in the seven-furlong Wide Country, just as she did in a maiden score at Laurel on Jan. 20. Her only loss in three starts came when she ran sixth over a sloppy track in her debut.

Jevian Toledo rides for trainer Katherine Voss, who also bred and co-owns Las Setas.

Las Setas is the lone stakes winner in the eight-horse Beyond The Wire, though Crafty’s Dream, Afleet Destiny, and Our Super Freak have managed second- or third-place finishes in stakes. Afleet Destiny rallied to finish second in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct in her final start at 2 and then closed to be third in the Busanda there on Feb. 3 in her seasonal bow.

Other prominent entries include Gulfstream Park maiden winner It Justhitthe Wire and Destiny Over Fate, who took a Laurel allowance Feb. 22.

– Additional reporting by Jim Dunleavy