Find Stakes tops trio of Maryland-bred contests

Laurel Park will celebrate all things Maryland on Saturday with three $75,000 stakes races, expanded food and drink offerings, local artisans, and a ball cap giveaway to everyone who buys a program.

The stakes are restricted to Maryland-bred or -sired horses. The Find and the All Brandy are 1 1/8-mile turf races, and the Miss Disco is a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.

A fourth stakes, the Star de Naskra, was planned but canceled after attracting only three entries, in no small part due to the expected participation of Greatbullsoffire. Last year, at 2, Greatbullsoffire won the Maryland Million Nursery and the Maryland Futurity for trainer Hamilton Smith.

The Star de Naskra would have been his first start at 3.

“I couldn’t believe it when they told me they didn’t make it,” Smith said. “I’m going to have to start looking around now. I may have to work him next week.”

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The Find is the best of the three stakes and will match Phlash Phelps, English Minister, and Talk Show Man, who were separated by a neck when finishing first, second, and third in the June 24 Mister Diz, a six-furlong turf sprint for statebreds.

Talk Show Man has since come back to win a no-conditions allowance at a mile on turf for Smith. Phlash Phelps, who is trained by Rodney Jenkins, and English Minister, who will be sent out by Mike Trombetta, both will be stretching out a quarter-mile in distance Saturday. All three runners are better suited by 1 1/8 miles than six furlongs.

Phlash Phelps won the Find in 2015, but last year finished third, beaten a half-length, after a tricky inside trip when the race was held at Pimlico. English Minister finished fast to be second in the 2016 renewal, beaten a neck.

Phlash Phelps and Talk Show Man [fourth in the 2015 Find], have accounted for the last three editions of the Maryland Million Turf. Phlash Phelps won the Turf in 2015 and 2016, while Talk Show Man won it in 2014.

Talk Show Man, 7, has made four starts this year after spending 17 months on the sidelines from November 2015 until this April.

“We really just laid him up to give him a rest,” Smith said. “He’d just backed off his feed and lost a little weight. Then things developed on the farm and he needed more time. We brought him back, but he wasn’t right, so we sent him back to the farm. It just took a while to get him back.”

Talk Show Man, Phlash Phelps, and English Minister all do their best running from off the pace and there really isn’t a confirmed front-runner in the 10-horse field. The 3-year-old Just Howard, who is trained by Graham Motion, and Tizzarunner, who will be making his first start of the year and first for Mike Maker, have as much speed as anyone.

Favoritism will likely come down to Phlash Phelps and Talk Show Man, both of whom are popular locally. Talk Show Man may rate a slight edge off his hard-charging July victory.

“His last three races were excellent, I thought,” Smith said. “But it’s a pretty competitive race. Any one of four or five can win it, I think.”

Pace will be key in All Brandy

The All Brandy, sister race to the Find, should have a lively pace.

Daylight Ahead has good speed and is stretching out in distance off a June 24 victory in the six-furlong Jameela for trainer Hugh McMahon. Bawler Hon, trained by Mark Shuman, has made only one turf start in her 19-race career, and also has good speed.

A fair pace could set the race up for Devilish Love, who finished fourth, beaten two lengths, in the Jameela but is now stretching out to a more suitable distance.

Devilish Love has been moved back to the barn of Steve Klesaris since her last race. Devilish Love made her first four starts for Klesaris in 2013. Owned by Joseph Imbesi, she has also done two stints with Tony Dutrow, and spent time with trainers Ben Perkins Jr., and Lupe Preciado.

Stakes debut for Ascertain

The nine-horse Miss Disco will match Crabcakes, Le Weekend, and Ascertain.

Crabcakes, who won the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship in December, will be trying to end a four-race losing streak. Trained by Bernie Houghton, she finished second in three of those races – all stakes – to the talented runners Shimmering Aspen and Astrollinthepark.

Ascertain, who is based in New York with Bill Mott, will be making her stakes debut. She won a Maryland-bred first-level allowance at Pimlico in late May, then was nailed in deep stretch for a neck loss in an open first-level allowance at Laurel on July 1. The winner of that race, Face the Nation, also is entered in the Miss Disco.

If Crabcakes and Ascertain set too hot of a pace, the race could set up for Le Weekend. Trained by Tim Keefe, Le Weekend had to steady along the inner rail entering the far turn of the Jameela, a six-furlong turf race, and lost position. She persevered in the stretch but finished fifth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths.