Future Is Now overcomes bad break to take The Very One

BALTIMORE, Md. – After the first couple of jumps in the $100,000 The Very One Stakes on Friday afternoon at Pimlico, owner Larry Johnson got nervous. Five-furlong races for fillies and mares on the turf are often won with pure speed, and Johnson’s filly, Future Is Now, a confirmed frontrunner, didn’t make the lead over testing ground officially labeled as good.

“She kind of missed the break,” Johnson said. “She’s been just go to the front. I was not expecting it. I was very worried about the ground. I had run two others today, and this ground is really soft.”

Fortunately for Johnson and trainer Michael Trombetta, Future Is Now adapted beautifully. She dove into the pocket behind pacesetters Shoshanah and Bosserati through an opening quarter-mile in 22 seconds.

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Bosserati drifted turning for home, and Future Is Now eased off the rail to split the two leaders. Shoshanah gave it her all, but Future Is Now asserted her class to drive by and win by 2 1/4 lengths in 58.29.

Shoshanah finished a neck ahead of third-place finisher Hollywood Walk, who is also owned by Johnson and trained by Trombetta. Queen of the Mud, High Class, La Traviesa, Dulce Kiara, Lilly Simone, Bosserati, and All That Magic completed the order of finish.

Port Townsend, Kaufymaker, and Anonymously scratched.

Favored Future Is Now paid $4.60 to Win.

“It’s kind of nice to see that she could sit and run,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that he and Trombetta began to point for The Very One after Future Is Now finished second in Gulfstream’s Captiva Island Stakes at Gulfstream on March 10.

Future Is Now prepped for today’s race by facing males in Laurel’s King T. Leatherbury on April 20. Future Is Now battled for the lead in the Leatherbury before faltering to finish fifth, beaten 2 3/4 lengths.

“It was a bridge to get us to this,” Johnson said about the Leatherbury. “Going against the boys, you never really want to do that. Decent field of horses. But I thought it was going to be eight, nine, ten weeks since the Gulfstream race. It’s not like she was embarrassed.”

Shoshanah, dismissed at 22-1 on the tote despite being unbeaten from three prior turf starts, almost gave jockey Martina Rojas her first career stakes victory.

“We got an easy lead going into the turn,” Rojas said. “The filly is super-fast. I knew that she would hang on. I think what affected us the most was that she hadn’t run in a couple of months. She loved kind of a soft turf. She’s a very game filly.”

Hollywood Walk, who hadn’t started since late summer due to foot issues, kicked well for third. A half-sister to impressive 3-year-old colt Mindframe, Hollywood Walk might point to Laurel’s Jameela Stakes for Maryland-bred or -sired fillies and mares at six furlongs on July 15.

Johnson bred Future Is Now in Maryland. A 4-year-old filly by Great Notion, she has won 4 for 10 starts for career earnings of $214,936. Her half-sister, stakes-winner Call Another Play, finished third in Friday’s Grade 2, Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico.

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