Juveniles get chance to shine in rescheduled Maryland Juvenile Championship

Local Motive seeks his third stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship at Laurel Park.

Saturday’s card also includes the Maryland Juvenile Fillies Championship. Both stakes are restricted to Maryland-bred or -sired 2-year-olds at seven furlongs and were postponed two weeks due to track maintenance issues.

Local Motive has never gone longer than 6 1/2 furlongs, and trainer John Salzman Jr. is somewhat concerned about the stretch out to seven furlongs over the renovated surface.

“The track is better,” Salzman said Thursday morning. “We don’t hear them pounding the ground, but they might have gone from one extreme to the other. It’s loose now. Horses shouldn’t be working as slow as they are.”

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Local Motive won his first two starts, including the Hickory Tree on turf at Colonial Downs. Sent off the odds-on favorite in the Timonium Juvenile in August, he was hit in the face by a dirt clod and vanned off. After a third and a fifth in stakes, Local Motive returned to the winner’s circle in the James F. Lewis III on Nov. 13. Third early in that six-furlong race at Laurel, Local Motive rallied to the lead in the stretch and held on by a head.

“We tried to rate, and he was fine laying outside horses,” Salzman said. “When he made the lead, he kept digging.”

Salzman breezed Local Motive a bullet five-eighths in 1:01.80 on Dec. 10 at Laurel.

“He did it slow the first part, was asked for run, and took off,” he said.

Coastal Mission, a full brother to five-time stakes winner Lewisfield, makes his third start in the Maryland Juvenile Championship. A debut winner at 4 1/2 furlongs at Charles Town, he then finished a neck ahead of Local Motive when second in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery on Oct. 23. Coastal Mission has recorded three works at Charles Town since that race, all bullets.

“He’s a big, strong horse,” trainer Jeff Runco said. “The extra furlong shouldn’t bother him.”

Royal Spy, a second-out winner on Nov. 26, is one of four supplemental entries in the Maryland Juvenile Championship. Trainer Linda Albert said she has “been pleased with him from Day 1.”

“He’s impressed us every time we’ve worked him,” she said.

Trainer John Robb sends out Alottahope, who is a half-brother to eight-time stakes winner Street Lute. Alottahope won his only start, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden sprint on Nov. 13 at Laurel.

“I was expecting it,” Robb said. “He had been training well.”

Trainer Phil Schoenthal entered Wish Me Home, who has made all seven of his starts on turf, but said he may scratch.

◗ A little class relief could go a long way for Jester Calls Nojoy in the Juvenile Fillies Championship. Jester Calls Nojoy finished sixth in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont won by Echo Zulu, then placed fifth in the Myrtlewood on Oct. 29 at Keeneland.

A 10-length winner of a Saratoga maiden at seven furlongs, Jester Calls Nojoy has been training regularly at Belmont for trainer Todd Pletcher since the Myrtlewood.

Dazzy dominated a restricted maiden special weight by 12 lengths on Oct. 29 at Belmont in her only start.

Luna Belle, Sparkle Sprinkle, Click to Confirm, Sweet Gracie, and Preparefortakeoff complete the field.