Laurel: Jessethemarine scores 35-1 surprise in James Lewis Stakes
Highly regarded young horses trained by Todd Pletcher don’t get beat in six-figure stakes races very often. But it happened not once, but twice Saturday afternoon at Laurel Park.
Jessethemarine, cutting back from a mile to six furlongs and making his first start in two months, rallied to score a 35-1 upset in the James Lewis for 2-year-olds, the last of four $100,000 stakes on the nine-race card.
Two races earlier, Beulah Park-based filly Bacopa Breeze held off even-money favorite Co Cola by three-quarters of a length to win the six-furlong Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies in 1:12.34.
Co Cola, one of three New York-based 2-year-olds Pletcher ran in the two stakes for juveniles, was favored on the basis of her 4 1/2-length win in her career debut last month at Belmont Park. She finished two lengths clear of third-place Who’s In Town, the second choice at 3-2.
Neither of Pletcher’s 2-year-old males hit the board in the Lewis. Corfu, winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and runner-up in the Grade 2 Futurity last time out, raced wide in third until fading to fifth in the final furlong as the 9-5 favorite. Aarons Orient, coming off a fast win in the Kip Deville at Remington Park, stumbled badly coming out of the gate and never was in contention while winding up 10th at 4-1..
Another New York shipper, Pure Sensation, looked like a winner in the Lewis until Jessethemarine ($73.80) came flying late along the inside under Daniel Centeno to get up by a neck, completing the six furlongs in 1:10.66. Pure Sensation wound up a neck in front of third-place finisher It's a Bang, the winner of last month's Maryland Million Nursery.
All three of Jessethemarine’s previous starts came at Delaware Park, including the one-mile Whirling Ash, where he was promoted to first by the stewards following a disqualification.
“Six furlongs, we weren’t too confident in,” said winning trainer John Rigattierri. "I thought I had a decent horse but there were six speed horses in here. He wasn’t going to make the front. I didn’t see my horse until the straight. At the sixteenth I said he’ll be third. I still didn’t think he won until the announcer said he’d won."
In the Smart Halo, Bacopa Breeze, ridden for the first time by Erick Rodriguez, is now 3 for 3 since she was switched from Tapeta to dirt following two losses.
“We switched her to the dirt and she’s improved steadily and we thought we’d take a shot,” said trainer William Cowans.
* Service for Ten ($6.80), who endured a troubled trip when he was a distant third in last month’s Frank De Francis Dash, got clear sailing in the stretch to score by 1 1/2 lengths in the six-furlong Dave’s Friend.
Fersmiley, the runner-up at 12-1, was disqualified for coming out of the gate erratically and was placed sixth. As a result, 43-1 outsider Escrow Kid was placed second and 5-2 shot Rainbow Heir was awarded third.
Service for Ten, ridden by Sheldon Russell for Damon Dilodovico, ran the distance in 1:10.32 for his seventh win in 11 lifetime starts.
The race lost its star attraction when Ben’s Cat was scratched on Saturday morning.
* The 7-year-old Eighttofasttocatch ($3.60) had little problem winning the Jennings Handicap for the third time, cruising to a six-length victory in the one-mile race for Maryland-breds under Forest Boyce. It was the 12th win in 24 starts at Laurel for Eighttofasttocatch, a son of Not for Love trained by Tim Keefe for Sylvia Heft. The winning time was 1:36.76.