Local Motive rebounds, edges Beast or Famine in James F. Lewis
Local Motive rebounded from a third-place finish in last month’s Maryland Million Nursery to eke out a head victory over Parx Racing shipper Beast Or Famine in Saturday’s $100,000 James F. Lewis III Stakes for 2-year-olds traveling six furlongs at Laurel Park.
The Lewis was joined on the November Stakes Day program by the Smart Halo, a six-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies, and the Thirty Eight Go Go, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares
Local Motive, trained by John Salzman Jr., broke sharply under jockey J D Acosta and tracked three-wide as Amidships and Tops the Chart powered through the opening quarter in 21.95 seconds.
With Beast Or Famine looming to his outside, Acosta asked Local Motive for run on the turn and they poked a head in front of the pacesetters following a half-mile in 45.26.
Beast Or Famine hooked Local Motive at the eighth pole, but the winner was resolute. He dug down along the inside to prevail after 1:10.16. Local Motive paid $8.20 to win as the third choice in the wagering
No Sabe Nada finished third, three lengths behind the winner. Slaats, Amidships, Tops the Chart, favored Run to Daylight and Cynergy’s Star rounded out the order of finish
“I think he’s getting better with every race,” Salzman said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel. “Today, we decided that we’d take back a little bit and see if he could finish a little stronger."
Bred in Maryland by Wasabi Ventures Stables, Greenspring Mares, and Bowman and Higgins Stable, Local Motive is owned by Bird Mobberley LLC. The gelded son of Divining Rod won his career debut, a six-furlong maiden special weight at Pimlico on July 24, then scored the restricted Hickory Tree Stakes at five-eighths on turf at Colonial Downs
Returning to the dirt for the Timonium Juvenile on Aug. 29, Local Motive was vanned off the track as the favorite.
“This horse got hit in the eye,” Salzman told Daily Racing Form earlier in the week about the Timonium Juvenile.
Local Motive recovered from the incident to finish fifth in the Smoke Glacken Stakes at Monmouth before his race on Maryland Million Saturday.
Salzman mentioned the restricted Maryland Juvenile on Dec. 4 as a potential next start for Local Motive.
Smart Halo
Buy the Best won her third consecutive start when rallying from off the pace to defeat six others in the Smart Halo.
Trained by Cal Lynch for owner Hope H. Jones, Buy the Best was off a beat slow, but soon found a nice rhythm under jockey Jaime Rodriguez. As Sparkle Sprinkle and Buff My Boots sparred through an opening quarter in 21.87 seconds, Buy the Best advanced into a loose pocket behind the leaders.
The two pacesetters continued their battle through a half-mile split in 45.18, but Buy the Best showed smart agility by angling to the outside under a very confident ride.
Buy the Best burst by the front-runners in upper stretch and continued to a 3 1/4-length victory over late-closing Luna Belle. It was another 7 1/2 lengths back to Click to Confirm in third. They were followed by Sparkle Sprinkle, Buff My Boots, Trade Secret, and Whiteknuckleflyer. Intrepid Daydream scratched.
Buy the Best completed six furlongs over the good main track in 1:09.99 and paid $6 as the betting favorite. The winner was bred in Kentucky by Susan Moulton and is a daughter of Tapiture out of synthetic stakes-winning sprinter Sister Dawn.
Beaten in her first two starts, Buy the Best returned from a short layoff with a strong victory in a maiden special at Delaware on Sept. 29. She then backed that race up the following month by handling “two-life” allowance runners with a 71 Beyer.
Purchased for $60,000 as a weanling by Rosetown Bloodstock, Buy the Best was then acquired by Jones the following year for $70,000.
Thirty Eight Go Go
Jockey Angel Cruz went down earlier in the afternoon when his mount in the third race, Bust’em Kurt, suffered a fatal breakdown. He soldiered on, however, to guide favored Miss Leslie to a grinding victory in the Thirty Eight Go Go.
“I fell hard,” Cruz said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel. “After that, I said I got to keep riding. I’m an athlete. Athletes, they get up and go harder.”
The pace didn’t materialize as expected as speedy Artful Splatter failed to gain early position after breaking from the far outside post in the nine-horse field. That left rail-drawn Sosua to make the early running and she set fractions of 23.94 and 47.29 seconds while pressured by longshot Off Topic.
A three-wide Josie advanced on the second turn while shadowed to her outside by both Artful Splatter and a five-wide Miss Leslie. Josie grabbed a short lead turning into the stretch but was soon set upon by Miss Leslie.
The winner took over at the eighth pole and had enough left in the tank to hold off late-kicking Lookin Dynamic and Villanelle. Miss Leslie polished off the distance in 1:43.63 while a half-length better than Lookin Dynamic.
Villanelle, held up behind horses along the rail on the far turn, was another head back in third. Then came Artful Splatter, Josie, Scatrattleandroll, Off Topic, Sosua and Trolley Ride. Miss Leslie paid $4 to Win.
“Today, she broke sharper and I put her in the game,” Cruz continued. “We were closer than before. I waited, she moved on the outside and she kicked on.”
Bred in Kentucky by Maxis Stable, Miss Leslie is a 3-year-old filly by Paynter. Claimed for $25,000 on Nov. 13, 2020 by trainer Claudio Gonzalez for BB Horses, Miss Leslie has compiled a 12-5-1-0 record for those connections including prior stakes victories in the Anne Arundel County at Laurel and the Weber City Miss at Pimlico.