Mind Control, Late Night Pow Wow the top names on stakes-heavy card

The five Laurel Park stakes on Sunday have come up stronger than their purse values would suggest and include the multiple graded-stakes winners Late Night Pow Wow and Mind Control. The races, which are worth a combined $400,000, have attracted good-sized fields and are carded as races 4 to 8.

The stakes are the Twixt, a seven-furlong race for fillies and mares; the Concern, for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs; the Ben’s Cat and Jameela, 5 1/2-furlong turf sprints for Maryland-restricted runners; and the Stormy Blues, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-old fillies. They are worth $75,000 apiece, with the exception of the $100,000 Stormy Blues.

The Twixt will be Late Night Pow Wow’s first start since she finished third at 5-2 in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in April. The Concern should help prepare Mind Control for important 3-year-old sprint races on the horizon like the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx in September.

Late Night Pow Wow, winner of the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie in February and the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks last season, didn’t run badly in the Madison but she didn’t have her usual punch in the stretch and was beaten seven lengths.

Trainer Javier Contreras took her to Keeneland more than a week before the Madison and breezed her over the surface. That may have worked against her.

“I think we might have showed up there a little too early and she kind of flattened out on me,” Contreras said.

Late Night Pow Wow, who is 11 for 13 in her career, is perfect in three starts at Laurel. Her wins include the What a Summer in January and the Willa on the Move last November. She will be heavily backed Sunday.

Mind Control, who is trained by Gregg Sacco, had a rough trip when eighth in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens last time out. He missed the break, made a sustained middle move while wide to reach contention on the far turn, then was checked when sandwiched between horses in upper stretch. A repeat of his victory in the Grade 3 Bay Shore in April will make him difficult to beat in the Concern.

Mind Control’s chief rivals look to be Grade 3 Chick Lang winner Lexitonian, Easy Goer runner-up Still Dreaming, and lightly raced Compound It, who has won his last two starts.

Stormy Blues: Summering will make her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last fall. A Glen Hill Farm homebred by War Front, she is the first foal out of two-time graded winner Wishing Gate.

Trained by Tom Proctor, Summering won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf going a mile last September. She will be fitted with blinkers for the first time Sunday.

The Stormy Blues also has attracted Karama, who shortens up to what may be a better distance for her after two stakes tries at two turns, and Change of Control, longshot winner of the Mamzelle Stakes at Churchill Downs in May.

Jameela: Fear No Evil has been running well against open stakes company at Belmont Park for trainer Tom Albertrani and should appreciate the drop in class to the Maryland-bred or -sired ranks

She finished fifth, beaten a length, last out in the Grade 3 Intercontinental, and before that missed by a head when third in the License Fee. The knock against her is she is 4 for 26 in her career and will have to rally from off the pace as she shortens up in distance.

Anna’s Bandit is West Virginia-bred but Maryland-sired. She is 10 for 25 in her career, all for Jerry Robb, with five restricted stakes victories at Laurel and Charles Town. This will be only her third turf start, though, and she has to prove she can handle the footing.

Ben’s Cat: This race hasn’t attracted the toughest field, and 8-year-old local favorite Phlash Phelps has a solid chance to win for the first time since 2017.

Trained by Rodney Jenkins, Phlash Phelps has made two starts this year. He rallied to finish fifth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, in the Henry S. Clark stakes going a mile on turf, then found the going tougher in the Grade 2 Dixie, finishing seventh.

Although 5 1/2 furlongs is a little short for him, he did win the Mister Diz at six furlongs in 2017 and a maiden race in 2015 at five furlongs.

Love You Much is in the best form of his career at age 5 and comes into the Ben’s Cat off consecutive allowance wins for Ferris Allen III.