Modesty win puts Naval Laughter in field for Beverly D.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – When Naval Laughter came back from a 1 1/2-year layoff and won an Arlington Polytrack allowance race June 3 by nearly 20 lengths, earning a graded stakes-class 96 Beyer, the performance felt fluky. And Naval Laughter did nothing to dispel that notion when, three weeks later, she finished a well-beaten second as the odds-on favorite in an Arlington first-level allowance race.
Yet there was Naval Laughter winning the Grade 3 Modesty by a half-length on July 17 and earning a shot Saturday in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes.
The Modesty was Naval Laughter’s turf debut.
“It seems like she’s getting bigger and stronger race to race and going the right way, but this is a legit Grade 1,” said trainer Chris Davis.
The Beverly D. drew seven entrants, one of whom – Bramble Queen – is cross-entered in an Illinois-bred stakes Saturday. Mean Mary figures to be favored over Irish invader Santa Barbara.
Naval Laughter went to the lead in her comeback race, but in the Modesty, she settled into a relaxed rhythm stalking the pace after fighting jockey Sophie Doyle in the early stages.
“That’s what we’ve been really working on in the mornings,” Davis said. “I wanted her to settle and finish and not be going backwards, and that’s what she did.”
Naval Laughter, a daughter of Midshipman owned and bred by Tony Braddock’s Two Hearts Farm, hasn’t posted a workout since May 24. The filly doesn’t carry a lot of flesh and has kept plenty fit through racing and strong gallops, and she was plenty fit in the Modesty. Runner-up Joy Epifora never was going to catch her despite Naval Laughter jumping gate tracks and failing to keep a straight course.
“She’s a real distance horse,” said Davis. “Seems like the farther she runs the better.”
And if Naval Laugher doesn’t try to run off and is able to run straight, she can run competitively in the toughest race of her brief career.