Nimitz Class steams to fourth consecutive stakes win with Native Dancer
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Nimitz Class captured his fourth consecutive stakes race at Laurel Park after overcoming early pace pressure to win Saturday's Native Dancer at 1 1/8 miles.
The Native Dancer was one of five $100,000 stakes on the card for 3-year-olds and up, along with the Dahlia at one mile for fillies and mares, the King T. Leatherbury at 5 1/2 furlongs, the Primonetta for fillies and mares at six furlongs, and the Henry S. Clark at one mile.
Heavy rains in the area forced the Dahlia, King T. Leatherbury, and Henry S. Clark from the turf to the muddy main track.
The stakes, originally scheduled for last Saturday, were postponed and redrawn after concerns about the condition of the main track forced the cancellation of five racing programs at Laurel.
Nimitz Class had never raced on an off track, but he has stellar wet-dirt breeding. He broke well under jockey Jevian Toledo but was confronted entering the clubhouse turn by Nostalgic Run.
It appeared that Toledo's first instinct was to rate back and get off the rail, but the outside presence of Ain't Da Beer Cold would have forced Nimitz Class to be locked into an inside pocket.
Instead, Toledo went on with it, and he battled inside Nostalgic Run through solid fractions of 24.37 and 47.34 seconds. Nostalgic Run called it a day with seven-sixteenths to race, and that left Nimitz Class all alone on an insurmountable lead after six furlongs in 1:11.74.
The favorite got a bit tired in the final sixteenth, but still flashed under the wire 2 3/4 lengths in front of American d'Oro. Forewarned was another 7 3/4 lengths back in third. Then came Vance Scholars, Ain't Da Beer Cold and Nostalgic Run.
Nimitz Class completed the distance in 1:52.11 and returned $2.40 to win. Of the $128,073 wagered in the show pool, Nimitz Class attracted $104,637.
In a post-race interview conducted by Laurel Park, breeder-owner Tom Coulter admitted some pre-race concerns. "He's never run on a muddy track, he's never gone nine furlongs, he was high weight and he's had a long campaign."
A stakes-winner sprinting last year at Penn National, Nimitz Class has blossomed at longer distances, and is now unbeaten after five dirt routes.
Nimitz Class, 4, is a Pennsylvania-bred colt by Munnings and a half-brother to multiple stakes-winner Kaylasaurus. Their dam, Five Diamonds, won the Twixt Stakes at Laurel in 2009.
Trained by Bruce Kravets, who has credited added ground, blinkers and maturity for the horse's sharp recent form, Nimitz Class has won 9 of 15 races for lifetime earnings of $414,480.
Coulter mentioned that the Grade 3, $250,000 Pimlico Special on May 19 was a planned goal for Nimitz Class, but the Native Dancer's postponement "makes it a little bit close. We'll take the horse home and he'll tell us when he's ready."
*Primonetta
Before the Primonetta was rescheduled, trainer John Robb expressed concerns about Princess Kokachin, one of three horses he saddled for the race.
“I think she’ll run her best race, but I think it’s a little too tough for her at three-quarters against that quality of horse,” Robb told Daily Racing Form.
Although she did get leg-weary in the final sixteenth of a mile, it turned out Princess Kokachin was plenty good enough at the six-furlong distance, lasting by a half-length over a resurgent Oxana after 1:11.95 seconds over a track that was upgraded from muddy to good earlier in the afternoon.
Princess Kokachin broke from the far outside under Toledo, who was winning his third stakes on the day and fourth race overall on the program and took the race to rail drawn Oxana. They set an opening quarter of 22.89 while outside of Oxana, seemingly put that horse away entering the turn, then braced for a strong midrace bid from stablemate Street Lute.
Street Lute got close to Princess Kokachin following a half-mile clocking of 46.16, but she was dismissed entering the stretch. That left Princess Kokachin with a clear advantage, and it appeared she would win by open lengths.
Oxana wasn’t through, however, and she re-rallied along the inside to make it close. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Street Lute in third. Moody Woman, Prodigy Doll, Fuhgeddaboudit and Easy to Bless completed the order of finish. Favored Princess Kokachin returned $6.20 to win.
“We had a great post on the outside,” Toledo said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park. “I knew [Oxana] had speed, too. I didn’t want to go straight to the front. I wanted to save my filly as long as I could for the last part. When [Street Lute] came at the quarter pole, I let my filly go on and I had plenty left.”
A homebred foaled in Maryland and owned by Eric Rizer, Princess Kokachin made her third start of 2023. In her first two outings this year, she finished second in high-level allowance races at 5 1/2 furlongs.
A 5-year-old mare by Graydar, Princess Kokachin has won 11 of 22 starts for earnings of $453,420. She is 3 for 3 on wet tracks and 8 for 14 at Laurel Park. Her prior stakes victory came in the restricted Politely traveling six furlongs at Laurel in 2021.
*Classier ($3.60) entered the Henry S. Clark as a main-track-only runner, and the connections got their wish when rains forced the race to dirt. Classier, a Grade 3 winner for trainer Bob Baffert in 2021, was transferred to the Brittany Russell stable earlier this year. The 5-year-old son of Empire Maker captured a $40,000 “three-life” seller in his first start at Laurel and was claimed that afternoon by Super C Racing and trainer Kieron Magee.
Classier won a second-level allowance in his first start for Magee on April 7, and went gate-to-wire in the Henry S. Clark, completing the one mile in 1:38.28 seconds over the good track. Classier was jockey Jevian Toledo’s second stakes winner of the afternoon.
*Misty Mauve ($39.60) earned her first stakes victory when rallying from off the pace under jockey Johan Rosado in the Dahlia.
Unraced on turf, Misty Mauve likely appreciated it when the Dahlia was washed off to the good main track. Claimed for $16,000 two starts back by Designated Hitters Racing and trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon, Misty Mauve prevailed in a quarter “two-life” claimer four weeks ago before upsetting the Dahlia in 1:39.96 seconds. She is a 4-year-old filly by Paynter and has won three of eight starts.
*Stage Left ($6.60), a 7-year-old half-brother to Kentucky Derby contender Verifying and multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou, stalked and pounced his way to a 2 1/4-length victory over favored Alwaysinahurry in the King T. Leatherbury.
A main-track-only entrant trained by David Jacobson, Stage Left finished third in the 2018 Sapling Stakes as a 2-year-old. The Congrats gelding was purchased privately by Jacobson earlier this winter and entered the King T. Leatherbury following a runner-up effort in a third-level allowance at Aqueduct on April 20. Stage Left completed 5 1/2 furlongs over good going in 1:03.83 and has won 9 of 34 starts for earnings of $505,483.
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