O Dionysus switches surfaces for Richard W. Small Stakes

Maryland-bred O Dionysus has celebrated victory in stakes on both dirt and turf over the course of a productive career. After a string of turf races, O Dionysus gets back on the main track for the $100,000 Richard W. Small Stakes, one of four stakes on the Saturday card at Laurel Park.

If O Dionysus is to again taste victory, he must beat a strong and varied group.

The long-winded O Dionysus, who won or placed in six stakes on the dirt in his 2- and 3-year-old seasons, won the Cape Henlopen Stakes going 1 1/2 miles on turf at Delaware Park in 2018. This season, the gelding finished third in three stakes, including another edition of the Cape Henlopen, before getting back in the winner’s circle here at Laurel with a victory in the Japan Turf Cup, also at 1 1/2 miles.

O Dionysus has started once at this 1 1/8-mile distance on dirt, finishing second to Twisted Tom in the 2017 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel.

Jevian Toledo has the mount on O Dionysus for trainer Gary Capuano and Marathon Farms.

O Dionysus will face a stiff challenge from graded stakes winners Sunny Ridge and Adventist.

New Jersey-bred millionaire Sunny Ridge, a homebred for Dennis Drazin trained by Jason Servis, has won several graded stakes and is multiple Grade 1-placed. He won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile over the summer at Monmouth Park and was most recently third in the Charles Hesse III Handicap at Monmouth.

Adventist, who has earned more than $567,000, comes off a win in the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup Stakes at Parx Racing for trainer Uriah St. Lewis.

◗ Another Maryland-bred gets her chance to return to the spotlight in the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, with Las Setas making her first start since May. Owned by breeders Robert Manfuso and Katharine Voss and partners, and trained by Voss, Las Setas won four straight races at Laurel earlier this year by more than a dozen lengths combined, including the Wide Country Stakes, Beyond the Wire Stakes, and the Weber City Miss. Two of her victories came at the seven-furlong distance of the Safely Kept. She stepped up to graded company for the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Preakness week at Pimlico in her most recent outing and faltered to finish seventh.

The Safely Kept field also includes stakes winners Mae Never No, Needs Supervision, and Victim of Love, Grade 3-placed Sweet Sami D, and stakes-placed Bunting, No Mo Lady, and Philanthropic.

◗ The open counterpart to the Safely Kept, the $100,000 City of Laurel Stakes is highlighted by a regally bred shipper for Juddmonte Farms and Chad Brown in Honest Mischief. The son of leading sire Into Mischief won a maiden race at this seven-furlong distance and has missed the board just once in his career, when sixth in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park. He then finished third to Shancelot and Nitrous in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga, then won an allowance race against older horses at Keeneland by four lengths on Oct. 9.

Honest Mischief is out of Grade 1 winner Honest Lady, the dam of Grade 1 winner First Defence and stakes winners Honest Quality and Phantom Rose. Honest Lady is out of Grade 1 winner Toussaud, dam of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker and additional Grade 1 winners Chester House and Chiselling.

◗ Jehozacat, another well-bred runner, gets a chance to add some more black type to her résumé in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes, the filly and mare counterpart to the Richard Small. The Tapit filly, who was second in the Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth Park this year, is out of multiple Grade 1 winner Precious Kitten, the dam of classic-placed graded stakes winner Divining Rod. Precious Kitten is a half-sister to turf champion and leading sire Kitten’s Joy and to two other graded stakes winners, and is from the immediate family of champion Dreaming of Anna.

Jehozacat races as a homebred for Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stable and is trained by Arnaud Delacour. The same connections also team up in the Thirty Eight Go Go with Layla Noor, and Delacour also saddles Beach Diva for Green Lantern Stables.