Poppy Flower blooms in Stormy Blues Stakes
Benefiting from a fast pace and a trouble-free trip under Victor Carrasco, Poppy Flower won the $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes for 3-year-old fillies traveling 5 1/2 furlongs over firm turf at Laurel Park.
The Stormy Blues was one of three turf stakes on the Father’s Day program along with the All Brandy for fillies and mares, and the Find for 3-year-olds and upward. Both the All Brandy and Find offered $75,000 purses for Maryland-bred or -sired performers at 1 1/16 miles.
Poppy Flower saved ground near the rear as Lola Flo and Fly Me Home sizzled through an opening quarter-mile in 21.50 seconds. Lola Flo, dismissed at 60-1 on the tote, turned back Fly Me Hope with two furlongs to race, but was confronted from the outside by Visby.
Visby, a maiden making her turf debut in only her second start, poked a head in front from the outside, but began to drift out. That allowed Poppy Flower to split Visby and Lola Flo with a determined rally. At the wire, it was Poppy Flower by 1 1/4 lengths over Artos with favored Derrynane another 1 1/4 back in third. Next were Lost My Sock, Visby, Buy the Best, Lola Flo, Still My Babe, and Fly Me Home.
Poppy Flower, trained by Bill Mott for Arnmore Thoroughbreds, returned $22.20 to win as the sixth choice in the betting. She completed the distance in 1:02.20 seconds
“I knew there was going to be some speed, so I let her settle,” Carrasco said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park. “I was very patient following the 4 horse [Derrynane], who I thought was the filly to beat."
A daughter of Lea and multiple stakes-placed Nisharora (by Excellent Art), Poppy Flower was bred in Kentucky by Brenda Harding and Megan Jones. She raced six times last year for trainer Wesley Ward, winning a six-furlong maiden at Belmont on June 20 in her third start, and earning stakes placings in both Saratoga’s Bolton Landing and Kentucky Downs’ Ainsworth.
Transferred to Mott over the winter, Poppy Flower finished fourth in her first start of the year, an entry-level allowance rained off the turf at Belmont on May 19.
All Brandy
Why Not Tonight, claimed for $16,000 at Monmouth last summer, gave trainer Jesse Cruz his first stakes win with a determined performance in the All Brandy.
Ridden by Angel Cruz for Wasabi Ventures Stables, Why Not Tonight tracked lone pacesetter Can the Queen through fractions of 23.95, 47.40 and 1:11.85 seconds.
Can the Queen, stretching out for the first time in her career following a gate-to-wire victory in Pimlico’s The Very One Stakes at five furlongs last month, tried to spurt clear at the three-sixteenths, but Why Not Tonight was relentless. She hounded Can the Queen until finally grabbing the lead inside the final half-furlong.
Why Not Tonight drove under the wire a half-length clear of Can the Queen with Coconut Cake a neck behind in third. Next came favored No Mo Lady, She Is Wisky, I’m Blushing, Quiet Imagination, Dendrobia, Breviary, Daily Planet, Epic Idea and Awesome Jazz.
The winner polished off the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:41.30 seconds and returned $16 to win as the sixth choice in the betting.
“When we claimed her, we thought she was a nice filly,” Jesse Cruz said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel. “She’s a fighter. The 4 [Can the Queen] didn’t want to give up and she fought to get to the wire first.”
A 4-year-old daughter of Tapiture bred in Maryland by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McGinnes, Why Not Tonight won her first start for Cruz, an entry-level allowance at Tampa Bay on Nov. 27. Subsequently off the board in a handicap on Gulfstream’s Tapeta surface, Why Not Tonight endured a troubled trip when fourth in an allowance on turf at Pimlico on May 12.
She has won 4 times from 11 starts with lifetime earnings of $114,457.
Find Stakes
Nick Papagiorgio, the runner-up behind Somekindofmagician in last year's Find Stakes, turned the tables on that rival in the 2022 edition.
Ridden by Horacio Karamanos for trainer Michael Lecesse, Nick Papagiorgio broke sweetly from the stalls and settled into a stalking position in between horses as The Wolfman and Street Copper pushed opening fractions of 23.88 and 48.16 seconds.
Plot the Dots was the first to make a move on the leaders, a three-wide bid on the second turn after six furlongs in 1:11.79, while Cannon's Roar tracked those three from a tight pocket.
Nick Papagiorgio was hard ridden at this juncture, and he swung four-wide turning into the stretch. The 6-year-old gelding grinded his way to the front and held off the late rallies of both Somekindofmagician and B Determined to score by a half-length. He completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.33 seconds and returned $29.20 to win.
Somekingofmagician nipped B Determined for second by a nose. Audacious Quality, who was conservatively handled at the back of the pack, moved wide turning into the stretch and came with a strong, but belated, rally to finish fourth. Then came Plot the Dots, Cannon’s Roar, Street Copper, Johng, The Wolfman, Lacco Ameno and Mint Game.
"Horacio and I talked about staying close to the pace and the horse did the rest," Lecesse said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park.
Bred in Maryland by Cynthia Pence and Philip Spingler, Nick Papagiorgio is a son of Outflanker owned by Louis Bisso Jr. He finished third in the 2020 Maryland Million Turf when conditioned by Jamie Ness.
Lecesse claimed him for $25,000 out of a winning effort on dirt at Parx Racing on April 27, 2021. Two starts after that race, he finished second, beaten 1 3/4 lengths by Somekindofmagician in the 2021 Find.
Nick Papagiorgio made his 2022 debut with a fifth-place finish in a second-level allowance with a $35,000 claiming option over Presque Isle Downs' Tapeta surface on May 30. He has won 10 times from 35 starts for earnings of $312,080.