Smash and Grab faces Jacobson pair in sprint

Always a consistent runner, Smash and Grab is currently in peak form. On Saturday, he will take on a pair of David Jacobson-trained runners in a fourth-level optional-claiming sprint at Laurel Park.

Smash and Grab, 5, lost a heartbreaker last out in the $100,000 Fire Plug Stakes. In fog and rain over a muddy and sealed track, he put away the favorite on the lead and opened a clear lead in midstretch. He was ultimately headed in the final sixteenth and beaten a neck.

Since being transferred to trainer Damon Dilodovico over the summer, Smash and Grab has won three times and finished second twice from seven starts. His two off-the-board efforts came in the $350,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash and at Charles Town – Dilodovico believes he does not like racing under the lights.

Smash and Grab was in a slump when he came to Dilodovico but showed marked improvement his first time out. He stalked the pace in a Parx optional claimer, took the lead in midstretch, then was nailed on the wire by Handsup Moneydown, the winningest horse in the country in 2014.

“He looked like a million dollars when he came to me, and I do think he’s kind of taken to our training,” said Dilodovico, 49. “But that first race set up for him, and maybe that’s all he needed.”

This figures to be a busy year for Smash and Grab, who has won 11 of 33 starts and $373,000 since making his debut in August 2012. He started 14 times in 2013 and 13 times last year.

“He does run a lot. He’s a good-feeling horse, a very strong horse,” Dilodovico said. “If you don’t run him, he kind of gets out of control, almost unmanageable, and you get nervous that he’s going to hurt someone or himself.”

The Jacobson runners, Moments Notiz and Wealth to Me, each figure strongly in this seven-furlong race.

Moments Notiz, who may be favored, won a Laurel race at this level Jan. 16. Wealth to Me has made his last two starts at Laurel. He won a third-level optional claimer here two starts back and then was fourth in the $100,000 Native Dancer last time out. Both of those races were 1 1/16 miles, and he will be turning back in distance Saturday.