Smokin' Jay, Coffeewithchris major players on a three-stakes card
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Smokin’ Jay and Coffeewithchris both exit races of significance and are leading contenders in separate stakes Saturday at Laurel Park.
Coffeewithchris makes his first start following a seventh-place finish in the Preakness in the $100,000 Concern, and Smokin’ Jay is a chief contender in the $100,000 Laurel Dash after running second in a Churchill Downs allowance that went in course-record time.
The card Saturday at Laurel also includes the $75,000 Jameela Stakes that drew defending winner Spun Glass. First post for the 10-race program is 12:25 p.m. Eastern.
Smokin’ Jay is part of a field of nine for the Laurel Dash, which is for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs on turf. The lineup includes Mid Day Image, a winner of his last three starts, and main-track-only entrants Wondrwherecraigis and Alwaysinahurry.
Smokin’ Jay was in a hurry through the stretch in his last start May 26, when he came rolling for second in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint at Churchill that went in a course-record 1:01.53.
“That allowance race, there were solid stakes horses in it at Churchill,” said trainer Kelsey Danner, who trains Smokin’ Jay for Crown’s Way Racing and NBS Stable.
Smokin’ Jay finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Bad Beat Brian and a neck in front of millionaire Just Might. Smokin’ Jay was then entered in the $225,000 Mighty Beau last month at Ellis, but a sprinkler issue moved the race to the main track and he was scratched and supplemented to the Laurel Dash.
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“He likes the distance,” Danner said. “He’s won at it before, so that’s always a positive. And he’s been doing really well. Coming off the layoff, he’s been running well.”
Smokin’ Jay, a stakes winner at six furlongs on turf in the 2021 Allied Forces at Belmont Park, will start from post 5 under jockey Jevian Toledo.
“He usually lays right off of it,” Danner said.
Mid Day Image began his streak in December, when he won a two-other-than allowance turf route at Tampa Bay Downs. He returned to action in April at Laurel and won a conditioned allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf and backed up the performance with a win in a three-other-than allowance at six furlongs on turf in June at Belmont Park.
Angel Cruz has the mount from post 2 for trainer David Jacobson.
Coffeewithchris is returning to both one turn and Laurel in the Concern, which is a seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds. The field of five includes stakes winner Prince of Jericho, who comes off a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Chick Lang at Pimlico.
Coffeewithchris has worked consecutive bullets at Laurel in preparation for the cutback to one turn. He’s registered both of his stakes victories at the configuration, in the $100,000 Miracle Wood at a mile and the $100,000 Heft in December. Both races were at Laurel.
Prince of Jericho was second in the Heft and one race later won the $100,000 Spectacular Bid over Coffeewithchris at Laurel. Coffeewithchris will start from post 4 and Prince of Jericho from post 5.
The Jameela field of 11 drew a pair of notable contenders from the barn of trainer Michael Trombetta.
Spun Glass was a half-length winner of the six-furlong turf race for Maryland-bred or Maryland-sired fillies and mares a year ago, while Hollywood Walk may make a nice move forward in her second start since December.
Spun Glass enters off a third-place finish in the $100,000 The Very One in May at Pimlico. The five-furlong turf sprint went in a quick 55.81 seconds, and race winner Train to Artemus has since won another stakes, the Goldwood at Monmouth Park. Spun Glass has been working right along at the Fair Hill Training Center.
“She ran good last time, ran a very credible race,” Trombetta said. “The five-eighths is a bit short for her. I like the fact that this is three-quarters.”
Spun Glass will start from post 9 for breeder and owner R. Larry Johnson.
“She’s generally a stalker,” Trombetta said, “lays just off the pace – midpack at the worst – and tries to run at them from there.”
Spun Glass is looking for her third career stakes win. Jaime Rodriguez has the mount from post 9 with regular rider Feargal Lynch at Delaware Park on Saturday.
Hollywood Walk, another homebred for Johnson, is looking for her first stakes win. A daughter of Animal Kingdom and the stakes-winning mare Walk of Stars, she exits a fourth-place finish in a May 28 conditioned allowance turf sprint at Pimlico.
Johan Rosado has the mount from post 8.
“She’s a handy horse,” Trombetta said. “She’s just had the one race off the layoff. She was getting pretty good at the end of the year last year. We put her away – ran out of turf season. I expect her to give a pretty good account of herself.”
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