Still Having Fun, Wentz meet again in Miracle Wood

The two $100,000 stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday at Laurel Park, the one-mile Miracle Wood and the seven-furlong Wide Country for fillies, will rematch some familiar rivals and pit them against several promising newcomers.

The Miracle Wood is race 6 on the 11-race card and begins the 20-cent Rainbow 6. The Wide Country, race 8, is the first leg of the late pick four.

The expected Miracle Wood favorite Still Having Fun and possible second choice Wentz finished first and second three weeks ago in the Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes at Laurel. Still Having Fun ran into some early traffic in the seven-furlong race but finished well once taken toward the rail nearing the stretch by jockey Feargal Lynch. He took the lead inside Wentz leaving the furlong pole and drew off to an impressive 4 1/2-length victory.

Trained by Tim Keefe and owned by Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, and Terp Racing, Still Having Fun is 2 for 3 and only a neck away from being undefeated. His Beyer Speed Figures have climbed from a 75 to an 83 to a 92.

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Wentz was the even-money favorite in the Whiteley based on a front-running maiden score at Parx. He raced on the early pace three wide in the Whiteley before drawing clear nearing the stretch. Still Having Fun appeared to be going by him in midstretch when Wentz ducked out sharply, losing his momentum and having to be straightened.

Trainer John Servis is adding blinkers to Wentz’s equipment Saturday, which may bring him and Still Having Fun closer together at the finish. Kendrick Carmouche takes over the mount.

“He’s been green as grass since Day 1,” Servis said. “I’m a stickler not to put blinkers on a horse too early, but he needs them now. Otherwise, he’s going to hurt himself or hurt someone else.”

Servis added that Wentz has “been training super with the blinkers.”

He Hate Me began his career with a Pimlico maiden victory last May and then shipped to Belmont Park and won the $150,000 Tremont Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths in June.

He returned from a seven-month layoff in the Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs four weeks ago and finished second by 13 lengths to the promising runner World of Trouble, who is 2 for 3. Owner Michael Dubb purchased World of Trouble after he won his career debut by 14 lengths.

Trainer Horacio De Paz has given the mount on He Hate Me to Manny Franco.

The Wide Country brings together the second-, third-, and fifth-place finishers from the Jan. 27 Marshua Stakes at Laurel – Last True Love, Enchanted Ghost, and Aggregator.

Contention runs deeper than that trio, however, as Chad Brown has supplemented Fools Gold, a 7 3/4-length Aqueduct maiden winner, and Servis has supplemented Shemakesmehappy, who is coming off a 6 3/4-length starter-allowance victory at Parx.

Deep Red, a winner of a recent optional-claiming race at Laurel for trainer Damon Dilodovico, also is a contender.