Tattooed gets all the ink in Jennings at Laurel

Eighttofasttocatch was a speedy gelding that captured the Jennings Stakes at Laurel Park each year from 2011 to 2014 for trainer Tim Keefe.

Other than being trained by Keefe, Tattooed ($23.80), this year's Jennings winner, doesn't have much in common with Eighttofasttocatch. "He's not a particularly easy horse to ride," Keefe said. "He's got a quarter of a mile run and that's it."

Tattooed's late kick was timed beautifully by Angel Cruz in a wild stretch drive. Alwaysmining, last year's Jennings winner, went to the front under Sheldon Russell and set an opening fraction of 24.13 seconds. Galerio, a winner in eight of his prior 11 starts and making his first start off the Dale Bennett claim, attacked the leader through a half-mile in 47.10 seconds.

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While Galerio took the lead and fended off several challenges in upper stretch, Cruz had Tattooed in behind horses. Stymied when attempting to alter course to the outside, Cruz stayed patient, stayed inside, and split opponents to get up late.

Tattooed, a 6-year-old gelding by Etched, completed the one-turn mile over the good main track in 1:37.46 seconds. Galerio was a neck back in second. Cordmaker, the 2018 Jennings winner, finished third after jockey Victor Carrasco stood up in the irons prematurely at the first-wire finish.

Third in the Maryland Million Classic on Oct. 24, Tattooed won for the sixth time from 31 starts. "He's a game horse," said Keefe.

Hello Beautiful wins again at Laurel

Hello Beautiful!

The 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly won for the seventh time at Laurel Park with a gate-to-wire effort in Saturday's $100,000 What a Summer Stakes at six furlongs.

Earlier in the week, trainer Brittany Russell mentioned the What a Summer Stakes as a natural prep for the Grade 3, $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Stakes on Feb. 13. "The goal is the Fritchie, so we were just figuring out the best way to get her there. If we needed to skip this one and give her more time, we would have done it, but she’s been touting herself and acting like she needed to run.”

Hello Beautiful ($2.40) is a good tout.

The popular 4-year-old filly blasted right to the front in the six-furlong What a Summer and carved out an opening quarter of 22.22 seconds while hounded by Malibu Mischief. That foe had enough after a half-mile in 45.54 seconds while jockey Sheldon Russell sat as still as a statue.

"She's extremely fast out of the gate," said Russell, who nabbed his third stakes victory on the card. "Coming into the race, she was very fresh, she was doing well. I always ride her the same way. She's a free-rolling filly so I just jump out and leave her alone."

Russell had to go to work on Hello Beautiful to fend off the late-rallying Club Car. Hello Beautiful completed the distance in 1:10.67 while a length better than Club Car. It was another 8 1/2 lengths back to Bridlewood Cat in third. Malibu Mischief, the second choice in the wagering at 5-1, finished fifth in the field of eight.

The What a Summer was Hello Beautiful's third consecutive win and fifth lifetime stakes victory. She currently boasts a record of seven wins from 13 starts.