Top of Mind exits tough trip, drops into softer spot

Top of Mind will try to complete an unusual double for the Hillwood Stable of Ellen Charles and trainer Rodney Jenkins at Laurel Park on Saturday.

Charles and Jenkins ran the longshots Top of Mind and Phlash Phelps in the Grade 2 Commonwealth Turf Cup at Laurel in September. Both performed well, but neither had a perfect trip.

Top of Mind finished second in the $200,000 race despite rallying widest of all into the stretch and having his rider lose his whip at the sixteenth pole. He was beaten a half-length.

Phlash Phelps finished fifth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, at 19-1. He had to steady nearing the sixteenth pole behind Top of Mind and the favored Force the Pass when a hole he was moving into closed.

Phlash Phelps came back to win the $125,000 Maryland Million Turf last weekend. On Saturday, Top of Mind gets his chance in a third-level optional $40,000 claiming race.

Top of Mind has improved markedly since Jenkins dropped him into a conditioned $30,000 claiming race in June. He won that race by three lengths and came back to upset a second-level optional claimer at 7-1. After a summer freshening, he returned in the Commonwealth Turf Cup.

Top of Mind’s race is one of three allowance or optional-claiming races in Saturday’s pick five with a 12 percent takeout at Laurel. The sequence also contains a maiden race for 2-year-old fillies.

Furyofthenorsemen, trained by Steve Klesaris, should offer Top of Mind a strong challenge.

He won a first-level allowance at Parx in June and a second-level optional claimer at Laurel back to back over the summer. He is coming off a second to John Jones, who has won three races in a row. John Jones earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for this two-length victory over Furyofthenorsemen.

If the race is switched to the main track, He’s Achance would be a fitting winner after his trainer, Jason Egan, had two tough beats on Maryland Million Day last Saturday.

Egan sent out She’s Achance Too – the younger sister of He’s Achance – in the $100,000 Maryland Million Lassie. She came up a head short after a stretch battle. Two races later, Worthy Lion came flying in the $50,000 Maryland Million Starter Handicap but ended up a neck short.

He’s Achance, a confirmed front-runner, has won two second-level races, one for the allowance condition and more recently for the optional claiming price. He was beaten a nose in a third-level race two starts back at Delaware Park.