Valedictorian hangs on in All Along Stakes

Valedictorian shook loose on the lead and stayed at the head of the class in the $150,000 All Along Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park.

Winning the richest race of her career, Valedictorian ($27.40) went straight to the front under J.D. Acosta and set a solid pace (23.84 for the quarter, 48.08 to the half) on a laboring grass course. Acosta let his mount open up at the top of the homestretch and that proved a winning tactic. Valedictorian tired late but had a 5 1/2-length lead at the stretch call, holding on by 1 1/2 lengths over Mythical Mission. My Impression finished another length farther back in third.

“I just was really concentrating on the break,” said Acosta, who was aboard Valedictorian for the first time. “I wanted to make an easy lead and slow down the pace. As soon as she got to the lead she relaxed.”

Valedictorian, trained by Kelly Breen for Epic Racing, ran 1 1/16 miles on a course officially labeled “Good” in 1:45.74 and was given an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. A New Jersey-bred 4-year-old by Temple City and out of the Smart Strike mare Smart N Classy, Valedictorian won for the ninth time in 21 starts.

Class and Cash goes one better this year

Second by a head in the 2017 Laurel Dash, Class and Cash won this year’s edition by a half-length on Saturday.

A front-runner in the many route races he has run, Class and Cash dropped to the back of the field in the six-furlong Laurel Dash. As he and jockey Feargal Lynch began to start their run at the three-furlong pole, Class and Dash was steadied and had to wait a bit longer to move. But once Class and Dash got rolling he came fast, reaching contention at the furlong grounds, diving to the rail, skimming inside Dubini and getting up in the final yards.

“He got shuffled back,” said Matt Hartman, assistant to trainer Jane Cibelli. “Turning for home I thought he was a little farther out of it than he needed to be. But he always gives 100 percent.”

Dubini nipped Fielder by a nose for second as 5-2 favorite Tombelaine faded back to fifth on a soft course he probably didn’t appreciate.

How soft was the turf? Despite being called good, it took Class and Cash 1:14.04 to complete the course, about five seconds slower than his clocking in the 2017 Laurel Dash. Class and Cash earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Class and Cash ($8.40) is a 6-year-old gelding by Exchange Rate out of She’s Indy Money, by A.P. Indy. Based with Cibelli at Monmouth, he won for the 13th time in 30 starts for owner Edward Short.

Order and Law wins maiden in Futurity

Order and Law had all his rivals in front of him halfway through the $100,000 Laurel Futurity and all of them behind him at the finish.

Going from last to first through the six-furlong turf race’s final three-eighths of a mile, Order and Law, closing far out in the middle of the turf course, was up by a nose over Scrap Copper, winning for the first time in three starts.

“We got into the straight and he started picking up really nice,” winning jockey Feargal Lynch said. “I was just hoping we got there.”

Scrap Copper had closed from midpack to overhaul Veteran’s Beach in the final furlong of a slow-paced race that still collapsed on the front end. Scrap Copper looked like he was on the way to victory until Order and Law appeared on the scene at the furlong grounds, coming reso-lutely in his turf debut. Off slow splits of 23.44 and 48.67, Order and Law was timed in 1:14.94 over a course officially rated “good” but playing more like yielding or soft. Order and Law was given a 78 Beyer Speed Figure.

Order and Law ($21.80) is trained by Parx Racing-based Louis Linder Jr. for Bran Jam Stables and David Clark. By Violence out of Poetic Kid, by Shakespeare, Order and Law debuted in the Tyro Stakes, which was rained off turf, and was a close second in a quickly run Parx maiden dirt race second time out.