Virginia-breds find new home for six stakes
Racing in Virginia was orphaned this summer when horsemen and Colonial Downs management were unable to agree on the terms of a meet. But six $60,000 stakes normally run at Colonial Downs have found a home at Laurel Park on Saturday.
The bitter dispute over the Colonial Downs season focused on racing dates. Colonial Downs pressed for a two-week, six-day festival-style meet with higher purses, while horsemen wanted a minimum of 24 days of racing. In the end, the two sides could not reach an understanding, and the season was canceled.
Colonial closed four of its off track betting locations last February and its others are offering simulcasts only on harness racing.
Saturday’s stakes are for Virginia-bred or -sired runners, and all are scheduled for turf. There are four 5 1/2-furlong sprints and two 1 1/16-mile races.
The six races have drawn large fields, averaging just less than 12 runners per race.
Possibly the most interesting race is the Punch Line, a turf sprint for males that matches last year’s winner and runner-up, Boltin’ Out and Jake Rattle N Roll, against a competitive lineup.
Punch Line (Race 9)
◗ Boltin’ Out raced on the lead throughout to win this race last year by 1 1/4 lengths. Now trained by Carlos Garcia, he enters off a come-from-behind optional-claiming win at Delaware Park. Jake Rattle N Roll will be a longshot.
◗ Two Notch Road was fourth in the open Virginia Derby and third in the Colonial Cup last year. He has finished off the board in two 2014 starts but will face easier company here.
◗ Avarice is winless in four turf starts but enters off a second in the Fort Delaware, a six-furlong open stakes on dirt at Delaware Park.
In the other stakes:
◗ Embarr, a 6-year-old with 8 wins from 28 starts, will meet the Todd Pletcher–trained Lawn Party, a 3-year-old who has been racing in first-level allowance company, in the Brookmeade, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares.
◗ In the first division of the Jamestown, Hooligan, a 2-year-old filly trained by Wesley Ward, returns after pressing the pace before weakening to sixth in a maiden turf sprint at Saratoga in her debut.
◗ Of the 2-year-olds in the second division of the Jamestown who have run, Max Crown and Sophisticrat look best. Max Crown finished second at Delaware last out, and Sophisticrat was second at Charles Town.
Of the first-time starters, Moon River (Jonathan Sheppard) and Johns Kitten (Francis Abbott III) have been working well and bear watching.
◗ Angel of Mercy, a 4-year-old daughter of First Samurai, will be making her turf debut for Graham Motion in the Oakley, but she has worked on grass at Fair Hill. She comes into this sprint off a fourth in the Jostle Stakes at Parx and a third in the Beautiful Day at Delaware.
◗ Rose Brier, a 5-year-old trained by Jane Cibelli, has won second- and third-level optional-claiming races on turf at Monmouth at the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Bert Allen in his most recent starts.