Winter scores upset in Maryland Racing Media Stakes

LAUREL, Md. – Winter upset the $75,000 Maryland Racing Media Stakes at Laurel Park on Saturday, and the result likely left at least one show bettor upset after 1-5 favorite Wait Your Turn checked in fifth.

A total of $222,695 of the $253,972 show pool was bet on Wait Your Turn. That money was split among those betting the top three finishers.

Winter paid $8.20, $5 and $11. Runner-up Bawlmer Hon paid $15.40 and $46.40, and third-place finisher Love Came to Town, who was sent off at 40-1, paid $80.20 to show.

Winter has now won four of five starts since being transferred to trainer Cal Lynch in September. She looked good scoring her first stakes win last time out in the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel and may have been even better Saturday, scoring by 4 1/4 lengths.

Winter was in contention throughout the Maryland Racing Media, took the lead in upper stretch under Trevor McCarthy, and pulled away.

"It just seems the farther she goes, the better," McCarthy said.

Winter completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.95.

"We'll probably give her a little time between this and her next race," Lynch said. "We might try the turf with her too in the spring."

Winter, a 4-year-old daughter of Awesome Again, is now 5 for 11 with earnings of $181,330. She is owned by Mathew Schera.

Bawlmer Hon set the pace in the Maryland Racing Media and held well for second, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Love Came to Town.

Wide Country: China Grove sharp following layoff

China Grove didn't break especially sharply in the $75,000 Wide Country, a seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, but she finished well to overtake 5-2 favorite Crabcakes in midstretch and draw off to a 1 1/4-length victory.

The previously undefeated Crabcakes also didn't have the greatest of starts and was squeezed a bit leaving the gate. She took up a stalking position behind the early leaders, Forever Liesl and Kathleen Elizabeth, and then split horses on the far turn. She took the lead from Forever Liesl in upper stretch but had little answer for the winner's rally.

Crabcakes held second by 1 1/4 lengths over Forever Liesl. It was another neck back to Lucky in Malibu in fourth. Lucky in Malibu broke inward at the start and bumped with a rival, which compromised her early in the race.

China Grove broke a step slowly and then readily advanced into contention along the inside on the backstretch. She took aim at the leaders nearing the stretch and then proved clearly best in the stretch.

China Grove paid $10 to win as the third choice in the eight-horse field and was timed in 1:23.86.

China Grove, based in Kentucky with trainer Ben Colebrook, was making her first start since finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs in November. In her start prior to that, she had finished second, beaten a half-length, in the Rags to Riches at Churchill.