- Jennings H. (LRL) – Eighttofasttocatch, trainer Tim Keefe, owner Sylvia Heft, bred in Maryland by Dark Hollow Farm and Herringswell Stable
- Smart Halo S. (LRL) – Bacopa Breeze, trainer William Cowans, owner Michael Foster
- Dave’s Friend S. (LRL) – Service for Ten, trainer Damon Dilodovico, owner Mark B. Lapidus, LLC, bred in Virginia by Mr. & Mrs. Sidney B. Cox Jr.
- James F. Lewis, III S. (LRL) – Jessethemarine, trainer John Rigattieri, owners Manfred Roos and John Rigattieri
- A Huevo S. (CT) – Lucy’s Bob Boy, trainer Sandra Dono, owner Michael Furr, bred in West Virginia by Robert Furr, Sr.
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It’s our weekly LookBack, where we check in to see how some of last week’s stories played out…
- On the racetrack, the big Saturday card at Laurel Park was about both looking forward, and looking back. In the looking forward department, two exciting stakes for two year-olds produced intriguing results. Some bigtime runners came to race — G2 Adirondack winner (though she was disqualified) Who’s in Town and Todd Pletcher’s Co Cola in the Smart Halo, G2 Saratoga Special winner Corfu and G3 Bashford Manor winner Debt Ceiling in the James F. Lewis, III among them — and left disappointed as relatively unheralded runners took both. In the Smart Halo, even-money Co Cola broke a bit slowly and was in sixth early, rallied in the lane — but could not get to Bacopa Breeze, whose two prior wins came at Mountaineer. In the Smart Halo, the chalk was nowhere to be found. Christophe Clement’s Pure Sensation zipped to the early lead and nearly held on all the way — but 35-1 outsider Jessethemarine, closing like a freight train, nipped him in the last jumps to win by a neck.
- Meanwhile, in the “looking back” department, Eighttofasttocatch cruised to the early lead and coasted home to a six-length win in the Jennings, for Maryland-breds. His third straight win in the event tied him for most ever with one of the great Maryland-breds of an earlier era, the 1980s, Little Bold John. Following the Jennings, the track held a retirement ceremony for one of the top Maryland-based horses of recent years, Dance to Bristol, who won three graded races this year, including the Grade 1 Ballerina. There were few dry eyes among her connections.
- In the Lewis, It’s a Bang (here) tracked the pace while close up, angled to the outside and ran willingly to be third, beaten just a neck for second and a half-length for all the money in a game effort.
- Lucy’s Bob Boy emphatically got back on track in the A Huevo Stakes at Charles Town. The star West Virginia-bred, who’d finished up the track in the West Virginia Breeders Classic, grabbed the early lead and breezed to an 8 3/4 length win the 1 1/8 mile test. He defeated a group that was largely similar to the one he faced on Classics night, with one important exception: Russell Road, the horse who dueled him into defeat in the Classic, was not here. That left Lucy to control the pace.
- The equine herpesvirus outbreak at Parx Racing, necessitating a quarantine on the track and a prohibition on horses shipping in, has impacted the racing product. Sunday’s card had just seven races, and Tuesday’s, while including nine races, has five with seven or fewer horses and none with more than nine.
- Coming this week… A West Virginia-bred abroad, a new breeding operation, a young rider… and lots more!
(Featured image, of Jessethemarine winning the James F. Lewis, III Stakes, by Laurie Asseo.)
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