Local rivals hope to hold off NY invader in Maryland Juvenile
O Dionysus broke his maiden at Laurel Park in August. Photo by The Racing Biz.
From a Maryland Jockey Club release
Promising Maryland-bred 2-year-old stakes winners Greatbullsoffire and O Dionysus, both of whom share a home on the Laurel backstretch, will square off for the first time on their home track in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity.
Neither, however, is favored. That honor falls to Todd Pletcher trainee Bonus Points, who will have Trevor McCarthy in the irons and has been installed as the 2-1 top selection.
In their previous meeting, O Dionysus rallied from last in a five-horse field to win the Christopher Elser Memorial Stakes Nov. 12 at Parx by 2 ¼ lengths. Greatbullsoffire, the race favorite trained by Hamilton Smith, was passed late and came up a head short of second.
“He came out of it fine, no problems there. That’s a pretty nice young colt that beat us and we have to hook him again this time, so we’ll see what happen,” Smith said. “We have a nice colt, no doubt about it. He hasn’t run a bad race yet. We look for him to run good Saturday. We hope so, anyway.”
O Dionysus was a professional winner of his debut Aug. 20 at Laurel before running second to eventual Remsen (G2) runner-up No Dozing in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance. Stretched out in a similar spot going one mile that was rained off the turf, the Bodemeister colt was third, beaten less than a length.
“He’s run great every time. First time he won and then he came back and ran a good second to a real nice horse,” trainer Gary Capuano said. “I stretched him out and he ran a little bit on the green side and just got beat but was coming at the end and ran a good third that day. He acts like he’ll be a two-turn horse. You never know until they do it but we’re kind of working to that point.”
Also entered are Twin Valor, Bowsprit, Bonus Points, Maryland’s Best, Hatteras Bound, In Arrears and Dancing With Maude.
- Twin Valor (15-1) — Feargal Lynch/Linda Albert
- Bowspirit (50-1) — Malcolm Franklin/Sonja Aleksic
- Bonus Points (2-1) — Trevor McCarthy/Todd Pletcher
- Maryland’s Best (15-1) — Horacio Karamanos/Javier Contreras
- O Dionysus (5-2) — Jevian Toledo/Gary Capuano
- Hatteras Bound (20-1) — Jose Montano/Phil Schoenthal
- In Arrears (15-1) — Forest Boyce/Wayne Potts
- Dancing With Maude (6-1) — Steve Hamilton/Tim Keefe
- Greatbullsoffire (3-1) — Alex Cintron/Hamilton Smith
