El Areeb among 15 Maryland-based Triple Crown nominees
Triple Crown nominee El Areeb won the James F. Lewis, III Stakes at Laurel in November. Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.
From a Maryland Jockey Club release
M M G Stables’ Grade 3 winner El Areeb is one of 15 Maryland-based horses among 418 3-year-olds made eligible during the early nomination phase to compete in the 2017 Triple Crown races.
El Areeb, stabled at Laurel Park with trainer Cal Lynch, has won three straight races including the James F. Lewis III to cap his juvenile season and the Jerome (G3) Jan. 2 at Aqueduct in his 2017 debut.
Marathon Farms Inc.’s Maryland-bred stakes winner O Dionysus, trained by Laurel’s Gary Capuano, is also nominated. Winner of the Christopher Elser Memorial at Parx, he was second to Irish War Cry in the Marylander and the Frank Whiteley Jr. in his last two starts.
Isabelle de Tomaso homebred Irish War Cry, unbeaten in two starts, is one of four horses nominated by trainer Graham Motion, along with Painter’s Rags, impressive winner of his Dec. 26 unveiling at Laurel; Soglio, second in the Eddie Logan Stakes Dec. 30; and Benevolent Prince.
Upset by O Dionysus in the Christopher Elser Memorial, Kathleen Willier’s Greatbullsoffire is the lone nominee trained by Hamilton Smith. The Bullsbay colt has alternated wins in the Strike Your Colors, Maryland Million Nursery and Maryland Juvenile Futurity with thirds in the Elser and Laurel Futurity.
Fair Hill, Md.-based trainers Horacio DePaz, Arnaud Delacour and Francis Abbott III each have multiple nominations. DePaz’s three nominees are multiple graded stakes-placed Recruiting Ready; Shoe Loves Shoe, a three-quarter length winner of his career debut Jan. 21 at Aqueduct; and unstarted Uncle Mo colt I Can Do Anything.
Delacour nominated No Dozing, second to Mo Town in the Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct, and Union Blues, off the board in the Jan. 21 Pasco at Tampa Bay Downs in his seasonal and stakes debut. Both horses are by 2012 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Union Rags.
Abbott’s nominees are each owned by Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller: No More Talk and the unstarted The Stranger and Tipu Run.
