Bonus Points looks to get back on track at “home track”
Bonus Points was all by his lonesome when he crossed the line in the 2017 Maryland Million Classic. Photo by Laurei Asseo.
Three Diamonds Farm’s Bonus Points, whose three career wins at Laurel include the 2017 Maryland Million Classic, makes a quick turnaround to race over his favorite track in the $100,000 Native Dancer.
A 5-year-old son of Majestic Warrior trained by Todd Pletcher, Bonus Points also owns four seconds in seven lifetime tries over Laurel’s main track. He will break from Post 5 in a field of eight under Jorge Vargas Jr., Maryland’s leading rider in 2018. All horses will carry 120 pounds.
Bonus Points hadn’t finished worse than third in five straight starts including two wins at Laurel before finishing sixth in the 1 1/8-mile Queens County Stakes Dec. 22 at Aqueduct. He owns two wins and was beaten a neck when second in his last three tries at the Native Dancer distance.
“We’re running him back on a little bit of short rest, but he seems to like Laurel and he bounced out of the race well so we decided to give it a try,” Pletcher said. “I don’t know if it was the track conditions or what, but he didn’t fire last time and he’s generally pretty consistent, and he was training really well going into the race. He just didn’t seem to run as well as he did his previous times at Laurel.”
ABL Stable, Dominic Bossone, James Cahill and Peter Donnelly’s Just Call Kenny is winless in seven starts since capturing the 2017 Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park. He raced just three times in 2018, his last two at Laurel, most recently finishing sixth in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 23.
Marengo Road, a multiple stakes winner at Laurel as a 3-year-old; stakes winner Rich Daddy, second in the Claiming Crown Jewel Dec. 1 at Gulfstream Park, his third straight runner-up finish; Stan the Man, sixth in the Cigar Mile (G1) Dec. 1 at Aqueduct; General Downs, Saratoga Jack and Tour de Force are also entered.
