LAUREL: LEWIS, SMART HALO STAKES DRAW STRONG NOMS
Stakes winners Kenny Had a Notion, Pickin’ Time, Singlino, Miss Nondescript and Street Lute, and a total of 28 horses coming off victories are among 56 combined nominations to the $100,000 James F. Lewis and $100,000 Smart Halo set for Saturday, Nov. 14 at Laurel Park.
- Laurel Park picks and ponderings: November 22, 2024We provide full-card picks and analysis for this afternoon’s races at Laurel Park.
The ninth running of the Lewis for 2-year-olds and 24th renewal of the Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies are each contested at six furlongs.
Louis Ulman and Neil Glasser’s Kenny Had a Notion has won stakes in back-to-back starts and became a stakes winner on two surfaces with his triumph in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 24 at Laurel. Just 15 days earlier, the Great Notion gelding captured the Jamestown Stakes sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over Laurel’s world-class turf course for trainer Dale Capuano.
Maryland-bred Singlino, owned and trained by John Worsley, defeated Lewis nominees Maythehorsebwithu and Latin Spice in the 5 ½-furlong First State Dash Sept. 26 at Delaware Park. Most recently he was third to No Cents and Heir Port, both also nominated to the Lewis, in an open entry-level allowance going six furlongs Oct. 21 at Monmouth.
Also prominent among Lewis nominees is Lugamo Racing Stable’s Lugamo, a winner of two straight at Laurel by 10 ¼ lengths whose only career loss came in debut to undefeated Jaxon Traveler; fellow Laurel maiden winners Ain’t Da Beer Cold, Arrest Me Red, Depository, Town of Gold and Xtreme Mayhem; Pimlico Race Course maiden special weight winners Plamen and San Antone; and stakes-placed Basso and Newyearsblockparty.
Seventeen of 25 fillies nominated to the Smart Halo are exiting wins led by Barak Farm’s undefeated Maryland homebred Miss Nondescript, who rallied to beat Street Lute by a neck with fellow nominee Trip to Freedom third in the six-furlong Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 24. It was the first loss for Lucky 7 Stables’ Street Lute, winner of the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder Stakes Sept. 26 at Delaware.
Trainer Kelly Breen, who has won two of the last three editions of the Smart Halo with Take Charge Paula in 2017 and Cofactor last year, nominated Screen Door Stables’ Sky Proposal, a neck optional claiming allowance winner going six furlongs Sept. 25 at Pimlico.
Respect the Valleys’ Out of Sorts, a $1,000 yearling purchase last fall, was nominated out of her 10 ¾-length maiden special weight romp Nov. 1 at Laurel for trainer Brittany Russell, who also nominated Cash is King and LC Racing’s Juror Number Four, a last out fourth to Street Lute in the Small Wonder.
Laurel maiden winners Be Sneaky, Buckey’s Charm, Infinite Reward, Kewpie Doll, Supreme Blessing, Swirling Dancer and Targe; Pimlico maiden special weight winner Whiskey and Rye; Small Wonder runner-up Plane Drunk and Moochie, scratched from the Maryland Million Nursery, are also nominated.
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