Intrepid Dream cruised to a 2 ½-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Heavenly Cause Stakes for older fillies and mares at Laurel Park. The win pushed the six-year-old Jess’s Dream mare’s overall record to six wins from seven starts and her earnings past $200,000.

“That whole family is really, really good,” winning trainer Gary Capuano said of his charge. “Just a lot of patience with her and things just worked out. That’s kind of what counts, right?”

Intrepid Dream, a homebred for Larry Fowler, is the older full sister to Intrepid Daydream. The latter, a multiple graded stakes winner who is graded stakes-placed, was last year’s Maryland-bred horse of the year.

But Intrepid Dream, despite plenty of talent, has had a hard time getting to the track, the victim of what Capuano called “a few little injuries.”

She made the races at two but only raced once, breaking her maiden at first asking. She missed about 10 months before returning to action in the summer of 2021, raced twice, and then was off for more than a year. She then raced twice in the fall of 2022, winning both, before missing all of 2023.

Today’s was her second start of 2024, following a solid allowance score March 2. 

“The last time she was about ready to come in [to the track], she got hurt in the field and hurt her legs and we had to give her another two or three months off,” Capuano said. “It all seems to be working out in the end, though, and that’s very rewarding.”

Capuano has been on a good roll of late. Intrepid Dream’s Heavenly Cause win was his fourth stakes win since March 16, two for Fowler.

In the Heavenly Cause, Capuano was able to leg up jockey Jevian Toledo, who won two stakes on the afternoon, on the 1-2 favorite, always a plus. But in a field scratched down to four, only one of them, the stretching-out, Joe Sharp-trained sprinter Sweet Shild O Mine, figured to show much early lick.

Sweet Shild O Mine, with Jaime Rodriguez up, went straight to the front and established a clear lead: 1 ½ lengths after a half-mile in 47.04 seconds, two lengths after three quarters in 1:11.74.

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For a moment it seemed Sweet Shild O Mine might sneak away. But Toledo engaged his mount leaving the three eighths, and when she kicked in, she kicked on, winning by a comfortable margin in 1:39.01 for the one-turn mile on a fast main track. 

“She was kind of getting away from her a little bit and Toledo was kind of urging her and she really wasn’t picking it up,” Capuano explained. “Then once they turned for home, you know, her big stride kicked in and she just started getting there.”

Intrepid Dream paid $3.00 to win and topped an exacta, with 9-1 Doctor Abbie in second, returned $4.50 for a dollar. Cats Inthe Timber was third, as Sweet Shild O Mine faded to fourth and last.

The tables turned in the day’s last stake, the Native Dancer, and Toledo found himself aboard the only speed horse in the field, Matt Spencer, Kelly Cox, and Bonucelli Racing’s 12-1 outsider Ain’t Da Beer Cold.

“The joke in the paddock was, I said, ‘We’re taking him back and making one late run,’ and he looked at me [like I was crazy[,” winning trainer Kenny Cox said of his pre-race conversation with Toledo. “But no, [going to the front] was the game plan right from the start.”

Loose on the lead, Toledo was able to slow the race to a crawl – 50.60 seconds for the opening half-mile in the 1 ⅛-mile affair, 1:14.94 for three quarters. The modest early pace allowed Ain’t Da Beer Cold to kick back away when rivals came to him nearing the half-mile marker and then barely fend off the late run of Magic Michael to win by a head in 1:52.70.

“I went, ‘You put ‘em away,’ and then I saw that other horse coming, and I’m like, ‘Don’t get me,’” Cox said with a laugh. “Story of my life: right at the wire, getting nailed.”

He didn’t, and Ain’t Da Beer Cold’s second career stakes win – his prior had come via disqualification in last fall’s Maryland Million Classic – returned his betting backers $26.80 on a two-dollar wager. The exacta paid $71.80 for a buck, and favored Shaft’s Bullet bid before fading to finish fifth.

Ain’t Da Beer Cold now has seven wins from 37 career starts and earnings of nearly $450,000.