Laurel Park Hosts Summer Sunday Brunches
Strutsherstuff an Impressive Allowance Winner
Low Country Magic Too Quick in Co-feature
Dan Illman/Laurel Park
LAUREL, Md. –- Take your summer weekends to the next level with Laurel Park’s “Bubbly Brunch” events every Sunday in July between 11 am and 3 pm.
Kick back with friends over delicious brunch favorites and bottomless mimosas in our vibrant Stone Bar Restaurant. Whether you’re catching up with your crew or treating yourself to the perfect weekend escape, we’ve got the ideal spot.
Place your bets and cheer on your picks from the comfort of your table. It’s the best seat in the house to enjoy the finest simulcast action from major tracks around the country.
For reservations and menu options, please visit https://www.laurelpark.com/sundaybrunch/
Strutsherstuff an Impressive Allowance Winner
“It’s her world, and we live in it,” trainer Madison Meyers said of Strutsherstuff, an impressive winner of Friday’s eighth race, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares at one mile on turf. “She’s a little bit quirky. We work around her a lot.”
Strutsherstuff did the work on Friday, tracking an electric pace set by Payout Ratio, blowing by that foe on the second turn, then staying clear in the stretch to prevail by 1 ¾ lengths over Charmed Way.
Pulp Fiction finished third, three-quarters of a length behind the runner-up. Then came Atlas Strong, Don’t Tell Kelly, Wonderfull Lady, Bay Street, Payout Ratio, J Rivers, and Bailintin. I’m a Cutie Pie, entered Main Track Only, scratched.
Steered by jockey Jaime Rodriguez, Strutsherstuff completed the distance in 1:34.55 over the firm turf course and returned $7 to win as the betting favorite.
“She’s got a high cruising speed, and she’ll do whatever you want,” Meyers said. “She’s had a few different riders at this stage, and everybody says that she’s adjustable. When I saw the speed out in front of us, I felt that she at least had something to look at.”
Strutherstuff was bred in Kentucky by Paul Tackett Revocable Trust. She is a 4-year-old filly by Exaggerator out of an unplaced half-sister to Grade 2-winning dirt routers Wilburn and Beethoven and stakes-winning dirt performer La Apassionata. Her second dam, Moonlight Sonata, won the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie at one mile on dirt.
“She was broke in Ocala by Junior Serna, who is a pretty well-known horseman, and I think he did a [great] job getting her going because she’s not the easiest,” Meyers added.
A $7,500 yearling buyback, Strutsherstuff races for Tackett and Twenty-Two Stable.
“These owners have been awesome and let me take my time and do what needs to be done with her. They know that she has a lot of personality and isn’t the most straightforward,” said Meyers.
Strutsherstuff showed ability from the get-go, winning her debut in a restricted maiden special weight at Colonial, then grabbing a first-level allowance over the Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs.
After two fifth-place finishes to conclude her 3-year-old campaign, Strutsherstuff returned to the races with a rallying third-place effort in a second-level allowance sprinting on Laurel turf on April 19. The following month, she finished third in her two-turn debut.
“She stays more at Middleburg [Training Center],” Meyers stated. “She likes her turnout down there and comes up here and has a work. She takes her show on the road with her everywhere she goes.”
Where she goes next is still up in the air, but Meyers didn’t rule out looking for stakes races soon.
“She’s very competitive. She’s the same in the morning. She’s a racehorse.”
Low Country Magic Too Quick In Co-Feature
Low Country Magic jumped to the front and never looked back in the tenth race, a second-level allowance for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
On paper, handicappers wondered whether Low Country Magic, a gate-to-wire winner of her first-level condition at Horseshoe Indianapolis last month, was quick enough to wrest the early advantage from rail-drawn Beautifulcrazygirl.
Those who believed in Low Country Magic’s speed as well as her staying ability received a $10.40 mutuel.
“My trainer told me to try and go to the lead, that he’d love the lead,” said winning rider Horacio Karamanos. “He didn’t break really sharp, but he picked it up after the first couple of jumps. He took the lead right away. I sat and tried to relax him the most I could. When I felt someone chasing me, I let him pick it up. He started opening up and was rolling today.”
Once Low Country Magic made the lead, it was Karamanos who conjured up a dream trip, setting reasonable and uncontested fractions of 24.67 and 49.59 while prompted only lightly by favored Beautifulcrazygirl.
Low Country Magic put the chalk away after six furlongs in 1:14.67, opened a clear lead at the three-sixteenths marker, then had plenty in the tank to hold off Cluck Cluck by 2 ½ lengths in 1:45.70 over the fast going. Mia Tosca was another five lengths back in third. Next Girl, Viennese Waltz and Beautifulcrazygirl completed the order of finish.
A 4-year-old filly by Good Magic, Low Country Magic is a homebred owned by Haymarket Farm and trained by Ignacio “Nacho” Correas.
Bought back for $50,000 as a yearling, she hails from a strong female family. Her second dam, Abaco, was a Grade 2 winner on turf. The third dam, Cat Cay, was a Grade 2 winner on dirt, and the fourth dam, Cadillacing, captured the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga in 1988.
Low Country Magic has won three times in ten starts, earning $148,475.
Around the Track … … ….. ……
Trainer Keri Brion book-ended the card with turf winners Big Big Star ($11.80) in the opener and My Brazilian Girl($2.80) in the finale…Jockeys Jaime Rodriguez and Jorge Ruiz rode two winners this afternoon…
Trainer Brittany Russell unveiled a promising juvenile filly in the fourth race as Dazzling Dame ($4.40) overcame a poor start to best three foes by 5 ¾ lengths. Dazzling Dame is by Girvin out of multiple stakes-placed dirt sprinter Awesome Dama…
Live racing resumes Saturday with the “De Francis Dash Day” program featuring four stakes races worth $550,000 in purse money…
Dean Delivers, last year’s winner of the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, is back to defend his title for trainer Ned Allard…
Maryland-bred Horse of the Year Post Time headlines the Deputed Testamony Stakes…
Please note the special 12:05 pm ET first post time for the 12-race extravaganza…Sunday is the final day of the 2025 Summer Meet at Laurel Park. There will be mandatory payouts of all wagers with carryover potential.
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