Circle P scoring the Not For Love last month. (Jim McCue/MJC)
Four $100,000 Stakes Highlight Saturday Laurel Program
Dan Illman/The Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Grade 3-placed Worcester, recently second in Aqueduct’s Stymie Stakes on March 1, cuts back in distance for the Frank Y. Whiteley at seven furlongs.
Trained by Russell for a partnership led by SF Racing, Worcester rolled through two Laurel allowance races before his New York excursion.
“He was a little edgy,” Russell said. “When he walked in the paddock, he broke out that day. He’s a classy horse, but he’s a bit of an internalizer, and I saw a different side of him. [Jockey Sheldon Russell] said he was the same way warming up and wasn’t quite himself.”
Worcester rallied from last to finish 3 ½ lengths behind Bank Frenzy, who returned to win Aqueduct’s restricted Haynesfield Stakes with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
“Sheldon thought he would break and put him there, but he never got traveling,” Brittany Russell said. “Sheldon let him get his feet under him. I think that wasn’t the best [Worcester] we saw that day, but he finished up and ran okay.”
Russell also entered a recent addition to her stable. New King, previously trained by Bob Baffert, last raced in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 1, finishing seventh of eight.
“He’s improved every week since he arrived,” Russell said. “He was a little quiet off the van, so we let him get right. I’m still on the fence if we’re going to run him. He still has an allowance condition. I think once we get him going down here, he’s going to be a fun horse to have around for the summer.”
Bartlett cross-entered Friday at Laurel, but trainer John Servis plans to run the Not This Time gelding in the Frank Y. Whiteley.
Unraced since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Hill Prince on Aqueduct turf on November 9, Bartlett won his two previous dirt starts by a combined 13 ¼ lengths.
“He’s a big, grand-looking horse,” Servis said. “We had to stop on him and address an issue late in his 2-year-old year. He came back last year and was strong. The owners elected to give him the winter off, and he’s ready to rock and roll.”
Bartlett has good early speed, and Servis predicts his charge will be “in front or very close to the lead.”
Circle P returns to open company after getting up to win the restricted Not For Love by a nose on March 8. Trainer Flint Stites believes that the one-time problem child is starting to put it together.
“He’s matured quite a bit mentally,” Stites said. “Physically, he was always ahead of his growth. Mentally, he was lagging way behind. He’s a lot easier to deal with in the morning on a daily basis.”
Multiple stakes-winners Factor It In, and Seven’s Eleven also entered the Frank Y. Whiteley, the final race of the consecutive stakes quartet. The post time is 3:27 pm ET.
