Eastern Bay winning the General George at Laurel Park Feb. 18. (Jerry Dzierwinski/MJC)
• Millionaire G3 Winner Among 12 in 6F Allowance Sprint • Watch and Wager on 40th Breeders’ Cup Friday & Saturday
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Grade 3-winning millionaire Eastern Bay, fellow multiple stakes winner Monday Morning Qb and Seven’s Eleven, last out winner of the Maryland Million Sprint, are among a dozen horses entered in Thursday’s feature as fall meet live racing resumes at Laurel Park.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Built Wright Stables’ Eastern Bay drew Post 6 in the second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs, chasing his first win since Laurel’s Feb. 18 General George (G3). The 9-year-old gelding owns 19 wins and $1.067 million in purse earnings from 67 career starts, most recently running fifth in a similar spot Oct. 12 at Aqueduct.
Eastern Bay’s 6-year-old stablemate, Monday Morning Qb, won the Heft at 2 and the Maryland Million Classic at 3 before going to the sidelines for nearly 19 months. He has won one of 10 starts since being claimed for $62,500 last August and returned from a more than five month layoff to be seventh in a Saratoga allowance Aug. 24 in his most recent outing.
The Cottonwood Stable’s 3-year-old Maryland homebred Seven’s Eleven has won three of his last four races including two straight capped by a five-length romp over older horses in the six-furlong Sprint Oct. 14 at Laurel. The only loss during that stretch came Sept. 8 at historic Pimlico Race Course in a failed turf attempt.
Also prominent in the field are Grade 3-placed Wendell Fong, 7-year-old winner of Laurel’s 2021 Fire Plug; Troy Johnson and Jagger Inc.’s 6-year-old gelding Kadri, who earned his 10th career win with a front-running triumph Oct. 12 at Laurel; and Murray, a 4-year-old owned by similar connections as Preakness (G1) winner National Treasure that ran second to Kadri last out after capturing an open allowance Sept. 15 at Pimlico in his first start for trainer Brittany Russell.
Eastern Bay, Monday Morning Qb, Wendell Fong and Kadri are each among eight horses entered for a $40,000 tag.
Race 7 Thursday is an open allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the Bowl Game turf course that drew an overflow field of 13 including Miss Georgie for main track only. The 5-2 program favorite is Recinto Rompere, a 3-year-old daughter of Karakontie making her second start off a 10-month layoff. Facing older horses in an open 1 1/16-mile allowance Sept. 22 at Pimlico, she set the pace for six furlongs before tiring to be seventh.
There will be a carryover of $7,767.57 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6). The 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 3-8) begins anew after being solved for a $3,711.84 payout Sunday.
Breeders’ Cup
Laurel will open its doors at 11 a.m. and host a Breeders’ Cup watch party for the 40th annual championship event Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita Park. There will be advance wagering Friday for Santa Anita’s entire Saturday program.
Air Recruit, impressive winner of the Sept. 30 Laurel Futurity in his two-turn debut, and Maryland-bred Fulmineo, runner-up in the Pilgrim (G2) Oct. 4 at Aqueduct, drew Posts 1 and 10, respectively, in a field of 14 for Friday’s $1 million Juvenile Turf (G1). Both horses are trained by Fair Hill, Md.-based Arnaud Delacour and listed at 20-1 on the morning line for the one-mile event, carded as Race 9 (7:40 p.m. EST).
Caravel gallops Oct. 31 at Santa Anita (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Millionaire Caravel, bred by Maryland native Elizabeth Merryman, is entered to defend her title in the $1 million Turf Sprint (G1) Saturday (Race 10, 7:25 p.m. EST). The 6-year-old mare is co-second choice at 5-1 in an overflow field of 16 with four also-eligibles including Beer Can Man, winner of the Jim McKay Turf Sprint May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
~ Notes ~
Jeiron Barbosa rode five winners last weekend including a double on Oct. 29 to pass Jevian Toledo for the top spot in the fall meet jockey standings, 21-20. Jaime Rodriguez, Maryland’s leading rider this year by eight wins over Barbosa (131-123) and battling for the title at Delaware Park’s meet that ends Saturday, is tied for third with Angel Cruz at 15 wins.
Jamie Ness teamed with Rodriguez for three winners Oct. 29 and holds a 14-12 lead over Brittany Russell as the fall meet’s leading trainer. Russell had at least one win on each of last weekend’s four programs, sending out two Oct. 26, and leads all Maryland trainers in wins this year with 93, two more than Ness.
Laurel’s live nine-race program begins at 12:25 p.m. Friday, while Saturday’s 10-race card will have a special noon first post.
