Jockey Charlie Marquez (MJC Photo)
Marquez’s Thursday Hat Trick Includes Maiden Sweep
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – A maiden special weight for horses ages 3, 4 and 5 and a trio of allowance events highlight Friday’s 10-race program at Laurel Park.
Post time is 12:25 p.m.
An overflow field of 12 maidens was entered for Race 2, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles over the Fort Marcy Turf Course. Hurrying Home, a $300,000 son of champion Uncle Mo, adds blinkers in his first start for trainer Brittany Russell and first since his Feb. 23 debut at Gulfstream Park for Hall of Famer Bill Mott. Trainer Arnaud Delacour will unveil Mark Grier’s He Did It, a $275,000 yearling bred by late Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard.
Sixteen fillies and mares 3 and up, including five also-eligibles and Smoochinwithcindy for main track only, are in the lineup for Race 6, an entry-level allowance scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the Fort Marcy layout. Among them are stakes-placed Awesome Jazz; 3-year-old Lightress, a $500,000 daughter of City of Light making her sixth career start and third for Delacour; and last-out winner Bandonarun, who defeated elders Sept. 8 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Race 8 is a 1 1/16-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the Kelso turf course. Nine were entered including Naval Empire, runner-up in the Nellie Mae Cox Sept. 2 at Colonial Downs, and Mike Trombetta-trained stablemate Livelovenlaughter, fourth by two lengths after setting the pace in the Aug. 13 Searching at Laurel; multiple stakes-placed Island Philo; and Money’s Worth, third in the six-furlong Jameela on the Laurel turf June 1.
The feature comes in Race 9, an open allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting six furlongs on the main track. The 2-1 program favorite is Willful Desire, 5-for-10 this year for New York-based trainer David Jacobson with wins over Laurel’s turf and dirt courses. Desert Daliance ships in from New Jersey for trainer Kelly Breen off a runner-up finish in an Aug. 29 optional claimer at Parx. Winked has been third or better in 12 of 13 career starts with five seconds and five thirds.
50-cent Late Pick 5
Following a 45-1 upset by Dream River ($92.40) in Thursday’s Race 1 finale, there will be carryovers of $13,748.68 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 6-10) and $8,239.30 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 5-10), as well as $1,184.82 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6). Tickets with four of five winners in the Pick 5 returned $327.30, while tickets with four of six winners in the Rainbow 6 were worth $89.12.
Notes
Jockey Charlie Marquez swept the early daily double aboard Inveigled ($10.20) in Race 1 and Pickin Sea Glass ($5.60) in Race 2. Marquez completed his hat trick on Sweet Rockin ($37) in Race 6 …
Mark Grier’s Inveigled, an Indiana-bred son of multiple graded-stakes winner Enticed, pulled away under a hand ride to a six-length victory in the 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-olds, his second career start. The winning time was 1:03.99 over a fast main track …
Bill Shook’s Maryland homebred Street Rockin, racing for the third time, captured Thursday’s other juvenile maiden special weight, a 5 ½-furlong dash over a firm Kelso turf course, in 1:04.50. Enzo, a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Caravel and full brother to multiple stakes winner Witty, was fifth …
Sheffield Stable’s Brother Conway ($13), second in three starts off a late June claim by trainer Kieron Magee, broke through with his fourth career win in featured Race 9, an open six-furlong allowance for 3-year-olds and up, in 1:09.20 over a fast main track.
