Malibu Moonshine winning the Gin Talking at Laurel Park last December. (Jerry Dzierwinski/MJC)
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Happy Face Racing Stable’s Malibu Moonshine, Maryland’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2022, will kick off the second half of her sophomore season in Saturday’s $75,000 Miss Disco at Laurel Park.
The 6 ½-furlong sprint for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-old fillies will be the first start for the Bourbon Courage filly since having a career-opening three-race win streak snapped when third in the Feb. 5 Ruthless at Aqueduct. Two of those wins came at Laurel, both in stakes – the Maryland Juvenile Fillies and Gin Talking, each going seven furlongs.
“We gave her a little break, just to grow up a little bit. She had run some good races and we gave her a couple months off, and she came back a lot better,” trainer Charlton Baker said. “She’s bigger and stronger and she’s been training great coming up to the race. She’s doing everything right. She’s coming into the race pretty fit; I think. She’s ready to go.”
Though based in New York, all three of Malibu Moonshine’s early wins came in Maryland starting with a six-length maiden special weight debut triumph going six furlongs last September at historic Pimlico Race Course.
“She’s won over the track, and she ships great. Us getting down there is not a worry, it’s just a matter of getting her to do her thing,” Baker said. “I think it’s a great spot for her, distance-wise, and against Maryland-breds. I didn’t want to bring her back in a real tough race, so it seemed like a good spot to bring her back.”
Angel Cruz is named to ride from Post 4 in a field of eight. Normally a late-running horse, Baker is unsure if Malibu Moonshine will show more early foot coming off the layoff.
“When she breezes, she shows good speed and everything but [in races] she breaks and kinds of lets herself get settled before she gets going. She drops back a little and that’s how she’s run all her races so far,” he said. “That’s just her style. She might be sharper this time but her first start last year she did the same thing, so it’s hard to say. We’ve got to wait and see.”
Smith Farm & Stable’s Precious Avary, seventh in the 2022 Maryland Million Lassie, returns to Laurel a different horse this year, having won three consecutive races. Each have come against fellow New Jersey-breds, two of them at one mile, including the Jersey Girl Handicap on turf July 8 at Monmouth Park for trainer Tim Shaw.
Greg Tatum Racing’s Fast Tracked ran second, beaten two lengths by Malibu Moonshine, in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies. The Arnaud Delacour trainee has one win from five starts this year, a front-running open optional claiming allowance going 1 1/8 miles June 2 at Pimlico and exits a troubled seventh in the July 1 Delaware Oaks (G3), a race where she hit the starting gate and raced wide early.
Trainer Linda Albert will wheel Not The 1 Stable, Inc.’s Liquidator back on a week’s rest in the Miss Disco. The Divining Rod filly emerged from a stretch-long duel with a one-length win over Happy Clouds in a July 21 optional claiming allowance sprinting 5 ½ furlongs at Laurel. It was the second win in her last three races and sixth overall, all at Laurel, from 16 starts.
“She’s been facing the same horses every time we run, so you kind of get to know those guys. This will be a little different,” trainer Linda Albert said. “She’s doing great. We figured the race was there so we might as well give it a try. She looks as good as anybody right now.”
Liquidator is the most experienced filly in the Miss Disco field, and has four wins, three seconds and a third from 10 starts this year. Regular rider Tais Lyapustina gets the return call from Post 6.
“She’s nice and fit so she doesn’t have to do anything but rest up and she’s ready to go,” Albert said. “I think we can do well there. I wonder about the horse from New Jersey, she looks pretty tough to me. Looking at her she can go turf, dirt, short, long, doesn’t seem to matter with that one.”
Purchased for just $7,000 as a yearling in 2021, Liquidator has won $239,480 in purse earnings. In her only prior stakes start, she ran sixth in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies.
“We’re really thrilled with her,” Albert said. “That particular owner had never bought a yearling before. He picked her out and he got her like the first bid. He put up the first bid on her and she was his. It’s not usually that easy. We’re thinking about going back this year. It might not be that simple.”
Rowsie Express, racing second off a $20,000 claim for Laurel’s summer meet-leading trainer Jamie Ness; Solving Progress, an off-the-turf maiden special weight winner going 1 1/16 miles May 14 at Pimlico; Talk to the Judge, returning to the dirt after finishing sixth in the 5 ½-furlong Blue Sparkler on the Monmouth Park turf July 15; and Willful Desire, claimed out of a June 25 win at Laurel that extended her win streak to two races, are also entered.
Bred in Maryland by Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Miss Disco was a multiple stakes winner during her racing career but is best known as the dam of Hall of Famer Bold Ruler, winner of the Preakness (G1) and Horse of the Year in 1957 and sire of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. She was named Broodmare of the Year in 1958.
