Stormy Blues Stake Headlines Father’s Day Sunday Card
Steeplechase Racing Returns to Laurel Park
Dan Illman/Laurel Park
LAUREL, Md, – Laurel Park hosts a Father’s Day festival of racing and fun with an 11-race Sunday program featuring the $100,000 Stormy Blues Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 5 ½ furlongs on turf and the return of steeplechase racing following a 25-year absence. The first post time is 12:10 ET, and there are two “Value Pick 5” wagers with a low 12% takeout rate.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables’s Roja was an impressive winner of her turf debut at Laurel Park on May 25. Trained by Graham Motion, the Karakontie filly settled into the pocket, then scooted up the inside to sprint home a 4 ¼-length winner.
“I thought she was very impressive the other day,” Motion said. “It’s a big step from a maiden to a stake, but there aren’t that many opportunities for 3-year-old fillies to run with their own kind. Off of that race, she warrants a shot. I thought she beat a decent group.”
Roja has been a work in progress for Motion.
“She really didn’t show me very much until she worked from the gate at Palm Meadows,” Motion admitted. “I don’t know if it was the gate or the dirt, but I thought her work was very impressive, and that was why we ran her on the dirt at Tampa, although she’s completely bred for the grass.”
“She ran very competitively [in her debut],” Motion said. “The last time Irad [Ortiz] rode her at Keeneland, he [told me] this filly needs the grass. And he was right. And that’s why he’s the leading rider in the country.”
Trainer Miguel Clement saddled his first Grade 1 winner last weekend when Deterministic wired the field in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes.
He’ll send out Make Haste for the partnership of Gainesway Stable and LNJ Foxwoods.
“We’re very, very lucky [that] the connections gave us such a good filly,” said Clement. “It’s very meaningful. They both stepped up and decided to support the stable. We’re very appreciative to train for these connections. It’s a big deal, especially at this moment in time.”
Clement’s father, Christophe Clement, passed away last month. Christophe Clement trained Make Haste to a front-running victory in a first-level allowance at Gulfstream on April 13. Make Haste was re-routed to the Stormy Blues after Saratoga’s Soaring Softly Stakes was washed off the turf last Sunday.
“She’s doing very well,” Clement said. “She has tactical speed. She doesn’t have to be on the front.”
Repole Stable’s Slightly Busy returned from a lengthy layoff to down a first-level allowance restricted to New York breds at Aqueduct on April 24. It was her first start for trainer Amelia Green, a third-generation horsewoman who worked as a jockey, assistant trainer, and exercise rider for Sir Henry Cecil and Todd Pletcher before going out on her own last year.
Pletcher trained Slightly Busy for the filly’s first two starts, including an off-turf victory against state-bred maiden special weight company at Saratoga last summer.
“I was pretty familiar with her back at Todd’s,” Green said. “She was with a string I was overseeing, and she just got sent home for time off for the winter. I was lucky enough that when she was ready to come back after the break, I got the opportunity to train her. She’s never done anything wrong. She’s always a very good workhorse. She’ll outbreeze everything you put her with. She’s got a lot of muscle. She’s built like a little sprinter.”
WinStar Farm’s Impulse Buy makes her turf debut in the Stormy Blues for trainer Rodolphe Brisset. A stakes-winner at Churchill Downs last fall, Impulse Buy finished eighth in her seasonal debut, the Grade 2 Eight Belle Stakes on May 2, after being caught in a speed duel.
“We were not expecting that trip at all,” Brisset said. “We were a couple of works short, too, but she’s very talented. I blame me more than anything. Perhaps we should have waited for the Miss Preakness. I wasn’t expecting to end up on the lead going 21 and 44. She got tired.”
Impulse Buy scratched from last week’s Leslie’s Lady Stakes at Churchill Downs.
“We got a little unlucky,” Brisset said Wednesday morning. “The filly got cast. We felt like it wasn’t right to run her off that. She just trained 20 minutes ago and looked beautiful.”
Trainer Jose Corrales sends out Safe Trust and Shkhara Fire, both stakes-winners on the dirt trying grass for the first time.
“For me, she’s good on everything,” Corrales said of Barak Farm’s Safe Trust. “Whatever I throw at her, she runs. So far, she’s shown me everything.”
Owned by Barak Farms and Dino’s Thoroughbreds, Shkhara Fire rallied from last to win last year’s Maryland Million Lassie. In her most recent start, she showed early speed before re-rallying to finish second in a first-level allowance.
“The reason we sent her [was because of the post],” Corrales said as Shkhara Fire broke from the rail for the third time in her last four starts. Nice Guys Stable’s Gata Brazil finished seventh in her stakes debut last month, the Take the A Train at Aqueduct. She showed speed that afternoon in a race that went to late runners.
Trainer Brittany Russell also entered Joel Politi’s Biscuitwiththeboss, a full sister to multiple stakes-winning turf sprinter Bosserati. Biscuitwiththeboss captured her only previous turf outing, a first-level allowance on October 26.
Viscious Gossip steps up in class after winning her first two starts. Strong Like Sara and Not Too Late, both stakes-placed on dirt, complete the field.
Double Airo and Ms Notion entered Main Track Only.
Steeplechase Racing Returns to Laurel Park
For the first time in 25 years, steeplechase racing returns to Laurel Park with a pair of 2 1/8-mile events for 4-year-olds and up.
The first race on the card is a $40,000 maiden special weight. Race 2, the second half of the early Daily Double, offers a $45,000 purse and is a “non-winners of two” allowance for 4-year-olds and upward.
Laurel Park first hosted steeplechase races in 1911 and is proud to continue the rich tradition of steeplechase racing in the region.
Enjoy Father’s Day at Laurel Park
Give Dad the ultimate Father’s Day experience with Laurel Park’s “Father’s Day at the Races” on Sunday, June 15, between noon and 4 pm ET.
Enjoy a specially designed buffet featuring Dad’s favorites – from perfectly grilled meats to classic sides, all prepared by our executive culinary team.
Davidus Cigars will provide Lord Baltimore Maduro Cigars in our designated smoking areas, and our Father’s Day bourbon bar features an exceptional selection of American whiskeys.
For tickets and more information, click here.
