Longshot Toy sweeps to Sunday feature victory, Golden Can maiden winner, Triple Carryovers for Monday’s 10-Race program
LAUREL, Md. – Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stable and Magic City Stable’s Hello Beautiful, impressive back-to-back stakes winner to conclude her juvenile campaign, is set to launch her highly anticipated 3-year-old season in Monday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.
Hello Beautiful, based at Laurel with trainer Brittany Russell, drew Post 6 in the open first-level allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Dahlia turf course that attracted 16 entries, including four alternates.
Bred in Maryland by Ellen Charles of Hillwood Stables, Hello Beautiful was never worse than third in six starts at age two, three of them wins, capped by the Maryland Million Lassie and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship in successive outings by 15 ½ combined lengths.
Her connections planned to take their time bringing her back as a 3-year-old, a situation that was extended when racing was put on pause in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Hello Beautiful has been working steadily for her return.
“Maybe it’s not the ideal spot, but it’s ok. We can get Hello Beautiful started in a turf race,” Russell said. “She has a good enough post position, so it is what it is at this point. It’s racing, so not everything is going to be perfect all the time, but she’s doing great so at least we’re walking over a happy filly.”
Hello Beautiful has raced well over Laurel’s turf course before, finishing second in a maiden special weight and optional claimer last summer, both at 5 ½ furlongs, the latter prior to her return to dirt in the Maryland Million.
“That’s kind of what I said to those guys. She can handle the turf,” Russell said. “Obviously the turf course is beautiful right now, so it’ll be a nice course for her to get over. It’s a nice spot to start back in. We have the a-other-than [condition]. We’re not looking for her best race on Monday, but I’m hoping that she runs big.”
Russell’s husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, has been aboard for all of Hello Beautiful’s races and will once again get the call. The swift daughter of Golden Lad has flashed her speed in each of the last four races and will have to contend with other early-running types such as More Or Less, Nine Martinis, Magical Luna and Flyingontheground.
“We popped her out of the gate last week, just to kind of get her mind back on business. We haven’t really known how to move forward, not really knowing what was happening with racing, and it’s tough,” Russell said. “I told Sheldon, ‘Don’t move. Just let her run out of there and let her stretch her legs,’ and it was really pretty. Visually, it was a beautiful work and at the three-eighths pole he said she was begging to do more.
“I think she’ll run good. From the post position, hopefully he can just sit off [the pace],” she added. “Obviously there’s going to be a lot of speed in there. It’s the same thing as always, it’s going to be up to them. If she breaks and she wants to just settle off something, she can do it. We’re just looking for a good building block.”
The other stakes winner in the field is Make Family First Stable’s Money Fromheaven, who captured the 2018 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship but has been winless since. She ran just twice at 3 and has had three starts this year, finishing second in an open allowance last out March 6. She was third in her only previous turf start, an August 2018 maiden special weight at Laurel.
Russell said hopes remain high for Hello Beautiful as the ever-evolving racing landscape unfolds.
“With Hello Beautiful, the idea is to get some graded type on her and we just don’t know what our options really are quite yet,” she said. “Naturally, you’d like [her] to run off the screen and we can say, ‘Wow, where do we want to go next?’ but we’re all trying to stay level-headed and just hope for [a] good runs and let [her] come back good. Earlier this year I was saying it’s a long year, but now it seems like the year has gotten quite a bit shorter on us. It’s time to go. It’s time for everybody to step up.”
Toy Sweeps to Sunday Feature Victory, Golden Can Maiden Winner
Dark Hollow Farm homebred Toy weaved his way through traffic once straightened for home, swept past stablemate Plot the Dots in mid-stretch and went on to spring a mild upset in Sunday’s featured ninth race at Laurel Park.
A Maryland-bred son of Tapizar trained by Mike Trombetta and ridden by Victor Carrasco, Toy ($19.60) completed one mile in 1:36.14 over a fast main track to take the $42,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds by 1 ¼ lengths.
The Elkstone Group’s homebred Plot the Dots, also trained by Trombetta, was second, with 15-1 long shot pacesetter The Poser holding third. It was the seventh career start for Toy and second straight win following a six-length maiden special weight triumph last out Feb. 21 at Laurel.
“I would have been happy for either one of them to do any kind of good, because I thought it was a very good race,” Trombetta said. “The winner, his last race when he broke his maiden it was like he finally figured it out. From a numbers standpoint, he wasn’t quite fast enough with this group, but obviously he is, so that was good.”
Carrasco saved ground on the rail as The Poser took the initiative from his outside post and led the field of 12 pressed by Paradise Pride to the inside with Plot the Dots in the clear three wide. The Poser was still in front rounding the turn Toy made his move but was forced to check slightly when the gap between Paradise Pride and The Poser closed.
Toy was steered outside to continue his bid but had to alter course again around Plot the Dots when his stablemate shifted inward during the charge for home, finally settling into stride inside the eighth pole and drawing clear.
Skyscanner, making his first start since having a chip removed following his runner-up finish in the Sorority Stakes last fall, was seventh, while Mine Not Mine, the 2-1 favorite off back-to-back placings in the Miracle Wood and Private Terms to start the year, was 10th. Dreams Untold, favored in the program at 5-2, was scratched.
Golden Can ($92.40), owned and trained by Hassan Elamri, rallied from the far outside post down the center of the track to spring a 45-1 upset in Race 7, a $40,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3 and up. It was the second career start for Golden Can, a 3-year-old filly ridden by Wes Hamilton, who covered 5 ½ furlongs in 1:01.87 over a firm Dahlia turf course.
Triple Carryovers for Monday’s 10-Race Program
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, 50-cent Late Pick 5 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers for Monday’s 10-race program at Laurel Park.
First race post time is 12:40 p.m.
No one had all six winners in the Rainbow 6 for the second consecutive day, swelling the carryover jackpot to $23,653.86. Tickets with five of six winners each returned $582.78.
The Late Pick 5 also went unsolved, producing a carryover of $11,745.60. Tickets with four of five winners were each worth $122.30.
A carryover of $2,990.49 will be available in the Super Hi-5 for Monday’s opener.
In the Rainbow 6, the carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Sequences for the Late Pick 5 (Races 6-10) and Rainbow 6 (Races 5-10) each include a $40,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles in Race 7, and the 3-year-old debut of multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful in Race 9, a $42,000 entry-level allowance fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs. Both races are scheduled for the Dahlia turf course.
Notes: Jockey Jevian Toledo rode two winners for the second straight day, aboard Tauber ($7.40) in Race 4 and Battlebus ($5.40) in Race 10.
Maryland Jockey Club Press Release
Photo: Hello Beautiful wins the 2019 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship at Laurel Park. Credit: Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue
