Starstruck Notion. (Maryland Jockey Club photo)
Precious Avary Back to Make Title Defense in $125,000 Ladies
Among 8 Stakes, 4 Starter Stakes on ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Never closer to becoming a stakes winner than last fall at Laurel Park, Ken Garcia’s New Jersey homebred Starstruck Notion returns with a chance to secure that breakthrough victory again in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Turf.
The Turf for 3-year-olds and up and $125,000 Ladies for fillies and mares 3 and older, both scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the Dahlia turf course, are among eight stakes and four starter stakes worth $1.08 million in purses on ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.
Highlighted by the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up, first race post time is 11:30 a.m.
Starstruck Notion is a gelded 4-year-old son of Great Notion, Maryland’s leading sire since 2016 based at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md. that has produced at least one Maryland Million winner for 14 consecutive years. Monmouth Park-based trainer Pat McBurney would like nothing more than to extend the streak.
“He really had taken to the grass before we came down which is why we thought we’d give it a shot last year. To be honest, we were quite surprised he ran so good,” he said. “But he’s turned out to be a pretty solid horse, so we’re looking forward to having another chance at it this year.”
Starstruck Notion raced on the inside near the back of the pack last year before launching a late rally that came up three-quarters of a length short of repeat winner Wicked Prankster, who did not return for a chance to three-peat, edging Jack’s Legend by a neck for second in his stakes debut.
“The winner got away with a very slow pace that day,” McBurney said. “If [Starstruck Notion] has one negative side, sometimes he wants to be a little too rank early in the race which I think kind of hurt him in the stakes race here last time. All year he’s been solid and when he listens to the rider and lets him rate him, he’s really run well this year.”
Starstruck Notion has two wins from five starts this year, including a front-running 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance triumph Aug. 3. Most recently he was fourth by two lengths in the one-mile Red Bank Sept. 2, and he will be reunited with jockey Forest Boyce for the first time since last year’s Turf. They drew Post 3 and are favored at 2-1 on the morning line.
Charles Blanford’s Crabs N Beer also returns after finishing fifth, beaten two lengths, in last year’s Turf. It will be the third straight year in the race for the 5-year-old Blofeld gelding, who was third by a length in 2022, and first with Keri Brion, who took over his training to start 2024.
Crabs N Beer has one win from five starts this year, dead-heating for first with Vax a Nation in a restricted one-mile allowance April 27 at Laurel in his season opener. From there he was second by 1 ½ lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Dinner Party (G3) on the undercard of the Preakness (G1) May 18 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
He raced twice in New York, once each at Aqueduct and Saratoga, and most recently was beaten 3 ¼ lengths when sixth in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Aug. 30 at Colonial Downs. It was a spot the connections settled on after he was scratched when rain forced Laurel’s Aug. 18 Find off the grass.
“I’m really excited. He’s had a bit of time between races, and I think he runs best fresh, so he’s coming into this in really good order,” Brion said. “He didn’t get beat very far last time and he had to come wide. It was just one of those things that didn’t really work out. I would just throw it out. He came out of it good and he’s doing well. This was always the goal. The owner, this means a lot to him, and he would love to win a Maryalnd Million race. This has been the plan all year and hopefully we can get it done.”
Crabs N Beer has been beaten two lengths or less in each of his last four stakes attempts and fewer than three lengths on average in seven career tries. Rated at 5-2 on the morning line, he will have Sheldon Russell up from Post 7.
“It would be huge,” Brion said. “He’s stepped up and he’s competed at a much higher level. He was second in the Dinner Party and he went to New York a couple times and ran very close in a the two-other-thans up there. He’s been knocking heads with some really, really nice horses and running well doing it, so it just would be nice for him to get his head in front. He deserves it.”
R. Larry Johnson’s 9-year-old homebred Street Copper is entered to make his 45th career start and fifth in the Turf, having run fifth in 2019, third by a head in 2021, second by less than a length in 2022 and ninth last year. Third by a half-length in a one-mile optional claimer Sept. 15 on the Laurel turf last time out, he is joined by Michael Trombetta-trained stablemate Sky’s Not Falling, winner of the 2022 Maryland Million Turf Sprint and 1 1/16-mile Bert Allen Aug. 31 at Colonial Downs.
Find winner Riccio, Sept. 8 Presious Passion runner-up Sports Editor, Goodbye Note and Hanksdiviningrod complete the field. Maryland-breds on the also-eligible list, Vax a Nation and Mission North, are only able to run if there are fewer than eight Maryland Million-eligible horses.
Precious Avary Back to Make Title Defense in $125,000 Ladies
Smith Farm & Stable’s multiple stakes-winning homebred Precious Avary had only one prior start on the grass, also a stakes win, when she showed up last fall at Laurel Park for the $125,000 Maryland Million Ladies, a race she led every step of the way on the way to a three-quarter-length triumph.
The 4-year-old New Jersey-bred filly returns Saturday to make a title defense and attempt to become just the sixth horse in 39 years to repeat in the Ladies, following Countus In (1989-91), Mz. Zill Bear (1993-95), Hail Hillary (2003-04), Monster Sleeping (2013, 2015) and My Sistersledge (2017-18).
“Last year was the culmination of a really good year where race by race she just kind of grew with confidence. It was a wonderful thing, and she was really in a zone last year,” trainer Tim Shaw said. “This year she really hasn’t been able to exploit some of the races that she won last year because she’s not eligible for those conditions anymore, so it’s been a little bit tricky to navigate. But, I think this year she’s every bit as good as she was last year. I’m really looking forward to Saturday.”
Precious Avary, by 2015 Preakness (G1) third-place finisher Divining Rod, beat older horses in the Ladies and last summer’s Jersey Girl at Monmouth Park. This year she owns one win and one third in five starts, scoring in front-running fashion July 31 at Delaware Park in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer on the turf. Last out she pressed the pace before tiring to eighth in a starter allowance at the same track and distance Sept. 14.
“Her race two starts back was a great race,” Shaw said. “The last race on paper was a really, really tough race and she actually came out of it with a bit of mucus. She might have actually been a little bit under the weather for that race, so I’m going to draw a line through it. She breezed really well last week.”
Precious Avary went four furlongs in 47.89 seconds Oct. 3 at Parx, fourth-fastest of 13 horses. Regular rider Sylvestre Gonzalez gets the return call from Post 3, after breaking from the rail last year.
“The thing about her is she likes to run free on the lead, but when you challenge her she actually enjoys that challenge and often times she can rebreak a little bit. That’s what she likes to do so we’re just going to let her go out there and have fun,” Shaw said.
“I’m feeling very, very good. I think she’s going to run every bit as well as she did last year,” he added. “Whether that’s good enough this year remains to be seen. It’s a new group with some different faces, but I think she’s every bit as good as she was last year.”
Trainer Kenny Cox, who will saddle defending champion Ain’t Da Beer Cold in the Classic, entered Bonuccelli Racing’s Italian War Cry for the Ladies. Third by a length in a one-mile maiden claimer July 13, just her second and most recent try on the grass, the 4-year-old Irish War Cry filly graduated in a similar spot Sept. 2 on the main track at Timonium.
“I think she’s a little better on the turf,” Cox said. “We weren’t really planning on running her in here but we kind of looked at it as if it didn’t open up [to Maryland-breds] there was not a lot of speed in there. I said let’s put her in and take a look at it.
“If it’s ever going to happen, it would set up for her. It’s a competitive race and we’re taking a shot,” he added. “She’s a filly that is very rank early and if you can get her to settle, she’ll finish. If she gets away from you and goes too quick, that’s just her and she doesn’t have anything at the end.”
Larry Metz and Larry Bathon’s Downtown Katie was second by a head in the 2022 Maryland Million Turf Distaff Starter Handicap and seventh as the favorite in last year’s Ladies. Neck winner of an open allowance Aug. 22 and second in a restricted starter allowance Sept. 14, both going 1 1/16 miles on the Delaware turf, she is the 5-2 program second choice.
Favored at 9-5 is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Active, a 3-year-old daughter of 2024 Hall of Famer Gun Runner that is the lone non-Maryland-sired horse in the main body of the field. She graduated in a 1 1/8-mile waiver maiden claimer June 16 on the Laurel turf and followed up with a one-mile allowance win Aug. 22 at Colonial Downs. Most recently she was second by less than two lengths to multiple stakes-placed Surya in an open 1 1/16-mile allowance Sept. 20 at The Meadowlands.
Also entered are Atlas Strong, Juniper Juice, Next Episode and Kobe’s Smile. Maryland-breds on the also-eligible list are Circle Home, Cut From Class, Lifelovenlaughter, Naval Empire, Gold Digging Broad and Don’t Tell Deren.
