The Addison Pour, Scratched from May 21 Sir Barton, Also Entered
Jockey J.D. Acosta Registers Three Consecutive Wins Saturday
LAUREL, Md. – John Davison and Eunhee Kim’s sophomore colt Super Love, undefeated through two starts, will put his perfect record to the test as he faces older horses for the first time Sunday at Laurel Park.
By 2010 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Super Saver, Super Love is rated the 5-1 third choice on the morning line in Race 7, an entry-level allowance restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses going one mile on the main track.
It is the last of four allowance features on Sunday’s eight-race program, which begins with a first post of 12:40 p.m.
Bred by Davison and trained by Damon Dilodovico, Super Love will break outside all but Welling, a 6-year-old gelding that has been third or better in 15 of 25 starts including four wins, in the field of 10. The 2-1 program favorite is 4-year-old Royal Number, a three-time winner that was third in the Federico Tesio at Laurel and fourth in the Withers (G3) last year.
Unraced at 2, Super Love debuted with a front-running maiden special weight score sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on this year’s April 16 Tesio undercard over well-regarded next-out winner Sugar Gray Leonard. Super Love came back with another 1 ½-length triumph going six furlongs May 5, also at Laurel.
Nominated to the six-furlong Chick Lang (G3) May 21 at historic Pimlico Race Course on the undercard of the 147thPreakness Stakes (G1), Super Love has breezed twice at Laurel since his most recent win, including a five-furlong move in 1:01 June 4 that ranked third of 23 horses. Horacio Karamanos, up for each of his first two races, gets the return call.
“He’s training well. The race definitely came up a tough one,” Dilodovico said. “We’ll see. I kind of feel like the distance won’t be an issue for him. Hopefully he’s relaxed and we get a true account of whether he’s able to do it or not. Sometimes you put horses in these races and they run as hard as they can first time out and you don’t really know if they were just all hyped up and on the go, or definitely can go the distance.
“Win, lose or draw tomorrow, I hope we can say for sure if it was a failure or a success, even if we lose. Obviously we’re hoping to win,” he added. “That’s been part of our conversation. Is it too soon to do this? We’ve been able to stay with his age group for the first two starts. We’ve got more seasoned horses in this race. It’ll be a good test for him.”
Also among the four 3-year-olds in the race is The Elkstone Group’s homebred The Addison Pour, cutting back after three straight races at 1 1/16 miles including a determined nose victory over Uncle Irish in a second-level optional claiming allowance April 30 at Laurel in his latest effort. Uncle Irish has since come back to win two straight, including Saturday’s co-featured ninth race.
Like Super Love, The Addison Pour is also by a Triple Crown race winner in 2014 Belmont (G1) hero Tonalist. Similarly, the Brittany Russell trainee did not race at 2 and won on debut, a half-length maiden claiming triumph Jan. 23 at Laurel sprinting six furlongs. He ran third and second, respectively, in a pair of open optional claiming allowances before his last-out win.
Dilodovico has horses in each of Sunday’s four features including Awfully Foxy, entered for main track only in the opener, a 5 ½-furlong allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for the All Along turf course. Narrowly favored at 5-2 is Whiteknuckleflyer, the 2021 Small Wonder runner-up at Delaware Park making just her second start since mid-November.
In Race 3, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the main track, Dilodovico has the 2-1 program favorite in Ronald Cuneo’s Armando R. Claimed for $16,000 last fall, the 6-year-old Blame gelding has a win, a second and two thirds from five starts this year.
“He’s been a pretty steady runner for us. The first time we ran him he kind of got caught in a real boggy, muddy track and I don’t know if we didn’t know him that well yet or he just hated that surface. He seems to train pretty decent on the off tracks,” Dilodovico said. “He ended up in a race last time out at Pimlico where speed had just been so good pretty much the whole meet. He still ran a decent race.”
The wide-open field of seven also includes 10-time winner Midnight Act; The Poser, third by a length in the 2021 Maryland Million Classic in his only previous try at the distance; Caribbean, a winner of two straight in for a $35,000 tag; stakes-placed Ain’t Da Beer Cold; and Boss Logic, racing first off the claim for trainer Ned Allard.
Dilodovico entered Winners Circle Partners XII’s Noble Bid in Race 5, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-old fillies sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the main track where she is 4-1 on the morning line. Bred by former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme and Godolphin, the daughter of champion Bernardini was last as the favorite facing older horses June 3 at Laurel, a race where she was forced to check early and taken up by Karamanos.
Noble Bid was a popular half-length maiden special weight winner on debut March 13 and ran second by 3 ½ lengths after getting within a head of the lead entering the stretch in a first-level optional claiming allowance April 10. All of her races have been 5 ½ furlongs at Laurel.
“Last time, when another horse came across on her and Horacio took a hold of her, he was trying to be as soft as he could be and she just kind of overreacted to it. Then when she threw her head up in the air, the hood just kind of opened up like a parachute and blinded her,” Dilodovico said. “She seemed to have come out of it well. For the most part, she was pretty good. She’s feeling pretty good now.”
La Casa d’Oro, sixth last out in the May 20 Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico, is the 2-1 program favorite, having graduated in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight April 22 in her first start for Russell. Also entered are Bandits Warrior, half to retired multiple stakes winner Anna’s Bandit, and Jerry Robb-trained stablemate Fuhgeddaboudit; Swayin to and Fro, a winner of two straight; and Feb. 19 Wide Country runner-up She Is Wisky.
Notes: Jockey J.D. Acosta registered a natural hat trick Saturday, finishing first aboard Bay B ($16.60) in Race 4, Captain Cardo ($28) in Race 5 and Looks Don’t Lie ($15.40) in Race 6. He was fourth with his only other mount, Champagne Toast in Race 7, before riding four races at Charles Town Saturday night … Charlie Marquez doubled with Camp Pendleton ($10) in Race 1 and Uncle Irish ($5) in Race 9 … Fool Yourself ($11) took the lead at the top of the stretch and pulled away from favored pacesetter Charming Way to capture Race 7, an entry-level allowance for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up, in 1:37.02 for one mile over a fast main track … D Hatman Thoroughbreds and Kingdom Bloodstock Inc.’s Determined Kingdom ($22.40), exiting four straight stakes starts, ran down fellow stakes winner Oldies But Goodies nearing the line to take Race 8, a second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on a Dahlia turf course rated good. The winning time was 1:04.86 … Race 9, a first-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds going one mile, was won by Morris Kernan and Jagger Inc.’s Uncle Irish in 1:35.95, his second straight victory.
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
Photo of Super Love by Maryland Jockey Club