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With #7 Beren on the lead, #8 Wondrwherecraigis just behind would pass him and reach the wire first by 2-3/4 lengths only to be DQ’d to second in the 2022 edition of the De Francis Dash. (Jeffrey Snyder/MJC)
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David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Wondrwherecraigis, second as the favorite in each of the previous two runnings, figures to garner plenty of attention again when he returns for the third consecutive year chasing an elusive victory in the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Saturday, July 29 at Laurel Park.
The 32nd renewal of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up is the headliner on a 10-race program featuring five stakes worth $500,000 in purses including the $100,000 Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles and $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and older sprinting 6 ½ furlongs.
Rounding out Saturday’s stakes action is a pair of $75,000 events restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses – the Star de Naskra for 3-year-olds and Miss Disco for 3-year-old fillies, both contested at seven furlongs. Post time is 12:25 p.m.
Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel Park and historic Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis’ illustrious roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster; fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor’s Echo and Benny the Bull; and Lite the Fuse, the race’s only two-time winner (1995-96).
Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso’s 7-year-old gelding Wondrwherecraigis finished first by three-quarters of a length in the 2021 De Francis, then a Grade 3, but was disqualified to second behind Jalen Journey for interference after drifting out in deep stretch. Rather than earn his and trainer Brittany Russell’s first graded win on their home track, he stepped up in his next start with a front-running triumph in the Bold Ruler (G3) at Belmont Park.
Wondrwherecraigis, racing for the first time in 113 days following a trip to Dubai for the $2 million Golden Shaheen (G1), was beaten 2 ¾ lengths by Beren in last year’s De Francis but was two lengths clear of fellow Grade 3 winner Pickin’ Time in third. In his other four lifetime starts at Laurel, Wondrwherecraigis is 4-0 including a victory in the 2022 Fire Plug as a prep for his trip overseas.
“It’s always nicer running in your backyard. He is a tough, tough horse at Laurel,” Elkstone’s Stuart Grant said. “It would be very nice to have him come back. It’s actually more cool to win a race, then lose it the next year and win it the next year than it is to win it consecutively, because it means you’re racing really well for three straight years. We’re excited about ‘Craig’ every time he runs.”
Wondrwherecraigis enters this year’s De Francis not having run in 71 days, since finishing sixth after chasing the pace in the six-furlong Maryland Sprint (G3) May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course on the undercard of the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1). The son of Munnings opened his 2023 season with a determined head victory in an April 13 optional claiming allowance at Laurel.
“‘Craig’ is an interesting character. Just when you think that’s it, he hasn’t run as well as we’ve seen him run in the past or he’s not training that well, he fires off a bullet and wins a race,” Grant said. “Sometimes he’s training so well, and you send him out there and he just runs fair.
“I’ve given up trying to figure out Craig,” he added. “He doesn’t owe us anything. He’s been a very, very good horse to us and we’re just going to keep him happy and keep him running and, when it’s finally time to call it quits, we will take good care of him the rest of his life.”
Following the Maryland Sprint, where he surpassed $500,000 in purse earnings, Wondrwherecraigis returned to the work tab with a bullet half-mile in 48 seconds June 17. He has had two more four-furlong breezes, most recently in 48.40 July 22. Sheldon Russell gets the riding assignment from Post 2 in a field of seven.
An eight-time career winner from 17 starts, Wondrwherecraigis earned his first stakes victory in the 2021 Tale of the Cat at Saratoga over multiple stakes winner My Boy Tate. In 2020 he ran third in Belmont’s Gold Fever and fourth in Saratoga’s Amsterdam (G2), the latter behind subsequent Grade 1 winner Yaupon.
“We always expect great things,” Grant said. “I hate to be unfair to him and always expect his ‘A’ game, but hopefully he brings his ‘A’ game in the De Francis, and we’ll see what happens.”
A strong challenge to Wondrwherecraigis could come from Lea Farms’ Lightening Larry, who earned his graded-stakes credentials with a 12-1 upset of the 2022 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico in his only prior trip to Maryland for South Florida-based trainer Jorge Delgado, who maintains a summer string at Monmouth Park.
“He won my first graded-stakes for me, so I’ll always have a very nice memory of him,” Delgado said. “He’s doing good. I think since he came to Monmouth, he loves the weather here and he loves the surface to train every week, so that’s making a big difference.”
Also, under consideration for the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G2) the same day at Saratoga, Lightening Larry has won back-to-back six-furlong stakes – the Mr. Prospector May 29 at Monmouth and Delaware Park’s Alapocas Run July 1 – by six combined lengths. He has not finished worse than third in five races this year, including a season-opening victory in the Jan. 14 Sunshine Sprint against fellow Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park.
“We’ve put him in races to build his confidence. He’s put up good numbers and he’s running fast times, and he’s happy,” Delgado said. “He’s in very good shape and state of mind right now. I think he’s going to be competitive anywhere he goes. The way he’s training right now, I believe he’s one of the best older sprinters in the country.”
Six of Lightening Larry’s seven lifetime wins have come at the De Francis distance. In his two losses this year he was third behind multiple graded-stakes winner Candy Man Rocket in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Feb. 25 and second, beaten 1 ¼ lengths, in the NYRABets Sprint March 26 at Tampa Bay Downs.
“When Candy Man Rocket won, [Lightening Larry] was kind of outrun in the beginning by a horse that ended up finishing last, so he couldn’t run his style that day. He still ran a good race to be third,” Delgado said. “At Tampa he ran really fast fractions, and he got nailed in the end. Pretty much he’s perfect to me. He’s been 100 percent in the money, running in stakes races. The fact that he’s won three stakes races is major. We’re happy with the horse right now and the effort he gives us.”
Daniel Centeno will ride from Post 6 as the 126-pound topweight, giving from two to six pounds to his rivals.
Synthesis, owned and trained by New York-based David Jacobson, is a 10-time career winner with eight seconds and eight thirds from 47 starts seeking his first stakes victory. Scratched from the July 22 Wolf Hill at Monmouth, a 5 ½-furlong turf dash, the 7-year-old gelding exits a runner-up finish at odds of 20-1 in the seven-furlong John A. Nerud (G2) July 1 at Belmont.
“His last race speaks for itself,” Jacobson said. “On any given day he’s capable of running a big race. I just hope he’ll be able to handle the field that’s dealt him next week.”
Synthesis has raced once before at Laurel, running fifth to stablemate Stage Left in an off-the-turf edition of the 5 ½-furlong King T. Leatherbury April 29. He has one second and two thirds in four lifetime tries going six furlongs, the most recent a fifth in the 2022 Fall Highweight (G3) at Aqueduct.
Claimed for $40,000 out of a win last June at Los Alamitos, Synthesis ran third in the 2018 Best Pal (G2) at Del Mar in the summer of his juvenile season. Angel Cruz rides from Post 3.
“I think he’ll be running at the end. I wish it was a little further. Six and a half or seven-eighths is really his best distance, but he can get it done at three-quarters,” Jacobson said. “He’s won 10 races. It’s always important to know where the wire is, that’s for sure.”
Pocket 3’s Racing’s multiple stakes winner Threes Over Deuces tries the De Francis for the second straight year after running fifth in 2022. The consistent 8-year-old gelding has been third or better in 39 of 57 starts, nine of them wins, the latest a last-out optional claiming allowance triumph sprinting six furlongs at Delaware Park June 14.
Xtreme Racing Stables’ 5-year-old Sir Wellington was a stakes winner at both 2 and 3 and has placed in four other stakes for two-time Canterbury Park leading trainer McLean Robertson. The son of Palace has alternated wins and losses in his last four races, taking an open six-furlong allowance June 6 at Delaware andfinishing second to Lightening Larry in the Alapocas Run.
A.R.D. Racing Stables’ Holy Synchronicity is entered to make his 27th career start and first in stakes company in the De Francis. The 4-year-old Holy Boss gelding was a 2 ½-length optional claiming allowance winner sprinting seven furlongs June 17 at Laurel, returning to be beaten a head by stakes-placed Backnthewoods when second going six furlongs July 2, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of 2021 Tom Fool (G3) winner Chateau.
Completing the field is Clover Hill Racing’s 5-year-old Maryland homebred gelding Ladneedsahandler, exiting a popular two-length victory in an off-the-turf restricted allowance sprinting 5 ½ furlongs July 2 at Laurel.
In addition to a stakes-filled program, De Francis Day will also feature Tacos & Tequila starting at 1 p.m. in the apron tent. Individual tickets cost $50 and include all you can eat tacos; margaritas; non-alcoholic beverages; $2 betting voucher; daily program and a front-row seat to live racing action.
Persons must be 21 and older to attend. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: https://am.ticketmaster.com/marylandjockeyclub/tacosandtequila
