Call it poetic justice.
After surviving a steward's inquiry following a victory in the Maryland Million Ladies last year but being placed second upon review of the Maryland Racing Commission in May, Vivian Rall's homebred Epic Idea left no questions Saturday, driving between horses entering the stretch to win the $100,000 Maryland Million Ladies by a half-length over Maldives Model at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. It was another three-quarters of a length to Judi Blue Eyes in third.
A 5-year-old mare by Great Notion trained by Michael Merryman and ridden by Daniel Centeno, Epic Idea covered a firm 1 1/8-mile turf course in 1:49.46.
“It's big redemption for us,” said Merryman after the race. “I have to bite my tongue a little bit right now because everyone knows that (the disqualification) was not right. But all the credit to the breeder, Vivian Rall. She's one of the best horsemen in Maryland. Credit to my mom for bringing this horse along with us…. just a credit to all the nice horsemen we have behind this filly.”
Breaking alertly from the gate, Epic Idea was rated fourth along the inside entering the first turn and down the backstretch by Centeno while longshot Tipsy Chatter set fractions of :23.63, :47.89, and 1:12.04. But entering the stretch, Centeno moved Epic Idea off the rail and outside a tiring Tipsy Chatter and outside Brushing to take the lead and the Maryland Million Ladies.
Epic Idea came into the Ladies off a third-place finish at 5 ½ furlongs Sept. 30. “She came flying last time,” Merryman said.
The race reunited Epic Idea with Centeno, who had ridden the mare last in October of 2020.
“If you look back at her form, the best race she ever ran was with Centeno,” Merryman said. “We wanted to win so I made him fly up from Tampa to ride her.”
Said Centeno: “I talked to Mike and he said she was training really good. She sprinted the last race and we were going back to long. I told him we had a little bit of speed outside, and she always breaks sharp, so going to the first turn she's going to be right there. She broke really sharp, and she got a perfect trip. I found some room turning for home and she finished strong.”
The post Epic Idea Takes Maryland Million Ladies At Laurel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
It took just over 82 seconds for 4-year-old filly Hello Beautiful to race her way into Maryland Million history.
Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful rolled to her second consecutive front-running victory in the $100,000 Distaff Saturday at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., becoming just the seventh horse in event history with three Maryland Million wins.
The seven-furlong Distaff for fillies and mares 3 and older was among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 36th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.
Hello Beautiful ($2.40) also won the 2019 Lassie as a 2-year-old among her eight career stakes victories and joins Ben's Cat, Countus In, Docent, Eighttofasttocatch, Mz. Zill Bear, and Hall of Fame mare Safely Kept in the exclusive three-win club. She was greeted with a large round of applause from fans as she returned to the winner's circle.
“It's so special, especially with her. It's a tough game, and to have a filly like her she just kind of keeps you up there. She gives you confidence. She shows you that you can do it. She makes you want to wake up in the morning and do it all over again on the bad days,” winning trainer Brittany Russell said. “I have a barn full of horses because of her, and many clients because of her. She's been so good to us.”
Favored at 1-5 in a field of six that included eight-time stakes winner Street Lute, a 3-year-old facing older horses, and Aug. 21 Miss Disco winner Malibu Beauty, Hello Beautiful broke alertly and quickly inherited the lead, going the first quarter-mile in :22.59 with Malibu Beauty giving closest chase and Street Lute settled in third on the inside.
Jockey Jevian Toledo, subbing for the injured Sheldon Russell, Brittany Russell's husband, had yet to move as Hello Beautiful rolled through a half-mile in :45.65. They drifted out to the two-path once straightened for home when Toledo shook the reins and the daughter of Golden Lad steadily pulled clear of her rivals to win by 3 ½ lengths in 1:22.22.
Malibu Beauty nosed out Street Lute for second, followed by Coconut Cake, Whispering Pines, and Street Lute's stablemate Fille d'Esprit, a winner of three straight making her first start since Dec. 18.
“She's a really nice horse. She's just a special filly. You can do anything you want with her,” Toledo said. “She's got the speed, so we used her speed to our advantage because the track is pretty fast today. When I asked her, she just took off in the stretch. She just put her head in front and she wouldn't let them go by.”
Sheldon Russell had surgery last week on his right foot, injured in a pre-race spill Sept. 9 at Laurel. He joined his wife, who is expecting the couple's second child, and members of the ownership group in the winner's circle.
“He's the one that made me all emotional. He was screaming like a crazy man in there,” Brittany Russell said. “I felt confident, and he kept going, 'Turn her loose! Turn her loose!' He and Toledo are tight, so Toledo picking up the mount is the next best thing.”
A $6,500 purchase in December 2018, Hello Beautiful earned her third straight win following the July 31 Alma North at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., and Sept. 18 Weather Vane at Laurel, and 10th from 18 career starts, pushing her career bankroll near the $600,000 mark. She is 9-for-11 lifetime over Laurel's main track.
“The way she bounced out of her last one, it didn't seem like a hard effort for her. She just responds,” Russell said. “When we walk her over, she's ready to go. She's been touting herself.”
The post Hello Beautiful Gets Her Third Maryland Million Win With Distaff Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
The way trainer Madison Meyers sees it, “It's Grateful's world and we're just living in it.”
And it's been a pretty good place to be over the past few years. The 5-year-old gelding, who Meyers says has a “mind of his own,” went to the front in Saturday's $75,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., and never looked back, running away from 10 others under jockey Jevian Toledo to win the Sprint by 1 ½ lengths over Sky's Not Falling.
Owned and bred by Gordon Keyes, Grateful Bred covered the 5 ½ furlong turf course in 1:02.29. Grateful Bred has now won five of 11 starts and is five of nine at the distance.
Coming off a troubled fifth-place finish last time out in the Laurel Dash, Grateful Bred broke cleanly Saturday and Toledo took the son of Great Notion right to the front, setting fractions of :22.54 and :45.12 before driving home.
“It looked on paper like there wasn't that much speed in the race, and he's got a lot of speed so we just used his speed today to our advantage,” Toledo said. “He was so comfortable in front. When I asked him, he just took off. He was basically waiting for horses. We got a good trip and he got the job done.”
Meyers said the plan wasn't necessarily to take Grateful Bred to the front.
“If someone else had made [the lead] we probably would have sat off, but it was about playing the break and not getting hung up in traffic again,” she said. “It was unfortunate to get that wide last time out [in the Laurel Dash] and he was still only beaten a length. I was glad when I saw he had kicked clear.”
In the words of Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, it was “fare you well” from there.
The post Grateful Bred Much The Best In Maryland Million Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
