Honeyquist, a son and grandson of juvenile champions, will get a chance to further the family legacy when he faces stakes company for the second straight start in Saturday's $100,000 James F. Lewis III at Laurel Park.
The 11th running of the Lewis for 2-year-olds and 26th edition of the $100,000 Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies, both sprinting six furlongs, join the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up on the 10-race program.
First race post time is 11:45 a.m.
Campaigned by Mammas Boys Thoroughbred Racing Group, Ultra Championship Racing and James Miller, who bred the horse in West Virginia, Honeyquist is by Nyquist out of the Invisible Ink mare Honey Chile. Nyquist won the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old of 2015 while his sire, Uncle Mo, earned the same honors in 2010.
Honeyquist, based at Laurel with trainer Anthony Farrior, fetched $170,000 at auction last winter and debuted with a come-from-behind 5 ¼-length maiden special weight victory sprinting 4 ½ furlongs Sept. 24 at Charles Town. He stretched out to 6 ½ furlongs for his return in the Oct. 8 Vincent Moscarelli Memorial, also against state-breds, where he set the pace into deep stretch before grudgingly giving way to be second by less than a length.
“The first time we ran him he wasn't fit. We kind of rushed him because we wanted to run in that stake race at Charles Town, and he just came up short in the stake,” Farrior said. “He probably had only worked three times before he ran the first time. But he's a very smart horse.
“I sent him to the farm for 10 days after the stake race and gave him a little time,” he added. “We brought him back and he worked in 59 [seconds] on Sunday with [jockey Jevian] Toledo and did it really well, so he's going in the right direction. I think he's fit now. He's bouncing around there real good.”
Toledo, also up in the Moscarelli, gets the return call from outermost Post 7. Honeyquist will be racing on his home track after being sent off as the favorite in each of his first two starts.
“He can run out of his own stall. He doesn't have to go anywhere,” Farrior said. “I think this will be the first race where he's actually fit. The first race he was probably 60 percent and the stake race he might have been 70 percent. Now, he looks good. He's grown some and filled out.
“I think this will be the best race he's run in,” he added. “He should improve. He ran a 73 Beyer [Speed Figure] the first time and he only had three works. If he improves, we have a shot.”
ItsTheJHo's Heldish aims for a return to the winner's circle for the first time since his unveiling July 1 at Laurel, which was the first win for owner Justin Horowitz and first for jockey Sheldon Russell off a 296-day gap between races.
Bred in Maryland by Larry Johnson, the Great Notion colt has run second in each of his last three starts, beaten a half-length in the five-furlong Hickory Tree Aug. 9 at Colonial Downs and five lengths by Dale Capuano-trained Johnyz From Albany in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery last out Oct. 22 at Laurel.
“I thought he ran a big race in the Nursery. I thought he ran huge,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “His numbers seems to keep stepping forward each run. Dale's horse ran big. You can't take anything away from the winner. Running second to him that day, I'm happy with that. Of course we want to win, but Dale's horse is a racehorse so that's all right.”
Heldish beat Johnyz From Albany by a neck when second in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 10 at historic Pimlico Race Course, a race where Heldish hit the gate at the break and found himself behind horses for the first time. The winner, Super Chow, ran third in the Saratoga Special (G2) and went on to win the Bowman Mill Oct. 29 at Keeneland.
Heldish drew the rail for his fifth start, all with Sheldon Russell aboard.
“That's just it. We're not down on our horse for running second a couple times to some good horses,” Brittany Russell said. “You don't know until the afternoon. If he leaves there running, hopefully he's the fastest horse this time.”
Trainer Cal Lynch won the Lewis in 2020 with No Cents and 2016 with subsequent multiple Grade 3 winner El Areeb and will be represented Saturday by Recruiter, undefeated in two starts. He graduated at first asking in a five-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 27 at Monmouth Park and captured a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance in the slop Oct. 2 at Laurel over Johnyz From Albany, both in front-running fashion.
Also unbeaten at 2-0 is Where is Mike, owned and trained by Charles Town-based Mike Jones Jr. The Daddy Long Legs colt has been untested in both starts over his home track, winning his Sept. 17 unveiling by five lengths before a three-length allowance triumph Oct. 19, each going 4 ½ furlongs.
Sept. 1 Dover runner-up Riccio, third last out in the one-mile Rocky Run Oct. 15, both at Delaware Park; Coffeewithchris, whose trainer, John Salzman Jr., won last year's Lewis with Local Motive; and Tiz No Clown complete the field.
The James F. Lewis III honors the late longtime Maryland horseman and first president of Maryland Million Ltd. He bred and/or campaigned a number of prominent runners in the region, led by 1974 Test (G2) winner Maybelline, Flirtation (G3) winner Heartful and multiple stakes winner Swift Attraction. His daughter, Lisa, is a multiple graded-stakes winning trainer based in New York and Florida.
The post Finally Fit, Honeyquist ‘Should Improve’ In Laurel’s James F. Lewis Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
