Big Everest, a three-time stakes winner beaten as the favorite in his last start; graded stakes-winning turf sprinter Cazadero, and Highestdistinction, who upset Big Everest in their last meeting, top a list of 20 horses nominated to the $200,000 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup (G3) Saturday, Sept. 16 at Pimlico Race Course.
The one-mile BWI Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up is the headliner on a program featuring six stakes, three each scheduled for turf and dirt, worth $650,000 in purses on the penultimate weekend of Pimlico's boutique nine-day fall meet.
Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco, and William Branch's Big Everest, bred in England and trained by Christophe Clement, was fourth by three lengths after setting the pace in the 1 1/16-mile Oceanport Aug. 13 at Monmouth Park. It was the second straight loss for the 5-year-old gelding following a four-race win streak that included stakes victories in the 2022 Artie Schiller and 2023 Danger's Hour and Cliff Hanger. The Artie Schiller and Danger's Hour both came at one mile, a distance where Big Everest has four wins from seven tries.
Willow Lane Stable Inc.'s Highestdistinction captured his stakes debut in the Oceanport with a come-from-behind 1 ½-length triumph at odds of 10-1, his second straight win for trainer Lindsay Schultz, who also nominated Shortleaf Stables Inc.'s Whelen Springs, a 9-1 upset winner of the Philip H. Iselin (G3) Aug. 19 at Monmouth yet to race on grass.
Cazadero, owned and trained by David Jacobson, has made his last seven starts sprinting on the turf, his lone win coming in the six-furlong Nearctic (G2) last fall at Woodbine. Most recently he was fifth by two lengths after breaking a step slow in a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Aug. 23 at Saratoga.
D Hatman Thoroughbreds and Kingdom Bloodstock Inc.'s Determined Kingdom is another multiple turf stakes winner, holding on for a front-running neck triumph in the 5½-furlong Meadow Stable Sept. 2 at Colonial Downs. John Bowers Jr.'s homebred He'spuregold is a stakes winner on both turf and dirt that most recently ran third in the Oceanport, beaten three lengths.
Also prominent among BWI Turf Cup nominees are grass stakes winners Alogon and King Vega; Tappin Cat, a multiple dirt stakes winner that was fifth in the 1 1/16-mile Find Aug. 19 at Laurel Park in his second grass start; Duke of Hazzard, a winner first off the claim for trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. in a Saratoga allowance Aug. 19; Doctor Davis, who beat Grade 3-winning stablemate Eons in a June 17 allowance at Laurel; and Doppleganger, upset winner of the seven-furlong Carter (G1) April 8 at Aqueduct that has never raced on grass.
Other Sept. 16 stakes scheduled for the turf are the $100,000 All Along for fillies and mares 3 and up going 1 1/8 miles and $75,000 Ben's Cat for Maryland-bred/sired horses 3 and older sprinting 5 ½ furlongs.
The All Along drew 25 nominees including the top three finishers from the July 15 Big Dreyfus at Laurel – 2022 Valley View (G3) winner Sparkle Blue, Italian Group 3 winner Atomic Blonde and Community Adjusted; multiple stakes winners Bipartisanship and Coconut Cake; Irish Group 3 winner Speirling Beag, beaten a neck when second in the Aug. 13 Searching at Laurel; Gold Digging Broad, promoted winner of the 1 1/16-mile All Brandy Aug. 19 at Laurel; and Milagrosa Surena, a Group 1 winner on turf in her native Argentina.
Grade 3 winner Jaxon Traveler, third by 1 ¼ lengths in last year's race, just his third on grass; Matta, third by a length to Carotari in last fall's Laurel Dash; Prince Pere, third or better in 12 of 24 career turf starts; 2022 Maryland Million Turf Sprint winner Spun Glass; and Witty, a multiple dirt stakes winner that has run second in three consecutive stakes sprinting on the grass, are among 20 nominees to the Ben's Cat.
Jaxon Traveler's lone graded stakes win came in the 2022 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico, where he has three wins and two seconds in five starts. He is also one of 20 nominees to the $100,000 Lite the Fuse for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs on the main track, a race where he ran second as the favorite last fall behind subsequent Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) winner Sibelius.
Cazadero; 2022 Gallant Bob (G2) winner Scaramouche; multiple stakes winner Coastal Mission, riding a five-race win streak; fellow 10-time winner Colonel Bowman; 2020 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) runner-up Cowan; Doppelganger and Grade 3-winning stablemate Wondrwherecraigis; 2022 Maryland Million Nursery winner Johnyz From Albany; and stakes winners Hello Hot Rod, Little Roo Roo, No Cents, Recruiter, Stage Left and Threes Over Deuces are also nominated.
The $100,000 Weather Vane for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs attracted 21 nominations led by Alva Starr, winner of the Sept. 2 Prioress (G2) at Saratoga; multiple stakes-placed Awesome Pic; 2022 Our Dear Peggy winner Blind Spot; stakes winner Late Frost, most recently third in the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks (G3) Aug. 25; stakes winner Opus Forty Two, second in the July 1 Delaware Handicap (G2); stakes winners Santa Fe Gold and Tappin Jose; Talk to the Judge, front-running head winner at odds of 9-1 in the seven-furlong Miss Disco July 29 at Laurel; and Yesternight, runner-up in the Aug. 22 Cathryn Sophia to Delaware Handicap winner Foggy Night.
Completing the stakes action is the $75,000 Shine Again going six furlongs for fillies and mares 3 and up which have never won an open sweepstakes. Among the 21 nominees are Arizona-bred stakes winner Alberta Sun; Bourbon Wildcat, runner-up in the Jan. 21 Geisha at Laurel; Intrepid Daydream, third in the one-mile Caesar's Wish July 15 at Laurel; Late Frost; Mama G's Wish, a winner of two straight as well as the Delaware-certified Lewes last summer at Delaware Park; Moody Woman, third in the Feb. 18 Barbara Fritchie (G3); nine-time winner Self Isolation; Six the Hard Way, third in the April 15 Weber City Miss; and Talk to the Judge.
Pimlico's fall meet is scheduled to open Sept. 8 and run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 24.
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