Eclipse Award champion Victor Carrasco, who went 150 days between mounts with a dislocated left thumb, gave Larry Metz and Larry Bathon's For Cryin Out Loud an ideal trip to spring an 8-1 upset Thursday at Laurel Park in Maryland and earn the first local victory of his comeback.
For Cryin Out Loud ($18), making her fifth career start and first since being claimed for $30,000 by trainer Mike Gorham Feb. 18, covered 5 ½ furlongs over a fast main track in 1:06.41 to win the maiden claimer for 3-year-old fillies by a half-length on Metz's birthday.
It was the first of two mounts on the day for the 30-year-old Carrasco, who ran sixth on Shamrock Farm's 4-year-old filly Money's Worth for trainer Graham Motion in Race 7, a one-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and up.
Free Admission was in front through splits of :22.42 and :46.72, pressed to her outside by For Cryin Out Loud with Cora's Choice saving ground along the rail. Free Admission was still in front at the top of the stretch but unable to hold off a steady drive down the middle of the track from For Cryin Out Loud, who held sway after Cora's Choice tipped to the outside to make her run.
“I want to say thank you to Mr. Gorham and the owner. Happy birthday, Larry,” Carrasco said. “It feels great. I've been working extremely hard for the last few weeks since I've been back. I knew it was going to take a little bit of time to get going. It's always nice to get the first win at home.”
Carrasco, a four-time leading rider in Maryland and the champion apprentice of 2013, was injured in an Oct. 21 spill at Laurel on the eve of the 37th Jim McKay Maryland Million program. Following surgery and rehab, he returned to be sixth aboard Libraryofcongress March 19 at Laurel.
Represented by agent Scotty Silver, Carrasco now has two wins, one second and three thirds from 16 mounts this year. He picked up his first win March 27 at Parx on 4-year-old gelding Amusing Mischief, his ninth mount.
Carrasco is named in three races Saturday including Summer Cause in the $125,000 Federico Tesio, a 'Win and In' qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated 3-year-olds to the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
A Waterford Stable homebred trained by Christophe Clement, Summer Cause will be making his stakes debut after graduating fourth time out in a Feb. 26 maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park at the Tesio's 1 1/8-mile distance. He is one of six Triple Crown-nominated horses in a field of nine for the Tesio and will break from Post 6 as fourth choice on the morning line at 6-1 behind stakes winners Coffeewithchris (5-2), Prince of Jericho (3-1) and Ninetyprcentmaddie (4-1).
A winner of more than 1,200 career races, Carrasco also has mounts on Toofareastiswest, a 3-year-old Street Sense colt trained by Mike Trombetta, in Race 6 and Blame D Rule Maker in Race 11, both maiden special weights for horses aged 3, 4 and 5 scheduled for one mile respectively on the Dahlia and All Along turf courses.
“It seems like I have a really nice one in the Tesio for Mr. Clement,” Carrasco said. “I'm looking forward to it.”
The Tesio headlines the first of back-to-back Spring Stakes Spectacular Saturdays at Laurel, joined by the $125,000 Weber City Miss, $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley and $100,000 Heavenly Cause. The 1 1/16-mile Weber City Miss is an automatic qualifier for 3-year-old fillies to the 99th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 19 at Pimlico.
Post time for the first of 11 races Saturday is 12:25 p.m.
The post ‘It Feels Great,’ Carrasco Says After Comeback Win At Laurel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
