MATCH: Cordmaker Can Honor Breeder In Robert T. Manfuso; Belle Of The North Goes For Two Straight In Carousel

Hillwood Stable's multiple stakes winner Cordmaker, still going strong at the age of 6, looks to close out a solid campaign by stringing together back-to-back wins for the first time in more than two years in the $100,000 Robert T. Manfuso Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.

The inaugural Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles and the return of the 1 1/8-mile Carousel for fillies and mares 3 and up, which carried Grade 3 status from 1988 through 1997 and was last run in 2002 at Laurel, are among six $100,000 stakes on a nine-race Christmastide Day program.

In addition to the Manfuso and Carousel, the Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up and Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 and older, both sprinting six furlongs, close out the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series in their respective divisions.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

A gelded son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, Cordmaker has already clinched the MATCH Series older male long dirt division title. He leads 4-year-old filly Hello Beautiful – entered in the Willa On the Move – by nine points, 36-27, for the overall title.

Cordmaker was bred in Maryland by Manfuso and his life partner, trainer Katy Voss. A longtime owner and breeder and former owner of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course who was instrumental in revitalizing Maryland racing, Manfuso passed away in March 2020.

“To win that would be really nice for the horse and the owner, Mrs. [Ellen] Charles,” trainer Rodney Jenkins said. “We've both seen quite a lot.”

Cordmaker has finished third or better 22 times in 33 career starts including 11 wins and $734,640 in purse earnings. He is 16-for-25 in the money at Laurel, his home track, picking up his eighth and most recent victory in the 1 1/8-mile Richard W. Small Nov. 27. He sat off the pace in third, took the lead at the top of the stretch and went on to a 1 ¾-length score.

The effort helped ease the sting of his prior start, when he finished second by a length to Captain Bombastic in the Sept. 18 Polynesian but was disqualified to sixth for interference after drifting out in the stretch. Before that, he won the 1 1/16-mile Victory Gallop Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs.

“I was happy with the last race. He ran well and he did what he had to do,” Jenkins said. “It was nice to see him come back and overcome the things that had happened to him. He had a rough go there for about a month. It didn't discourage him, I don't think.”

Cordmaker owns seven career stakes wins, five of them coming at Laurel. He has also placed in eight other stakes, running third in successive editions of the historic Pimlico Special (G3) in 2019 and 2020.

“He's sound and doing good,” Jenkins said. “I feel real good about him. I think he'll run good. He's been doing well.”

Jenkins gave Cordmaker one breeze between the Small and Manfuso, a five-furlong move Dec. 18 at Laurel that went in 1:01.60, seventh-fastest of 36 horses. He will break from the rail in a field of nine under regular rider Victor Carrasco.

“We don't do a lot with him. We gallop him if he needs it. If he gets too fresh we gallop him. I walk him some days, jog him some days. It just depends on what mood he's in, and he's stayed – knock on wood – real sound,” Jenkins said.

“I rest him when I see there's a big period before a race that we really want to go in. I'll just walk him and turn him out and stuff like that,” he added. “He's not a horse that's been really drilled through his career. He seems like he's got a lot of racing left.”

The only horse to rival Cordmaker's on-track success is Runnymoore Racing's 5-year-old gelding Alwaysmining, a 10-time winner from 32 lifetime starts with seven stakes victories. Most of his success came at 2 and 3, though he did capture the Jennings and John B. Campbell to open 2020. He has gone 1-for-14 since, finishing sixth last time out in the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Nov. 26 at Laurel.

Mohan Stable, Inc.'s Bobby G, 7, has earned 14 of his 16 lifetime victories in 47 starts at Laurel, with most of his success coming in starter races. He has run in four career stakes, finishing second in the 2020 Claiming Crown Iron Horse at Gulfstream Park and third in the 2019 Small at Laurel.

McCarty Racing's Doubleoseven will return to dirt in the Manfuso after finishing off the board in successive turf stakes, running fourth in the July 3 Kent (G3) at Delaware Park and eighth in the Aug. 31 Virginia Derby (G3) at Colonial, his most recent effort.

“It was just a planned break for him. He's not a real tall horse but he's kind of long and lean so we gave him a little time to let him grow. The owner is very good, very patient,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said. “I was hoping to run him in a two-other-than a couple of weeks ago as a prep and come back for the stake, but things didn't work out that way. We've just been sitting on him.

“We gave him a couple tries on turf. He ran well in the Kent Stakes so we said we'd give him another go. There wasn't a lot of options for him at the time for a 3-year-old stakes,” he added. “It didn't go as planned but he's equally effective on the dirt.”

Doubleoseven has had a steady string of works at Laurel since Oct. 31 for his comeback, which would mark just the second time the 3-year-old faced older horses. He won his only other try in a restricted 1 1/16-mile allowance May 29 over a sloppy Pimlico main track.

“He's doing very well,” O'Dwyer said. “We just gave him an easy breeze here [the other day]; he went in 1:01 and change. I didn't even breeze him the week before. I just left him alone because he's fairly fit and tied on. He's a light-framed horse so I don't want to overcook the goose.”

Stakes winners Everett's Song, who had a three-race win streak snapped when fifth as the favorite in the Nov. 27 City of Laurel, and Shackqueenking; Small runner-up Workin On a Dream; McElmore Avenue and Plot the Dots are also entered.

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Stronach Stable, Inc.'s Belle of the North, a homebred daughter of Street Boss that became a stakes winner in her previous start, will attempt to make it two in a row in the $100,000 Carousel Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.

The Carousel will be just the seventh start for Belle of the North, trained by Jose Corrales. She drew Post 4 in a field of eight and, as the lone 3-year-old filly in the field, will carry low weight of 119 pounds including jockey Horacio Karamanos.

“The filly is doing very well. She's doing very well,” Corrales said. “She's training good after the race, and she's a horse that has been an improving horse. I think we're going in the right direction.”

Belle of the North was making her stakes debut when she made a last-to-first move to capture the seven-furlong Safely Kept by a half-length over Fraudulent Charge Nov. 27 at Laurel. Runner-up in four stakes, Fraudulent Charge came back a popular 5 ¾-length allowance winner Dec. 18.

“I think she was in the right spot last time. I don't think I wouldn't have wanted her any closer. I think she was perfect where she was,” Corrales said. “As a matter of fact, I think she was probably closer than where I expected her to be. But she broke better this time, because she's slow out of the gate.”

Belle of the North has encountered early trouble in half of her races, part of the reason she didn't graduate until a Sept. 24 maiden special weight triumph at Laurel after going unraced at 2.

“She's improving every time. I think with this filly just the time will help her to mature and she will be even better,” Corrales said. “Now we're stretching her out going a mile and an eighth and I think that's' going to help her. I've been teaching her to go longer, to open up her air so that she has enough air to finish.”

Miss Leslie, Lookin Dynamic, Villanelle and Artful Splatter, the first four finishers from the Nov. 13 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel, will line up again in the Carousel along with Scatrattleandroll, who ran sixth. The top quartet was separated by only 2 ½ lengths, with favored Miss Leslie making a five-wide move to win by half a length, her second straight victory for fall meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

Jeff Drown's Smooth With a Kick is entered to make her first start since Jan. 17, when the 5-year-old Candy Ride mare ran last of six in the Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct. A $270,000 yearling that sold for $650,000 as a 2-year-old in training, she put together a 3-3-3 record with $221,005 in purse earnings from 14 starts for previous trainer Chad Brown.

“This probably isn't the ideal starting point. She's a nice mare. She's done some good racing. The goal is to get her on the board in a stake but the mile and an eighth [is tough]. I wish I could have had her ready sooner,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “I would have liked to have gotten a run into her, per se, but it just hasn't worked out. She's training great, though. I think she's honest and I think she'll run well.”

Smooth With a Kick made her stakes debut at Laurel in the 2020 Twixt, finishing third as the favorite to Wicked Awesome, beaten 7 ½ lengths, after being bumped at the break. She followed that effort by winning an optional claiming allowance at Keeneland, then was fifth in the Falls City (G2) prior to her latest start.

“She was training down in Florida. Niall Brennan had her. I think they were planning on breeding her and she ended up getting some time off and they thought, 'Well, there's nothing wrong with her, let's put her back in training,'” Russell said. “It just took them probably a little bit longer to get her to the racetrack than they wanted. She's been in training for quite some time even though she's only been with me for eight weeks. She has plenty of works under her belt coming in. It's just the nature of the distance and the caliber of horse she'll be running against.”

Smooth With a Kick had the first timed breeze of her comeback Sept. 4 at Brennan's Ocala, Fla. farm, and has had eight works since Oct. 24 for Russell, six at Laurel and two at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“She's very classy. She does exactly what you ask in the morning,” Russell said. “Her work tab might not be flashy, looking at the times, but she's put up some good works beside some horses in the morning and she keeps going. She has really nice gallop-outs. She seems like there's quality to her and she's very straightforward. I'm hoping that kind of translates to the afternoon.”

Jevian Toledo has the call on Smooth With a Kick from the rail.

Rounding out the field is Three Diamonds Farm's Kiss the Girl, the Mike Trombetta-trained stablemate of Lookin Dynamic and Villanelle. Kiss the Girl was second in the 2019 Schuylerville (G3) at Saratoga, won the March 13 Conniver at Laurel and Aug. 21 All Brandy at Pimlico, and most recently scored a 4 ¾-length optional claiming allowance triumph Nov. 7 at the same course and distance.

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Jaxon Traveler, Alwaysinahurry Lead Nominations For Star De Naskra At Pimlico

Multiple stakes winner Jaxon Traveler, stakes winners Alwaysinahurry and Shackled Love, and graded-stakes placed Hemp head a list of 16 horses nominated to the $75,000 Star de Naskra Saturday, Aug. 21 at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

The Star de Naskra for 3-year-olds is among four $75,000 stakes restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses on the Maryland Pride Day program, joined by the Miss Disco for 3-year-old fillies, also sprinting six furlongs; 1 1/16-mile Find for 3-year-olds and up; and 1 1/16-mile All Brandy for fillies and mares 3 and older, both on the grass.

West Point Thoroughbreds and Marvin Delfiner's Jaxon Traveler was a 10-length debut winner last September at Pimlico and capped an undefeated 2-year-old season by defeating state-breds in the Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. Winner of the April 24 Bachelor at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., he was second to stablemate Mighty Mischief in the Grade 3 Chick Lang May 15 at Pimlico and made his two most recent starts on synthetic and grass, running third in the July 15 Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Dale Capuano trains Mopo Racing's Alwaysinahurry, who emerged from multiple stakes-winning stablemate Kenny Had a Notion's shadow with a commanding victory over Mighty Mischief in the July 4 Concern at Pimlico. Kenny Had a Notion, also nominated, was entered at Pimlico Sunday.

ZWP Stable, Inc. and Non Stop Stable's Shackled Love won the 1 1/16-mile Private Terms March 13 at Laurel but has finished sixth in three subsequent starts, the Federico Tesio, Chick Lang, and Bald Eagle Derby, the latter 1 ½ miles on the Pimlico turf July 24. Narrow Leaf Farm's Hemp ran third in the Chick Lang and exits a runner-up finish after setting the pace July 2 at Charles Town in Charles Town, W. Va.

Six-time stakes winner Street Lute and Grade 3-placed Edie Meeny Miny Mo are prominent among 15 nominees to the Miss Disco. Lucky 7 Stables' Street Lute won five straight stakes last fall and winter at Laurel and captured an off-the-turf Stormy Blues June 13 at Pimlico. Most recently, she finished sixth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in her first try on dirt and against older horses in the 5 ½-furlong M. Tyson Gilpin July 19 at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va.

Holly Hill Stables' Edie Meeny Miny Mo is undefeated at Pimlico, capturing an April 23 waiver maiden claimer by 4 ½ lengths and romping by six in a June 13 optional claiming allowance, her first two career starts. Last out, the Miguel Vera trainee ran second as the favorite after setting the pace in the July 31 Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Most popular among horsemen was the Find, whose 29 nominees include 2019 Maryland Million Turf winner Mr. d'Angelo; 2020 Maryland Million Starter Handicap winner Beltway Bob; Cannon's Roar, second in the 2020 Maryland Million Turf and third in the West Virginia Speaker's Cup Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Park in New Cumberland, W. Va.; and dirt stakes winners Air Token, Alwaysmining, and Cordmaker.

The All Brandy attracted 27 nominations led by Danger Zone, 2-2-1 in seven starts since being moved to the turf this winter at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.; Dendrobia and Quiet Company, respectively second and third in the five-furlong Jameela July 4 at Pimlico; Fool Yourself, a winner of two straight for Preakness Meet leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez; and Artful Splatter, a multiple stakes winner on dirt.

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‘Old War Horse’ Alwaysmining Exits 2021 Debut In ‘Great’ Shape, Pointing To John B. Campbell

Runnymoore Racing's multiple stakes-winning Maryland-bred Alwaysmining, nominated to defend his title in the $100,000 John B. Campbell Feb. 13 at Laurel Park, emerged from his first victory since last year's race in good order, trainer Austin Trites said Wednesday.

“Alwaysmining, as you'd expect from the old war horse, is doing great,” Trites said.

The gelded 5-year-old son of Stay Thirsty rolled to a three-length victory in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Jan. 30 at Laurel – his first win in 350 days following the 2020 Campbell for 4-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles, his seventh career stakes triumph.

It was the second start this year for Alwaysmining, who returned from 198 days between starts to run last of nine after setting the early pace in the one-mile Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses, a race he also won in 2020.

Alwaysmining got time off at the owner's Pennsylvania farm and was moved to Trites after successive off-the-board finishes last spring and summer. He won the Maryland Juvenile Futurity and Heft at 2; Miracle Wood, Private Terms and Federico Tesio at 3; and Jennings and Campbell last year.

“The Jennings just left us with so many more questions than answers and there was just enough reasons for us that here we are,” Trites said. “It was just kind of a can't-miss opportunity to run him in a conditioned allowance and try and give him that confidence booster. And, we figured the blinkers could really be a positive and they turned out to definitely be so.”

All 10 of Alwaysmining's wins have come at Laurel, but the most recent was his first time in 24 career starts wearing blinkers. Breaking on the far outside in a field of eight, he raced within striking distance while remaining in the clear, moved to within a length at the top of the stretch and steadily wore down front-running Zabracadabra before pulling away.

“I think the key in the afternoon is just what we learned [Jan. 30] and just to be very tactical with him, and try to keep him in that position where you know he's going to run for you,” Trites said. “Don't get him intimidated on the inside and just kind of ride him like he's the best horse and I think that's what happened.”

Nominations for the Campbell were due the same day Alwaysmining returned to the winner's circle. It comes just two weeks after his allowance win and would be his third start in a six-week span after wheeling back in 14 days following the Jennings.

“It is close. Obviously, in the heat of the moment we're going to nominate just in case,” Trites said. “We're going to keep all our options on the table. We're not going to rush into anything. Obviously the horse showed us what we wanted to see last time, and we'll kind of let him point us in the next direction.”

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Stakes-Quality Allowance At Laurel Highlights Friday’s Stronach 5

A $55,000 allowance event at Laurel Park featuring six stakes winners, including two graded-stakes winners, highlight a competitive Stronach 5 Friday with a $100,000 guaranteed pool and an industry-low 12-percent takeout.

The third leg of the sequence, Laurel's eighth race for 3-year-olds and up going a mile, could well be a stakes race. The field of 10 includes graded-stakes winners No Dozing and Name Changer, multiple-stakes winner Alwaysmining, graded-stakes placed and stakes winners Honor the Fleet and Cordmaker, and stakes winner John Jones.

The second leg of the Stronach 5, Gulfstream's ninth race, is a $47,0000 allowance optional claimer at a mile for fillies and mares, while Laurel's ninth race and the conclusion of the Stronach 5 features a competitive field of 10 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on the All Along turf course.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 7th Race: (13 entries, 5 1/2 furlongs turf) 3:50 ET, 12:50 PT

· Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: (8 entries, 1 mile) 4 ET, 1 PT

· Leg Three –Laurel Park 8th Race: (10 entries, 1 mile) 4:21 ET, 1:21 PT

· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 10th Race: (11 entries, 1 mile turf) 4:30 ET, 1:30 PT

· Leg Five –Laurel Park 9th race: (10 entries, 1 1 1/6 mile turf) 4:52 ET, 1:52 PT

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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