barbara fritchie stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Graded-stakes winners Eres Tu, Pacific Gale, Sharp Starr and Victim of Love; multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful, undefeated on the local main track; and Dontletsweetfoolya, riding a five-race win streak, are among 23 older females nominated to the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) Saturday, Feb. 13 at Laurel Park.

The 69th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 45th renewal of the $250,000 General's Stake (G3) for 4-year-olds and up, formerly the General George, highlight a Winter Sprintfest program offering six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Both graded-stakes are contested at seven furlongs.

Eres Tu captured the 1 1/8-mile Allaire du Pont (G3) Dec. 26, her second straight stakes win at Laurel for trainer Arnaud Delacour. Pacific Gale snapped a 17-race losing streak with a 16-1 upset of the seven-furlong Inside Information (G2) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park.

Sharp Starr, trained by Horacio DePaz, won the one-mile Go for Wand (G3) Dec. 5 at Aqueduct over fellow Fritchie nominee Portal Creek to cap her 3-year-old season, and opened 2021 running second in the seven-furlong La Verdad Jan. 3. Victim of Love is a two-time winner at Laurel including the What a Summer last January. Second in last year's Fritchie, she went on to capture the 6 ½-furlong Vagrancy (G3) at Belmont Park.

Hello Beautiful owns five career stakes wins but is seeking her first graded triumph. The 4-year-old filly has strung together three straight wins for trainer Brittany Russell, all in stakes; is 7-0 on the Laurel dirt with three of those wins coming at seven furlongs; and exits a popular triumph in the Jan. 16 What a Summer. Dontletsweetfoolya, yet to run in 2021, has won five consecutive races by 28 ¾ combined lengths including the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move at Laurel.

Always Sunshine, who returned from a 541-day layoff to win a Jan. 24 optional claiming allowance at Laurel, and fellow graded-stakes winners Laki, Majestic Dunhill. Mischevious Alex, Share the Ride, Shotski and Sunny Ridge are among 30 horses nominated to the General's Stake.

Trained by Edward T. 'Ned' Allard, Always Sunshine won the 2015 Fire Plug at Laurel and 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico Race Course, where he is currently in training. Laki won the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) last October at Pimlico and has since run behind Whereshetoldmetogo in the Frank Whiteley and Dave's Friend and Wendell Fong in the Jan. 16 Fire Plug. Both Whereshetoldmetogo and Wendell Fong are also nominated.

Majestic Dunhill won the 2018 City of Laurel and became a graded winner in the 2020 Bold Ruler (G3) at Belmont. After finishing off the board in the 2019 Laurel Futurity, his only career try on turf, Mischevious Alex reeled off three consecutive stakes wins including the Swale (G2) and Gotham (G3) to open 2020. Share the Ride won the 2020 Fall Highweight (G3), was beaten a neck by Wendell Fong in the Fire Plug, then came back to be third as the favorite in the seven-furlong Toboggan (G3) Jan. 30 at Aqueduct.

Shotski broke his maiden at Laurel Park in October 2019 for trainer Jerry O'Dwyer then won the 1 1/8-mile Remsen (G2) to cap his juvenile season and ran second in the Withers (G3) and fourth in the Fountain of Youth (G2) last winter before going to the sidelines, returning in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Jan. 15 at Aqueduct. Sunny Ridge, stablemate of Pacific Gale, won the 2019 Richard Small at Laurel and has not raced since finishing third by a head in the 2020 Toboggan last January.

Also among the nominees are multiple stakes winners Cordmaker, third in the 2019 and 2020 Pimlico Special (G3); Funny Guy and Lebda, and Tattooed, an upset neck winner of the one-mile Jennings Jan. 16 at Laurel.

Sophomores will be in the spotlight in the $100,000 Miracle Wood going one mile and the $100,000 Wide Country for fillies sprinting seven furlongs. Multiple stakes winner Kenny Had a Notion; 2020 Nashua (G3) winner Pickin' Time; Shackqueenking, Ain't Da Beer Cold and Erawan, respectively 1-2-3 in the Howard County Dec. 26 at Laurel; multiple stakes-placed Maythehorsebwithu and stablemate Hello Hot Rod, a winner of two straight are prominent among 24 Miracle Wood nominees.

Five-time stakes winner Street Lute, on a four-race win streak and a neck shy of being undefeated through seven career starts, tops 25 nominations to the Wide Country. She is joined by fellow stakes winners Gulf Coast and Miss Leslie; Fraudulent Charge, beaten a nose when second in the seven-furlong Gin Talking Dec. 26 at Laurel; and Little Huntress, a 14-length maiden special weight winner Dec. 27 at Laurel.

Older horses will travel about 1 1/16 miles in the $100,000 John B. Campbell, where Cordmaker, Shotski and Tattooed join multiple stakes winner and defending champion Alwaysmining among 24 nominees, and the $100,000 Nellie Morse for females, whose 18 nominations include Eres Tu and stakes winners Artful Splatter, Estilo Talentoso, Gibberish, Lucky Move, Lucky Stride, Pat's No Fool, Queen Nekia, Saguaro Row, Thankful and Wicked Awesome.

The post Robust Group Of Nominations For Laurel Park’s Winter Sprintfest Races appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful picked up where she left off in 2020 while punching her ticket for a return to graded-stakes competition with a front-running victory in Saturday's $100,000 What a Summer at Laurel Park in Maryland.

The 35th running of the What a Summer for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 25th edition of the Fire Plug for 4-year-olds and up, both sprinting six furlongs, were among six stakes worth $550,000 in purses on a Winter Carnival program that opened Maryland's 2021 stakes calendar.

It was the fifth career stakes victory for Hello Beautiful ($2.40), third in a row and third of the day for jockey Sheldon Russell, following Gale in the $75,000 Geisha and Wendell Fong in the $100,000 Fire Plug. The winning time was 1:10.67 over a main track rated good.

Russell's wife, trainer Brittany Russell, and the connections are hoping to use the What a Summer as a stepping-stone to the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3), contested at seven furlongs Feb. 13 at Laurel.

“To be fair, I think she's better going seven-eighths,” Sheldon Russell said. “So, she has options. She showed us last time I rode her that she can rate. Hopefully she can keep progressing and we can have some fun with her this year.”

Breaking from Post 3 in a field of eighth as the 1-5 favorite, Hello Beautiful was quickly on the lead and kept busy through a quarter-mile in 22.22 seconds and a half in 45.54 by 10-time winner Malibu Mischief, who moved within a half-length on the turn as their rivals lagged behind.

“It almost seems like in the races she runs in now there's always one or two [horses] that have a lot of speed, but me and Brittany sit down the night before every time she runs and people forget, our filly's fast, too,” Sheldon Russell said. “She's extremely fast out of the gate and coming into the race she was very fresh and she was doing well.”

Maryland-bred Hello Beautiful, by Golden Lad, opened up again with little urging from Russell to take a four-length advantage into the stretch and was never threatened while geared down as 10-1 long shot Club Car closed for second.

“I always ride her the same way. I bounce her out of there and if somebody wants to get crazy or get me outrun, I'll have to go to Plan B. But, she's free-rolling filly so I just jump out and leave her alone,” Russell said. “She gets comfortable in front and she's very easy to ride. A great job to Brittany and her team. I'm just very happy she won again for us.”

Club Car, fourth in the Willa On the Move Dec. 26 at Laurel, was 8 ½ lengths ahead of 23-1 long shot Bridlewood Cat in third. They were followed by Escapade, Malibu Mischief, Tarawa, New York Groove and Cause I'm Edgy.

Hello Beautiful improved to 7-0 lifetime at Laurel, including stakes wins at 2 in the Maryland Million Lassie and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, and 3 in the Maryland Million Distaff and Safely Kept, the latter two to cap her 2020 campaign.

Now 7-for-13 lifetime with earnings approaching $400,000, Hello Beautiful was sixth behind Frank's Rockette in her only previous graded-stakes attempt, the six-furlong Prioress (G2) last September at Saratoga.

The What a Summer honors the Eclipse Award-winning sprinter of 1977, bred in Maryland and a winner of 18 of 31 lifetime starts. Trained by the late Bud Delp and Leroy Jolley, both Hall of Famers, she won nine stakes including the Fall Highweight Handicap and Silver Spoon Handicap twice, and the Black-Eyed Susan.

Wendell Fong Gives Lynch First Winner in $100,000 Fire Plug
Gold Square's Wendell Fong came with a steady run on the far outside to run down Grade 3 winner Share the Ride approaching the wire and give trainer Natalia Lynch her first career victory in the $100,000 Fire Plug.

Wendell Fong ($15.80) ran six furlongs in 1:10.01 over a main track rated good to earn his second career stakes victory and second of the day for jockey Sheldon Russell following Gale in the $75,000 Geisha. Lynch had gone winless in her first 16 starts as a trainer dating back to last summer.

“It was me and my mom and my son watching it at home and we were screaming and crying. It was amazing,” Lynch said by phone. “I think it's been holding off until this horse. I really think it was. He just means more to me than the world. To have it with him, I'll never forget it.”

Lynch, 26 is a native of Maryland who began galloping horses while attending Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County. She has a long association with Wendell Fong going back to when she was working as an assistant to trainer Jeremiah Englehart, overseeing his Laurel string. Lynch helped prepare the now 5-year-old son of Flat Out for his debut, which he won in the final month of 2018, as well as his lone prior stakes victory in the 2019 Gold Fever at Belmont Park.

After getting a class break in his last two starts, Wendell Fong returned to stakes company and rewarded Lynch's devotion and dedication. Lynch was winless with four seconds from 16 starters since going out on her own last summer; Wendell Fong was No. 17.

“I had spoken to Talie last night and she pretty much said to just sort of leave him alone, sort of don't send him and don't take him back,” Russell said. “He's a professional horse. Drawing from the inside I didn't really have any options but to stay quiet, and to be fair I actually clipped heels so he took a little stumble and I was probably a little further back than I wanted to be. What a cool horse to ride. He was ready today. Great job to Talie and her team. I'm very happy to get Talie her first win as a trainer.”

Breaking from the rail inside his six rivals, Wendell Fong clipped heels with 2020 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) winner Laki shortly out of the gate and trailed the field as Maryland Million Sprint winner Karan's Notion and multiple stakes winner Lebda alternated through fractions of 22.17 and 45.24 seconds. Wendell Fong began gaining ground on the turn and was set down once straightened for home, getting up by a neck in the final jump.

“It just felt like they were going really fast early on and he just got so comfortable down the backside. At about the three-eighths pole I was just showing him a little bit of daylight on the outside and he started picking them up,” Russell said. “At the top of the stretch he just jumped on the bridle and was really trying. He was well-prepared today. Great job to Talie and her team.”

Share the Ride was second, 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Lebda. It was another 2 ¼ lengths back to 2-1 favorite Laki in fourth, followed by Karan's Notion, Arthur's Hope and Penguin Power.

Wendell Fong had not won since the Gold Fever. With Lynch staying home, trainer Brittany Russell saddled the horse. Russell was one of several trainers Lynch worked for before going out on her own.

“It's really cool because I worked for Brittany and Sheldon and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with other people than them. It's just as rewarding that it was with them as well,” Lynch said. “Everyone kept calling me and telling me congratulations, but I'm more happy for him than myself. He really deserves it. It's good to see his confidence back. It's been a while.”

The Fire Plug is named for the popular gelding that won or placed in 49 of 54 lifetime starts, mostly sprinting, and registered 14 stakes victories including at least one every year from age 3 to 7. He retired in 1991 with 28 wins and $705,175 in purse earnings.

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