challedon stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Dilodovico Considering De Francis Dash, Chesapeake Stakes For Laki

A decision is coming this week on the route Hillside Equestrian Meadows' multiple stakes winner Laki will take to defend his title next month in the $200,000 Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Laki breezed an easy half-mile in :50.40 Sunday at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., his first work following a fourth-place finish in Pimlico's six-furlong Challedon July 31, where he was beaten less than two lengths by Mucho.

“I was happy with it. He just ran a few weeks ago so I wasn't looking for too much. I just wanted to expand his lungs a little bit,” trainer Damon Dilodovico said. “It ended up being on the slower side, but we never really push him anyway.”

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up headlines a Sept. 18 program of four stakes worth $500,000 in purses. The 8-year-old gelding Laki is nominated to the $100,000 Chesapeake, contested under the same conditions Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs.

Laki emerged from a three-way photo finish a nose ahead of Eastern Bay in the 2020 De Francis, held on a Grade 1 Preakness Stakes undercard delayed to October amid the coronavirus pandemic. He skipped the race in 2019 after running second to Switzerland in 2018. Dilodovico also won the De Francis with Immortal Eyes in 2013 when the race held listed status.

By winning his sixth career stakes in the six-furlong Frank Y. Whiteley April 24 at Pimlico, Laki extended his streak to five consecutive seasons with at least one stakes victory.

“I'm not sure if we're going to be doing Colonial or just move on to the De Francis. We'll decide in the next few days,” Dilodovico said. “[The De Francis] is a graded race, so we'll get some shippers there. We'll see. If he's good, maybe we'll just keep going with it.”

Also among several horses Dilodovico breezed Sunday at Pimlico was Phillip Ward's 3-year-old ridgling Tiz Mandate. He was clocked in :49 for four furlongs, ranking fifth of 30 horses.

Tiz Mandate ran in four consecutive stakes last winter and spring, finishing second in the one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 20 at Laurel. He went to the sidelines after running eighth in the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio April 24 at Pimlico, returning to be sixth in a six-furlong Parx allowance July 28.

“He's coming around. I took him up to Parx and he really just never kind of got into the race,” Dilodovico said. “I don't know if it was just from being away for a while, but I was very happy with his breeze today. He just sat off a horse, sitting there comfortably, and when it came time he picked up the reins and moved right by.”

Dilodovico said he has not settled on the next spot for Tiz Mandate.

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Mucho Much The Best In Challedon At Pimlico

A nose kept from him becoming a first-time stakes winner in his previous start, but there would be no denying WSS Racing and 4G Racing's Mucho the honor against a salty field in Saturday's $100,000 Challedon at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

The 35th running of the six-furlong Challedon for 3-year-olds and up was the last of three $100,000 stakes on the final program of July, preceded by Hello Beautiful's victory in the Alma North and Harpers First Ride's triumph in the Deputed Testamony. All three races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

Mucho ($7.20) took the lead at the top of the stretch and turned back late challenges from multiple stakes winners Laki, Lebda, and Whereshetoldmetogo for a one-length victory in 1:10.09 over a fast main track under jockey Reylu Gutierrez.

“I told Rey, this horse is only getting sharper. Don't take anything away from the break,” Midwest-based winning trainer John Ortiz said. “Honestly, this is Rey's victory. He did everything right on the horse. He made all the right strategical moves. When he broke sharp, he kind of asked a little bit and made the horse on the inside chase and push and go through, and all we needed was a target. We needed a little speed, and he got it.”

Jockey J.D. Acosta was forced to hustle Lebda from his rail post to get by the alert-breaking Mucho, and was in front after a quarter-mile in :22.96. Grade 3 winner Laki and 3-2 favorite Whereshetoldmetogo, who have combined to win 13 stakes, raced side-by-side in behind with 37-1 long shot Whiskey and You trailing the field.

Laki maintained the lead following a half in :45.83 with Mucho turning up the pressure and Laki and Whereshetoldmetogo poised to strike while in the clear on the outside. Mucho forged a short lead once straightened for home, dug in past the eighth pole, and had plenty left to keep his challengers at bay.

Lebda held second by a neck over Whereshetoldmetogo, with Laki another half-length back in fourth.

Second as a 2-year-old in the 2018 Grade 1 Hopeful for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, Mucho came up just short of multiple stakes winner Bango in the seven-furlong Kelly's Landing June 25 at Churchill Downs. In his prior start, he finished ahead of both Laki and Lebda when fourth in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint May 15 at Pimlico on the undercard of the 146th Grade 1 Preakness Stakes.

“The horse broke delightful today. Johnny's so good at getting horses out of the gate, with his morning training and routine,” Gutierrez said. “Watching his last going seven-eighths, I said, 'If he breaks sharp like that again today cutting back to three-quarters, I'm going to keep him there and keep him engaged.' I was able to make Lebda use a lot of horse to get the lead and I just had the trip. From the half to the three-eighths [pole], I got a really great breather to finish.

“This group of horses will probably be facing each other multiple times this year. Every trainer in this field, they do an amazing job with their stables and they're highly competitive so I'm very proud of our horse,” he added. “He beat them in the Maryland Sprint a couple starts ago so I really was expecting the same type of performance with him putting himself forwardly placed. I loved every second of it.”

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Mucho is a 5-year-old son of Blame, the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner and champion older horse of 2010. Ortiz hinted Mucho could find himself at the year-end championships should his star continue to rise.

“This horse has only been improving. He's gained more weight and is getting sharper and stronger. That's all we needed,” he said. “There might be a couple more starts before we end up in Del Mar, you never know. You gotta dream big, right?”

Not run during Maryland's pandemic-shortened 2020 stakes season, the Challedon honors the Maryland-bred son of Challenger II that won 20 of 44 starts and $334,660 in purses from 1938 to 1942, was recognized as Horse of the Year in 1939 and 1940, and inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 1977. Winner of the 1939 Preakness and 1939 and 1940 Pimlico Special, Challedon also sired 13 stakes winners before his death in 1958.

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Trio Of MATCH Series Stakes Carded For Saturday At Pimlico

Several horses are poised to make up substantial ground in the standings when Pimlico Race Course hosts three stakes that are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) Saturday, July 31.

The $100,000 Challedon Stakes and $100,000 Alma North Stakes, both at six furlongs, will be the third of six legs in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division and Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division, respectively. The $100,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at 1 1/8 miles is the second of six legs in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division.

The Alma North has attracted Hello Beautiful, the 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly by Golden Lad who is tied for second in the division standings with 7 MATCH Series points behind undefeated Chub Wagon, who leads with 20 points after two starts. The standout Pennsylvania-bred filly, however, will not compete in the Alma North and would miss the fourth leg of the division at Colonial Downs should she race in a $100,000 state-bred stakes Aug. 23 at Parx Racing, where she is stabled.

Hello Beautiful, trained by Brittany Russell for Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables, has won seven of 15 starts and finished only a neck behind Chub Wagon in the Shine Again Stakes at Pimlico June 13 in her most recent start. She will be ridden as usual by Sheldon Russell in her second MATCH Series start of the year.

“She has trained really well,” Russell said. “Sheldon worked her last week (in :49 for a half-mile at Pimlico) and all systems point to go. Hopefully the time she has had and as well as she has done in between and running at Pimlico, which she showed she can absolutely handle, will prove beneficial.”

Michael and Katherine Ball's Club Car and C & B Stables' Paisley Singing each have 5 MATCH points based on third-place finishes in the Skipat Stakes and Shine Again, respectively. Both are entered in the Alma North.

The MATCH Series points structure in each stakes is as follows: 10 for first, 7 for second, 5 for third, 3 for fourth, 2 for fifth and 1 for sixth through last. Bonus points based on number of starts are designed to encourage participation. With six races in each of four divisions this year, a fourth series start is worth 5 bonus points; a fifth start, 2 points; and a sixth start, 3 points, for a maximum of 10. Horses must compete in three races in their division to qualify for a share of $282,000 in bonus money.

Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, an 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding who was the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division champion in 2018-19, will make his third series start of the year in the Challedon. He is second in the division standings with 9 points behind Yaupon and Special Reserve—each with 10 points—who are not expected to follow the MATCH Series trail.

Laki, a winner of 11 of 35 starts—seven of them stakes—worked a half-mile in :49.60 at Pimlico July 22 in preparation for the Challedon. He will be ridden by Horacio Karamanos.

The Russell-trained Whereshetoldmetogo, owned by Madaket Stables, Ten Strike Racing, Michael Kisber and Black Cloud Racing Stable, will make his first MATCH Series start in the Challedon. The 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding was an easy winner of the six-furlong Alapocas Run Stakes at Delaware Park in his last start July 3, one of four wins in his last five starts. Sheldon Russell is named to ride.

A pair of Maryland-bred geldings who competed in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special, the first stakes in the division, are entered in the Deputed Testamony.

Hillwood Stables' 6-year-old Cordmaker, fourth in the Pimlico Special, has been working at the Maryland State Fair at Timonium in preparation for the Deputed Testamony. The winner of nine of 29 starts will be ridden again by Victor Carrasco and has three series points.

GMP Stables, Arnold Bennewith and Cypress Creek Equine's Harpers First Ride finished 10th in the Pimlico Special but returned to the barn of Claudio Gonzalez after that race and easily won a 1 1/16-mile allowance event at Pimlico. Harpers First Ride, who worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 at Pimlico July 23, has won 11 of 22 starts including the Pimlico Special and Deputed Testamony in 2020. Regular rider Angel Cruz has the mount.

Following the action at Pimlico, the MATCH Series will return Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs in Virginia with four $100,000 stakes on tap.

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