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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.

The post Dilodovico Considering De Francis Dash, Chesapeake Stakes For Laki appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) returns to Colonial Downs in Virginia for the first time since 2001 with a slate of four $100,000 stakes—one in each of this year's four divisions—Monday, Aug. 23.

In all, 139 horses have been nominated pending late mail. The four stakes are the Chesapeake (3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division), Seeking the Pearl (Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division), Victory Gallop (3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division) and Love Sign (Filly and Mare Long—Dirt division).

The Chesapeake and Seeking the Pearl are the fourth of six legs in their divisions, while the Victory Gallop and Love Sign are the third of six legs in their divisions.

WSS Racing and 4 G Racing's Mucho and Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, the top two horses in the division by points, are among the nominees. Mucho (13 points), trained by John Ortiz, took the division lead with a strong win in the Challedon Stakes at Pimlico Race Course July 31. Laki (12 points), trained by Damon Dilodovico, finished a close fourth in the Challedon and is the only horse thus far to have started in all three races in his division.

Tamaroak Partners' Bango, who hasn't competed in the MATCH Series, has won three consecutive stakes in Kentucky for trainer Greg Foley and defeated Mucho by a nose in the Kellys Landing Stakes at Churchill Downs June 25. Whereshetoldmetogo, owned by Madaket Stables, Ten Strike Racing, Michael Kisber and BTR Racing, finished a close third in the Challedon in his first series appearance for trainer Brittany Russell.

Hello Beautiful, second in the division standings with 17 points, would make her third MATCH Series start should she make the trip to Virginia. Owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stable and Magic City Stables, Hello Beautiful won the Alma North Stakes at Pimlico July 31 and before that finished a neck behind division and overall series leader Chub Wagon (20 points) in the Shine Again Stakes at Pimlico. Chub Wagon is not nominated to the Seeking the Pearl.

Other nominees with two series starts are C and B Stables' Paisley Singing (7 points), trained by Charles A. Frock; and Larry Johnson's Never Enough Times (5 points), trained by Mike Trombetta. Never Enough Time was a game winner in quick time for six furlongs in an allowance event July 26 in her first start at Colonial Downs.

The one-two-three-four finishers in the July 31 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico—MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride; Morris Kernan Jr., Yo Berbs and Jagger Inc.'s Magic Michael; Hillwood Stables' Cordmaker; and Burning Daylight Farms and Rebecca Galbraith's Mischief Afoot—are among the nominees. Twelve-time winner Harpers First Ride, trained by Claudio Gonzalez, has made two series starts and leads the division with 11 points, while Cordmaker, also with two starts, is third with 8 points.

Grade 3 stakes winner Silver Dust, owned by Tom Durant and trained by Bret Calhoun, has been stabled at Colonial Downs since early July. Martin and Pam Wygod's Modernist, a Bill Mott trainee who finished second in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special—first leg of the division—also is nominated.

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Mrs. Orb, owned by Ruggeri Stable, Richard Coburn, Script R Farm and trainer Mike Miceli, is tied at the top of her division with Spice Is Nice, each with 10 points. Mrs. Orb captured the Caesar's Wish Stakes, second leg of the division at Pimlico July 4. She is joined on the Love Sign nominations list with Sweet Sami D (5 points), Artful Splatter (3 points) and Gracetown (1 point), who finished third, fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Caesar's Wish.

Horses in the MATCH Series qualify for a share of more than $280,000 in bonus money for owners and trainers if they start at least three times.

Colonial Downs was an original MATCH partner when the series was launched in 1997, having hosted four stakes in four of the five divisions that year. Track management and the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association had agreed to rejoin the series in 2020—Colonial Downs was to have run five $100,000 stakes on one day in mid-August—but MATCH was canceled because of COVID-19.

The post MATCH Series Stakes At Colonial Downs Draw 139 Nominations appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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