dontletsweetfoolya | Horse Racing Free Tips

Hello Beautiful Rounds Out 2021 Season With Willa On The Move Try

Though her career has been one with far more successes than failures, Hello Beautiful has also shown a resilience to match her talent. Trainer Brittany Russell will be hoping for more of the same from the history-making filly when she caps her 4-year-old season in the $100,000 Willa On the Move Dec. 26 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful had a three-race win streak snapped when she finished last of five as the favorite in the six-furlong Politely Nov. 26 at Laurel. Russell said the Golden Lad filly came back well, if agitated, from the performance.

“She was very unhappy after the race, in a just [ticked] off kind of way. She knew that it wasn't supposed to go like that,” Russell said. “When I went back to check on her, it wasn't her normal munching her hay. It was like, 'Get away from me.' The important thing is she's doing well, and she's still Hello Beautiful.

“She's been fine. She really only ran about a quarter of a mile, if you really look at how it went down,” she added. “She came back no worse for the wear. She's doing fine, and she's trained well since.”

Prior to the Politely, Hello Beautiful was a front-running winner of the Alma North at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., and the Weather Vane and Maryland Million Distaff to put her career win total at 10, eight of them in stakes. She is one of only seven horses in event history with three Maryland Million victories.

Hello Beautiful broke from the rail and found herself atypically behind horses in the Politely, outrun to the lead by Princess Kokachin, another speedy type that drew the post just outside the favorite. Jockey Jevian Toledo opted to drop back and then make a run that never materialized.

“I probably should have been a little more clear with Toledo to just kind of stay on that filly. We know our filly. She was a step slow that day, but you've got to go. You've got to go with her,” Russell said. “They were moving, they were going quick, but that's our game, too. When she kind of got checked out of there, it was over.”

Toledo climbs back aboard for the fourth straight race in place of Russell's husband, injured jockey Sheldon Russell, and they drew Post 6 in a field of eight at 124 pounds, a topweight she shares with Call On Mischief and Jakarta.

“You can look at it all different ways, but had our filly drawn outside that filly that day, it might have been a different outcome, too. It's fine. It happens,” Russell said. “You better learn how to lose races, because we lose a lot more than we win. Just be a good loser and hopefully, she bounces back next time.”

Eric Rizer's homebred Princess Kokachin will break inside Hello Beautiful from Post 3 under regular rider Xavier Perez, looking to extend her win streak to six races. The Politely marked the stakes debut for the Jerry Robb-trained 3-year-old Graydar filly, with all of those victories coming against older horses. She set testing fractions of :21.98 and :45.12 before finishing up in 1:11.22 to win by 5 ½ lengths.

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Beaten in the Alma North and May 15 Skipat, also at Pimlico, in two previous trips to Maryland this year, Down Neck Stables' Call On Mischief is set to make her Laurel debut. She prevailed by a half-length after a prolonged drive to win the six-furlong Mahoning Distaff Nov. 22, and was most recently second in the Garland of Roses Dec. 11 over a sloppy surface at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya captured last year's Willa On the Move to cap her 3-year-old campaign on a five-race win streak. Winless in her first four starts to open 2021, she went three months between the Grade 3 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Feb. 20 and Skipat, and returned to the winner's circle with a popular 6 ¼-length optional claiming allowance triumph in front-running fashion sprinting six furlongs Nov. 5 at Laurel.

Also entered are Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta, a stakes winner making her first start for trainer Mike Trombetta and first dirt start since running fourth in the June 2020 G3 Vagrancy at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.; Kaylasaurus, racing first off the claim for Penn National-based trainer Tim Kreiser; Kentucky shipper Miss Mosiac; and multiple stakes-placed Paisley Singing.

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MATCH Series: Tough Sprinters Return From Layoffs To Face Undefeated Chub Wagon In Shine Again

Two of the toughest female sprinters in Maryland will return from layoffs to face the undefeated Chub Wagon June 13 at Pimlico Race Course in the $100,000 Shine Again Stakes, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) for 2021.

The Shine Again, at six furlongs, is one of five Sunday stakes at Old Hilltop. It's the second of six stakes in the Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division, currently led by Chub Wagon, who captured the Skipat Stakes at Pimlico May 15.

Pennsylvania-bred Chub Wagon, owned by Daniel Lopez and George Chestnut, won her first five starts on the lead throughout. The 4-year-old Hey Chub filly rated in third for the first half-mile in the Skipat before taking over in the stretch and pulling away to win by two lengths. She was entered in a Grade III stakes at Belmont Park June 5, but her connections, including trainer Guadalupe Preciado, opted to scratch her in favor of the Shine Again. Jomar Torres is named to ride the Parx Racing-based filly.

Preciado acknowledged the depth of the Shine Again field.

“Every race is the same; no matter what, the horses need to run to win,” he said. “Whether it's easy or tough, the horses still have to run.”

Chub Wagon collected 10 MATCH points for her Skipat victory and is looking to bring that total to 20 with another win in the series.

No Guts No Glory Farm's Anna's Bandit, a winner of 17 races and almost $800,000 in 36 starts for trainer John Robb, has been working regularly since April for her first start since July 2020 at Delaware Park. A winner of 11 stakes in the Mid-Atlantic region, the 7-year-old West Virginia-bred mare by Great Notion will have regular rider Xavier Perez aboard for her return.

“I was looking for an easier spot but I've been waiting for six weeks now,” Robb said. “I'm not expecting her to win it, but she needs to get a race under her. She has been doing good, but she's such a big, heavy horse that I don't expect to ever get her fit just with breezes.”

Hello Beautiful, a winner of seven of 14 starts, won three consecutive stakes at Laurel Park in late fall and early winter before her fifth-place finish in the Grade III Barbara Fritchie Stakes for trainer Brittany Russell. The 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly by Golden Lad was given a break and has been working well at Pimlico for the Shine Again. Hello Beautiful, to be ridden by Sheldon Russell, is a five-time stakes winner of almost $400,000 owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables.

“To be fair, when something goes wrong in the afternoon, whatever the reason—like last year when we shipped her around a bit and just didn't have any luck, or the Fritchie—it's almost like it makes her come back with a vengeance,” Russell said. “She doesn't like getting beat. I hope that's the case this go-around.”

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, who has won five of her 10 starts, is entered in the Shine Again off of a fourth-place finish behind Chub Wagon in the Skipat. The 4-year-old Stay Thirsty filly, trained by Lacey Gaudet and temporarily based at Delaware Park, was on the lead in the Skipat until the stretch and has done her best running on the front end. Jevian Toledo, who has been aboard Dontletsweetfoolya for all of her victories, is named to ride.

After the Shine Again, the MATCH Series will continue with two stakes July 4 in Maryland.

The MATCH Series, the only one of its kind in racing, will run through Dec. 26 at Laurel and features 24 stakes—20 of them in Maryland and four at Colonial Downs in Virginia—valued at $2.75 million. There will be four divisions, all of them on dirt, and $282,000 in bonus money for owners and trainers.

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Hisbiscus Punch Rings Bell At $85.60 In Runhappy Barbara Fritchie

Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson's homebred Hibiscus Punch rolled up to dueling favorites Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya on the far turn and cruised past once straightened for home, sprinting clear for a 41-1 upset in Saturday's $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park in Maryland.

The 69th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 45th edition of the $250,000 General George (G3) for 4-year-olds and up, both sprinting seven furlongs, co-headlined a Winter Sprintfest program of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses.

Originally scheduled for Feb. 13, Winter Sprintfest was pushed back a week after winter storms passed through the Mid-Atlantic region. Hibiscus Punch ($85.60) was making her graded-stakes debut off an entry-level allowance triumph Jan. 17 at Laurel going six furlongs.

“We just tried not to overdo it with her. She was coming back a bit quick,” winning trainer Justin Nixon said. “She was coming back in three weeks in the a-other-than and I think the extra week might have helped us.”

Jockey Horacio Karamanos, aboard for each of Hibiscus Punch's last three starts, earned his third career Barbara Fritchie victory following Lady Sabelia in 2015 and High Ridge Road in 2017.

“I felt like I can win this race because I talked to Justin Nixon when I breezed her last time. She breezed really easy and I told him this filly is good,” Karamanos said. “Last time when we won, I said, 'She's got them,' so I felt very confident. When I sat behind them and I asked her, she came running.

“I see the speed going, the two fillies to beat in front of me. I sat right behind them,” he added. “I had plenty of horse. In the middle of the turn, at the quarter pole, my filly went on her own.”

Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, and Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races capped by back-to-back stakes, battled on the front end with Dontletsweetfoolya holding a short advantage after a quarter-mile in 22.75 seconds before Hello Beautiful went the half in 45.31 to nudge in front.

Meanwhile, Karamanos had Hibiscus Punch in striking position racing third when he ranged up on the leaders midway around the turn. The 6-year-old Into Mischief mare surged past and kept going, opening up to win by 2 ½ lengths after completing the distance in 1:23.16 over a fast main track.

Estilo Talentoso came running late down the center of the track to get second, 3 ½ lengths ahead of Club Car. Mutliple stakes winner Needs Supervision rallied to edge 2-5 favorite Hello Beautiful by a neck for fourth. Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr was fifth, followed by Dontletsweetfoolya and Suggestive Honor.

“I thought we were in pretty good shape, especially at the three-eighths pole. It looked like she was moving forward pretty well. Horacio gave her a great ride to settle her in and from there it was just good times,” Nixon said.

“He suits her to a 'T.' He knows her very well. He won on her in the a-other-than and he came and breezed her last week before all the storms and she breezed dynamite,” he added. “He was very happy and he said seven-eighths wouldn't be a problem for her.”

Now based at Laurel Park, Hibiscus Punch was making just her eighth career start in the Barbara Fritchie. She made her first four starts in 2019 over the grass and all-weather surfaces at Woodbine, debuting for Nixon off nearly a year layoff last November at Laurel.

Second to Dontletsweetfoolya in the six-furlong Willa On the Move, Hibiscus Punch came back to win her allowance by three lengths.

“We'll have to talk with Mr. Seltzer and Beverly [about what's next] and whatever they decide, we're thrilled,” Nixon said. “They're so patient and they're such great people to train for. Really it was their doing, this filly.”

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Trainer Lacey Gaudet Hoping To Add Another Chapter In Family’s Success Story

Carrying the mantle for one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families, trainer Lacey Gaudet has been proud to continue the tradition her late father, Eddie, began in the 1950s.

Saturday, the 33-year-old Gaudet is hoping to add another chapter to the family's legacy and join her father as a graded-stakes winner.

Gaudet will send out Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park, co-headliner with the $250,000 General George (G3) on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

One of Eddie Gaudet's three career graded victories came with Star Touch in the 1991 General George, the first year it carried graded status, then Grade 2. He also won the 1985 Anne Arundel Handicap (G3) with Classy Cut and 1994 Garden State (G3) with Alleged Impression.

Overall, Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 races before retiring at the end of 2011, passing away at age 87 in January 2018. Two years earlier Gaudet and her mother, Linda, herself a noted horseman, owner and trainer, combined their stables into Team Gaudet with great success.

They turned John Jones, a $25,000 claim in the summer of 2018, into a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Colonial Downs before he was retired. They broke Double Crown's maiden at Laurel in 2019 before the horse was sold and became a multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed including runner-up in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

The new stable star is Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races by 28 ¼ combined lengths, the last two wins coming in stakes – the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move. By multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, she will be making her season debut in the Fritchie for Gaudet, four wins shy of 200 for her young career.

“We're going into the race confident and we know that we have a nice filly, and I think that it's just going to be fun from here on out,” she said. “If she wins, great. It's not going to take anything away from her if she gets beat, but to go for six in a row and get a graded stakes under her belt? That would be fantastic.”

The connections remained patient as Dontletsweetfoolya matured from her high-strung juvenile days. She went winless in two starts at 2, and needed two more races before breaking her maiden last July. Following an allowance win at Laurel in September, Gaudet resisted the temptation to step up in a race like the Miss Preakness (G3), part of the rescheduled Preakness Day program in October.

Instead, Dontletsweetfoolya went to Pimlico anyway for an optional claiming allowance two days earlier, overcoming an eventful ship and a troubled start for a three-length triumph that earned her a shot at stakes company.

“She matured a lot as a 3-year-old from her 2-year-old season, and that showed on her form last year. So, hopefully she can start off her 4-year-old season the right way,” Gaudet said. “She's doing everything right. We stayed the course and we went through the races that we hoped to hit and we said that this was going to be our ultimate goal. We're here, she's ready and she's doing great, so it's time to test her.”

Dontletsweetfoolya drew Post 3 in a field of eight and was made the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the Fritchie behind 8-5 favorite Hello Beautiful and Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr. Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, will break from the far outside.

Gaudet's last graded-stakes attempt came with long shot Chauncey, second by a neck at odds of 42-1 in the 2018 Charles Town Oaks (G3).

“We drew inside of a lot of the speed,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of races I've left it up to [jockey Jevian] Toledo, and she just does whatever he wants her to. So, I think I'm just going to leave it up to him.

“I know Hello Beautiful has a lot of speed. I don't think she's the only one, but I do think that we'll definitely be the pace, the two of us, and we'll see how they fare,” she added. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off, because we know where she's going to be. We're not going to change our tactics in this race.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions will have another stakes starter Saturday, Fraudulent Charge, in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. Making her season debut, she is fourth choice of nine at 6-1 behind 2-1 program favorite Street Lute, a winner of four straight stakes and five overall. Fraudulent Charge nearly ended that streak in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking, her late rally coming up a nose short.

“We always liked her, but she definitely ran huge last time. She's matured since then, she's grown since then and she's just going into this race fantastic,” Gaudet said. “I know there's speed. I don't think that she'll be speed, she's kind of a little different from [Street Lute]. [Jockey] Johan [Rosado] says that she's very push-button, so I think that he'll be able to rate her a little bit behind the speed and if she can make that run like she did last time, I think she'll be very dangerous.”

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