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MATCH Series Returns To Colonial Downs With Four Stakes On Monday

Strong fields have been assembled for the four Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) Monday, Aug. 23, at Colonial Downs, which returns to the series for the first time since 2001.

The Virginia track will host four $100,000 stakes in each MATCH Series division for 2021: the Chesapeake (3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt), Seeking the Pearl (Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt), Victory Gallop (3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt) and Love Sign (Filly and Mare Long—Dirt). First post time for the pari-mutuel program is 1:45 p.m., with a pair of non-wagering steeplechase events beginning at 12:15 p.m.

The six-furlong Chesapeake attracted the top two horses in the division standings by points: WSS Racing and 4 G Racing's Mucho (13 points) and Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki (12 points).

Mucho, who has been stabled at Colonial Downs with trainer John Ortiz, won the Challedon Stakes at Pimlico Race Course July 31 to earn his first series victory. Reylu Gutierrez, who was aboard at Pimlico, is named again in the Chesapeake, which will be the 5-year-old Blame horse's third series start.

Laki, trained by Damon Dilodovico, will make his first Colonial Downs start in 36 career outings. Laki, an 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Cuba, was second in the Lite the Fuse Stakes at Pimlico and has started in the first three stakes in his division. He will pick up 5 MATCH Series bonus points in the Chesapeake for his fourth start in the series. Regular rider Horacio Karamanos is named.

Also entered is Whereshetoldmetogo, who finished third behind Mucho in the Challedon for owners Madaket Stables, Ten Strike Racing, Michael Kisber and BTR Racing (trainer Brittany Russell). The 6-year-old Maryland-bred by El Padrino has won 11 races and also makes his local debut. Sheldon Russell is named to ride.

With division leader Chub Wagon (20 points) having opted for a Pennsylvania-bred stakes at Parx Racing on the same day, and Hello Beautiful—second in the standings with 17 points—taking a pass, the seven-furlong Seeking the Pearl offers a chance for Larry Johnson's Never Enough Time to make up ground.

Trained by Mike Trombetta, who also entered Three Diamonds Farm's Kiss the Girl, Never Enough Time has 5 MATCH Series points after two starts in her division. The 5-year-old Maryland-bred by Munnings is the only entrant with a win at Colonial Downs—in her last start in her first outing locally. Julian Pimentel is named to ride again.

Multiple graded stakes winner Frank's Rockette, owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and trained by Bill Mott, also is entered and appears the probable favorite as the 4-year-old Into Mischief mare approaches the $900,000 mark in earnings on a record of eight wins in 15 starts.

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Hillwood Stables' Cordmaker, third in the division standings with 8 points after two MATCH Series starts, gets a chance to move up in the standings in the 1 1/16-mile Victory Gallop which, like the Love Sign, is raced around one turn.

Regular rider Victor Carrasco is named on Cordmaker, a 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding trained by Rodney Jenkins. He has been first, second or third in 20 of 30 starts and has performed well at the one-turn-mile distance at Laurel Park.

Triple V Racing and trainer Ortiz claimed Singapore Flash for $40,000 from an allowance/optional claiming race on the turf at Colonial Downs last time out and entered him in the Victory Gallop. In his last race on the dirt, the 5-year-old Shanghai Bobby gelding cleared his first allowance condition at Fair Grounds Race Course in Louisiana. Gutierrez will ride.

Mark Grier's Sosua, undefeated in three starts for Fair Hill Training Center-based trainer Arnaud Delacour, will attempt to remain perfect in the 1 1/16-mile Love Sign. Hector Diaz Jr., aboard for all three of the 4-year-old Speightstown mare's victories, will ride again.

ABL Stables, Domenic Bossone, Patrick Donnelly, Jacob Schnoor and W. Oberdorf's Sweet Sami D, with 5 MATCH Series points after two of six division legs, also is entered. Trained by Pat McBurney, the 5-year-old First Samurai mare finished third in Caesar's Wish Stakes at Pimlico and then won an allowance event at Delaware Park.

The MATCH Series, the only one of its kind in racing, began May 14 at Pimlico and will wrap up Dec. 26 at Laurel. The 2021 edition features 24 stakes valued at $2.75 million and $282,000 in bonus money.

Owners and trainers will compete for $63,000 in divisional bonuses and the overall MATCH Series champion will net $30,000 in bonuses for its owner and trainer. In addition, the Maryland Horse Breeders Association will pay a $3,000 bonus to the breeder of the top points-earning Maryland-bred and $3,000 for the top points-earning Maryland-sired horse. If the top points-earner is both Maryland-bred and -sired, the breeder would get $6,000.

Colonial Downs, which was an original partner when the series debuted in 1997 and participated until it was discontinued in 2001 but returned in 2018, had signed onto the planned 2020 series, which was canceled because of COVID-19. When the regional MATCH partners determined that the full series would be delayed until 2022, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and Maryland Jockey Club decided to run a Maryland-based series, and the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and Colonial Downs offered to participate.

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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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MATCH Series Stakes At Colonial Downs Draw 139 Nominations

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.

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Entries Strong For MATCH Series Kickoff At Pimlico

The eighth edition of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships Series (MATCH) begins May 14-15 at Pimlico Race Course with large, competitive fields that include more than a few local horses that figure to play a role in the outcome of the four divisions in the 2021 series.

Purses for the four MATCH stakes that are part of Preakness weekend total $650,000. They are the $250,000 Grade 3 Pimlico Special (3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division) and $150,000 Grade 3 Allaire DuPont (Filly and Mare Long—Dirt division) Friday, May 14, and the $150,000 Maryland Sprint Handicap (3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division) and $100,000 Runhappy Skipat (Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division) Saturday, May 15.

MATCH returns to the calendar this year after a one-year cancellation because of COVID-19 restrictions. Though there will be six stakes in each of four divisions this year, 20 of the 24 stakes will be run in Maryland and the other four at Colonial Downs in Virginia.

The Maryland Sprint Handicap at six furlongs has drawn Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, a local favorite and two-time MATCH divisional champion in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Sprint—Dirt division in 2018 and 2019. He has won 11 races—seven of them stakes including the Grade 3 Frank J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash—and in his last start, which produced a win in the Frank Whiteley Stakes at Pimlico, the 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Cuba topped the $800,000 mark in earnings. Twenty-seven of Laki's 33 starts have come in Maryland.

“He came out of his last race really well,” trainer Damon Dilodovico said. “I don't like running him back so quickly—the Whiteley was moved back a week—but everybody is navigating these things. We'll be able to ship up to Pimlico (from Laurel) early and train him there.

“If we could add another graded stakes to his resume that would be awesome. The horse doesn't owe us a thing. We are fans of the MATCH Series and we hoped to have other horses for it this year but things didn't work out.”

Horacio Karamanos, who has ridden Laki in many of his races, will have the mount.

Euro Stable's Lebda, trained by Claudio Gonzalez, finished a half-length behind Laki in the Frank Whiteley and has settled in as a sprinter after having run long as a 3-year-old. Gonzalez, who won a MATCH Series division with the turf sprinter Completed Pass, indicated Lebda may target the local sprint stakes this year.

Entered in the Skipat, also at six furlongs, is Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya, who rattled off five consecutive victories—two in stakes—at Laurel Park before a seventh-place finish in the Grade III Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel in her most recent start in February. Trained by Lacey Gaudet, the 4-year-old Stay Thirsty filly who likes to run on the lead has won five of nine starts and more than $200,000.

Pennsylvania-bred Chub Wagon, owned by Danny Lopez and George Chestnut, enters the Skipat a perfect five-for-five with a total win margin of more than 31 lengths. In her last start April 27 at Parx Racing, where she is based with trainer Guadalupe Preciado, Chub Wagon won the state-restricted Unique Bella Stakes at seven furlongs by 7 1/2 lengths in her first start in stakes company. She has had the lead at every call in all five of her races.

The Allaire DuPont at 1 1/8 miles has attracted Horologist, the New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year for 2020. The multiple graded-stakes winner owned by There's A Chance Stable, Medallion Racing, Abbondanza Racing, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Paradise Farm Corp. and David Staudacher won the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct Racetrack in her last start.

Allen Stable's Mrs. Danvers and Sonata Stable's Lucky Stride, second and third, respectively, behind Horologist in New York, will also compete in the Allaire DuPont. Lucky Stride, trained by Mike Trombetta at the Fair Hill Training Center, has done well in Maryland with a second in the Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes last November and a victory in the Nellie Morse Stakes in late February.

“Our intent is to race in the Allaire DuPont and take it from there,” Trombetta said of potential starts in future MATCH Series races. “I think she is the kind of horse that can run in more of these races, so we'll see what happens.”

BB Horses' Landing Zone, second to Lucky Stride in the Nellie Morse and entered in the Allaire DuPont, is one of several horses trainer Gonzalez has entered Preakness weekend that could very well could target MATCH Series events through the course of the year.

In 2020, the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special was run in October, and Hillwood Stables' Maryland-bred gelding Cordmaker finished third. In the 2019 Pimlico Special, he rallied from 10th on the final turn and was a fast-closing third. Trainer Rodney Jenkins has again entered the nine-time winner of almost $600,000 in the Special.

Cordmaker in his last start went gate-to-wire in the 1 1/8-mile Harrison Johnson Memorial Stakes at Laurel in mid-March. His last two works at Pimlico at five furlongs have been the fastest of the day. All but three of his 28 starts have come in Maryland.

“His last two works were very good, he looks very good, and he feels very good,” said jockey Victor Carrasco, who was aboard for the Pimlico works and has regularly ridden Cordmaker in his races. “The Pimlico Special is not an easy race, but he's in good form. We're all hoping for the best. I'd like to thank Mr. Jenkins, because this horse is very special to me.”

After Preakness weekend, the next MATCH Series stakes will be held June 13 at Pimlico.

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