laurel futurity | Horse Racing Free Tips

Madaket Stables' Wootton Asset will be seeking his first victory in North America in the $150,000 Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park this Saturday. The French-bred son of Wootton Bassett will be making his 2021 debut in the mile-and-an-eighth grass affair for 3-year-olds. The Kent has been carded as the seventh race with an approximate post time of 4:15 p.m.

Last year, Wootton Asset posted a record of two wins and a second from seven starts with earnings of $73,745. He made his first four career starts in France where he won his career debut and followed with a victory. In his next two outings, he finished fourth and fifth in a pair of stakes. In his stateside debut, the H. Graham Motion trainee ran second beaten a neck in Laurel Futurity at Pimlico. He followed with a pair of off-the-board efforts in the Awad at Belmont Park and Cecil B. DeMille at Del Mar to close his 2020 campaign.

“I thought he ran well last year,” said trainer H. Graham Motion. “When we ran him in the Laurel Futurity, he basically ran off the plane. Since he had been running in France before he shipped to the United States, we really were not sure how many more races he had him and maybe the California race may have been one too many. He really came to the United States to run on firmer ground and the first time we ran him, in the Laurel Futurity, it was extremely soft, but he ran well extremely well. He had the winter off and I think he has grown up a lot. Victor (Carassco) gave him a good work going seven-eighths on the Tapeta at Fair Hill on Saturday, so we are hoping for a nice effort from him in the Kent.”

#	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	JOCKEY	Wg	OD
1	Gershwin	Godolphin	Michael Stidham	Joe Bravo	117	8-1
2	Yes This Time	Edge Racing	Kelly Breen	Joe Bravo	117	3-1
3	Shackled Love (MTO)	Z W P & Non Stop	Gary Capuano	Jaime Rodriguez	117	8-1
4	Be Here	Augustin Stable	Jonathan Thomas	Daniel Centeno	117	8-1
5	Like the King	M Racing Group	Wesley Ward	TBD	117	2-1
6	Eamonn	Robert Cotran	Joseph Orseno	Mike Smith	122	4-1
7	Wootton Asset	Madaket Stables	H. Graham Motion	Victor Carassco	117	6-1
8	Vikram (MTO)	LaPenta, Bridlewood & Au	Jonathan Thomas	Jaime Rodriguez	117	6-1
9	Doubleoseven	McCarty Racing	Jeremiah O'Dwyer	Johan Rosado	117	12-1

The post Wootton Asset Seeking First U.S. Victory In Saturday’s Kent Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Highlighted by the $1 million Preakness (G1), presented this year as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown, the Maryland Jockey Club will serve up a total of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purses over Preakness weekend at Pimlico Race Course.

The 145th running of the 1 3/16-mile Preakness for 3-year-olds will anchor an all-stakes program of 12 races, seven graded, worth $2.7 million on Saturday, Oct. 3. It will be joined this year by the 96th renewal of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), one of the country's premiere events for 3-year-old fillies, contested at 1 1/8 miles.

Turf runners 3 and up will travel 1 1/16 miles in the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2), previously run as the Dixie, now in its 119th year. Pimlico's oldest stakes race and the eighth-oldest in the country, it was named the Dinner Party for its 1870 debut and run at two miles.

Other grass stakes on the Preakness program are the $150,000 Gallorette (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and up, $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds and $150,000 Selima for 2-year-old fillies, each going 1 1/16 miles; and $100,000 James W. Murphy for 3-year-olds and $100,000 Hilltop for 3-year-old fillies at one mile.

Joining the Preakness Day lineup this year is the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up. Other sprint stakes on the card are the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs and $100,000 Skipat for fillies and mares 3 and up.

Rounding out the Oct. 3 stakes lineup is the $100,000 UAE President Cup (G1) for Arabians, contested at 1 1/16 miles for 4-year-olds and up.

The historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, returned to 1 3/16 miles after being contested at 1 ¼ miles in 2019, is the centerpiece of a Friday, Oct. 2 card that also serves as Claiming Crown Preview Day.

Each winner of the nine Claiming Crown Preview Day races will earn automatic entry and a stipend toward travel costs to the annual Claiming Crown Day program being held for the eighth consecutive year at Gulfstream Park. A similar preview was hosted at Laurel Park in 2015.

Preakness weekend will kick off Thursday, Oct. 1 with three stakes led by the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) for 3-year-olds at six furlongs. It will be joined by a pair of five-furlong turf sprints, the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 The Very One for fillies and mares 3 and older.

Live racing will be conducted at Pimlico this year from Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-3.

Nominations for all Thoroughbred stakes, excluding the Preakness, close Thursday, Sept. 17. Nominations for the UAE President Cup for Arabians close Saturday, Sept. 19.

All nominations can be forwarded to Racing Secretary Jillian Tullock at Pimlico Race Course, Hayward & Winner Aves., Baltimore MD 21215, e-mailed to stakes coordinator Coley Blind at cblind@marylandracing.com, or by calling 410-542-9400 or 800-638-1859.

For more information go to: https://www.pimlico.com/sites/www.pimlico.com/files/PDF/2020_Preakness_Stakes_0.pdf

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