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Multiple Stakes-Winning Filly Hello Beautiful May ‘Take A Shot’ In Saratoga’s Test

All but one of eight career starts have come over her home track of Laurel Park, including a pair of juvenile stakes victories, but standout 3-year-old filly Hello Beautiful may hit the road for her next, and biggest, race yet.

Trainer Brittany Russell said Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stable and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful is under consideration for the seven-furlong Test (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course.

It would be the first time in graded company for Hello Beautiful, the highest-earning offspring of second-crop sire and multiple graded-stakes winner Golden Lad bred in Maryland by Ellen Charles' Hillwood Stable.

“It looks like we're going to take a look at the Test. It's going to depend on who comes. There's been some good fillies running the last few weeks and it's just going to kind of depend on where they go,” Russell said. “She's going to have the big test up there if we go. We'll nominate and take a look and if she's doing well we might take a shot up there.”

Hello Beautiful owns four wins, two seconds and a third for purse earnings of $199,360, having raced exclusively in Maryland since her unveiling last May at Pimlico Race Course. She captured the Maryland Million Lassie and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship last fall at Laurel by a combined 15 ½ lengths.

The combination of a planned break and a 2 ½-month pause in live racing from mid-March to late May amid the coronavirus pandemic pushed Hello Beautiful's sophomore debut to a June 1 sprint over Laurel's world-class turf course, where she faded to seventh, her only time off the board. She rebounded with a front-running 8 ¼-length allowance romp 19 days later on a sloppy and sealed main track.

“She's certainly answered each question on the dirt for us, and that's what we have to stick with. She's a good dirt filly, and if she's going to be that kind she's going to have to run against good horses,” Russell said. “So there's no time like the present, as long as she's doing well.”

Hello Beautiful has had one timed work since her most recent race, a half-mile breeze in 49.40 seconds July 8. Russell plans to give Hello Beautiful another work this weekend over Laurel's main track, which was closed for training July 12-14 to undergo routine maintenance.

“We're moving forward, just kind of doing the same thing I did with her going into the Maryland Juvenile [Filly] Championship. She works about every 10 days,” Russell said. “We'll just try and keep it simple, but she's doing really well and that's all we can really ask.”

“[The Test is] not for a couple weeks, and a lot can happen in a couple weeks,” she added. “We just have to focus on keeping her happy so at least we can take a fresh, happy filly up there and see what we can do.”

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Friday’s Stronach 5 Features Large Fields, $100,000 Guaranteed Pool

The Stronach 5 will feature large, competitive fields, three races on the turf, and a $100,000 guaranteed pool when it kicks off Friday with 10 maidens going a mile on the Bowl Game Turf Course at Laurel Park.

Featuring races from Laurel and Gulfstream Park and an industry-low 12-percent takeout, the Stronach 5 begins at 3:23 p.m.

The sequence also includes a field of 11 allowance optional claimers going 5 furlongs on the turf at Gulfstream, and a field of 12 restricted allowance runners going 5 ½ furlongs on Laurel's Exceller Turf Course.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 6th Race: (10 entries, 1 mile turf) 3:23 ET, 12:23 PT

· Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 8th Race: 11 entries, 5 furlongs turf) 3:40 ET, 12:40 PT

· Leg Three –Laurel Park 7th Race: (9 entries, 6 furlongs) 3:59 ET, 12:59 PT

· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: (12 entries, 1 mile) 4:13 ET, 1:13 PT

· Leg Five –Laurel Park 8th race: (11 entries, 5 ½ furlongs turf) 4:33 ET, 1:33 PT

All-Star Ticket: https://www.xbtv.com/video/jason-blewitt/stronach-5-all-star-ticket-for-july-17th-2020/

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Multiple Stakes Winner Lebda ‘Had A Lot Of Vacation,’ To Run Back In Three Weeks In Haskell

Euro Stable's sophomore sensation Lebda, a two-time stakes winner this winter over his home course of Laurel Park, will make the jump to Grade 1 company for his next start in Saturday's $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park.

Also heading to the Jersey shore for Maryland's leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez will be MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride, set to make his stakes debut in the Monmouth Cup (G3) on the Haskell undercard. Harpers First Ride has won five of seven starts since being claimed last fall, including an impressive allowance triumph July 3 at Laurel.

Lebda, by Raison d'Etat, suffered the first loss of his 3-year-old season in the June 27 Ohio Derby (G3), where he was part of a wicked early pace under regular Laurel-based rider Alex Cintron before tiring to be sixth behind 14-1 upset winner Dean Martini.

It was the first race for Lebda since his two-turn victory in the Private Terms at about 1 1/16 miles March 14 at Laurel. Live racing was paused in Maryland for 2 ½ months amid the coronavirus pandemic, resuming May 30, and soon after Euro's Valter Ramos spent $3,000 to make Lebda a late nomination to the Triple Crown.

“He was off for a long time. He had a lot of vacation, and that's why we're going to run back in the three weeks,” Gonzalez said. “The owner is very excited for this. This is why he does it, to be part of big days. You don't want to say no when you have a horse like this.”

Lebda helped convince his connections to take a shot at the 1 1/8-mile Haskell when he returned to the work tab for the first time following the Ohio Derby with a half-mile breeze in 47.80 seconds July 10 at Laurel, the fastest of 31 horses.

“Alex breezed him that day and when we talked he said he was feeling good and did everything right, and he had a lot of horse,” Gonzalez said. “The next couple of days he looked good, and that's why we decided to run.”

Cintron will retain the mount for the Haskell, which will be the fourth graded-stakes attempt for Lebda. His best finish came when third in the Iroquois (G3) last fall at Churchill Downs. He ended his juvenile campaign running ninth in the Nashua (G3) at Aqueduct and third in the Heft at Laurel, where he opened 2020 with a victory in the one-mile Miracle Wood.

“For me, to run in the big races is different. I'm not crazy about running if they don't have a chance. This horse, I believe he's a very good horse. He can run,” Gonzalez said. “I know the race is going to be tough. If we don't run over there, we'll never know how much he can run. No matter what, one day he was going to have to run with the good horses.”

Lebda broke from Post 4 in the Ohio Derby, also at 1 1/8 miles, and Gonzalez is hoping for a better starting position over what is regarded as a speed-favoring racetrack in the Haskell.

“I believe there will be a lot of speed in the race. It all depends on the position. I think the seven or eight is a good position for me,” Gonzalez said. “If he's inside, we have to rush him too much to take a good position. If we're outside it's much better.”

Gonzalez said the ultimate goal for Lebda has been the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1), rescheduled from May 16 to Oct. 3 as the final leg of the Triple Crown, four weeks after the Kentucky Derby (G1). Tiz the Law captured the Belmont Stakes (G1) June 20.

“That was the plan before all this happened, to wait for the Preakness no matter what. The plan was not, if we had the points and everything like that, to go to the Derby,” Gonzalez said. “We wait for the Preakness because we're local, we're going to be at home. Now, if he's doing good and everything is good by then, I believe we still try for the Preakness.”

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Laurel Park: First Win On ‘The Flat’ For Trainer Madison Meyers

Gordon C Keys' Maryland homebred Grateful Bred, reluctant to first load in the starting gate, took an early lead and put his rivals away for good at the head of the stretch in a stylish front-running maiden special weight triumph Saturday at Laurel Park.

The 3 ½-length victory by 4-year-old Grateful Bred ($43.20) marked the first win at a recognized flat track for trainer Madison Meyers. According to Equibase statistics, Meyers had two previous career victories – a 2016 amateur event at Great Meadow in Virginia and a hurdle race last fall in Aiken, S.C.

“It's great. We've worked hard with this horse, so it feels really good,” Meyers said. “If we can work on the antics a little bit, I think we've got a pretty nice horse.”

It was the second maiden special weight win in as many days over Laurel's world-class turf course for leading Maryland stallion Great Notion, who was represented by Kendama's victory Friday for trainer Arnaud Delacour.

Grateful Bred, making his second career start after rallying to be fourth in a similar turf sprint last October at Laurel, initially balked when approaching the gate and had to be loaded without seven-pound apprentice Charlie Marquez.

Once the doors opened Grateful Bred broke a bit slowly but was intent on the lead and quickly took command, setting fractions of 22.03 and 45.01 seconds. Grafeful Bred turned for home with a commanding six-length lead and sailed to the wire in 1:02.76 for 5 ½ furlongs over the firm All Along layout.

First Law closed to be second by a neck over Josef is Real. It was another half-length back to Our Destiny in fourth.

“The pre-race antics are a little bit worrying at times, and I was hoping for a few more weeks to kind of work with him, but this race came up and he really was telling us that he was ready to run,” Meyers said. “So, we decided just to go for it and it paid off.”

Grateful Bred had three timed works since late May for his seasonal debut, two this month, the most recent a three-furlong move in 38 seconds at the Middletown Training Center in Delaware. He was only beaten 4 ½ lengths in his debut despite a poor break under Laurel's current summer meet-leading jockey Sheldon Russell.

“When he ran here the first time last fall, he was great and went right in [the gate],” Meyers said. “I don't know if he broke so hard that he stumbled or what he did, but he stumbled and Sheldon did a great job just to steady him and he ended up getting up for fourth. We were really impressed with his turn of foot and everything.”

Howling Pigeons Farm's first-time starter First Law is a gelded 3-year-old son of Constitution, the leading second-crop sire of 2020 whose current star is Florida Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law.

Seventh as the narrow 5-2 favorite in his turf debut was The Cairo Kid, trained and co-owned by Annette Eubanks. The 4-year-old gelding, unraced at 2 and 3, is a son of Cairo Prince, the No. 1-ranked third-crop sire by stakes winners and graded-stakes winners including recent Ohio Derby (G3) upset victor Dean Martini.

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