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Pickin’ Time Wins City of Laurel Stakes At Laurel Park

Roseland Farm Stable's graded-stakes winner Pickin' Time swept to the lead on the outside around the far turn and had plenty left to turn back a bid from He'smyhoneybadger nearing the wire for a 1 ¼-length victory in Saturday's $100,000 City of Laurel at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 11th running of the City of Laurel for 3-year-olds was the first of three $100,000 stakes on the program, followed by the Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies, also sprinting seven furlongs, and 1 1/8-mile Richard W. Small for 3-year-olds and up.

Ridden by Mychel Sanchez for trainer Kelly Breen, Pickin' Time ($12.80) earned his fourth career stakes win and first in open company since the 2020 Grade 3 Nashua last November at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y. Most recently, he won the Monmouth Park's New Jersey Breeders Handicap Aug. 29. The winning time was 1:23.74 over a fast main track.

Breaking outside all but one horse in the field of eight, Pickin' Time was positioned third while in the clear behind multiple stakes-placed pacesetter Awesome Gerry, who led through a quarter-mile in :23.28 pressed by 31-1 long shot Three Two Zone. Three Two Zone assumed the lead after a half in :46.60 with Pickin' Time poised to pounce.

“He gave me a pretty good feeling from the beginning. I think the team did a great job getting him ready for the race,” Sanchez said. “He was pretty easy. He broke really well. I had a good position. I didn't have to use him in the beginning, so I pretty much sav[ed ground] the whole way and when I asked him to go, he really took off.”

Pickin' Time rolled past Three Two Zone once straightened for home and powered through the stretch while He'smyhoneybadger, who beat Pickin' Time in the Oct. 23 Perryville at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., came with a belated run. It was three lengths back to Three Two Zone, who was three-quarters of a length better than Awesome Gerry in fourth.

Stakes winner Everett's Song, the 3-2 favorite, ran fifth to snap his three-race win streak. Riden With Biden, Plamen, and Depository completed the order of finish.

“I guess my horse was ready to go today,” Sanchez said. “It seems like he does better when he gets early position clear. The last couple times he was kind of in between horses [when] he broke a little poorly. I think the post position helped me today.”

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Cordmaker Gets Seventh Career Stakes Win In Richard W. Small At Laurel

Hillwood Stable's Cordmaker, still going strong at the age of 6, overpowered several younger rivals including 3-year-old favorite Shackqueenking to register his seventh career stakes victory, a 1 ¾-length decision over Workin On a Dream in Saturday's $100,000 Richard W. Small at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 21st running of the 1 1/8-mile Small for 3-year-olds and up, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, was the last of three $100,000 stakes on the program, preceded by the City of Laurel for 3-year-olds and Safely Kept for 3-year-old fillies, each sprinting seven furlongs.

Cordmaker ($12.20) ran second in last year's Small to Harpers First Ride, who went on to win the historic Grade 3 Pimlico Special, a race where Cordmaker finished third for the second consecutive year. The winning time Saturday was 1:50.48 over a fast main track.

“It's great for the horse and the barn and [owner] Mrs. [Ellen] Charles,” winning trainer Rodney Jenkins said. “It's a nice thing all around.”

With regular rider Victor Carrasco aboard, Cordmaker settled in third as 17-1 long shot Workin On a Dream and Shackqueenking led the way, going the opening quarter-mile in :24.58 and a half in :47.59. Racing in the clear, Cordmaker closed the gap after six furlongs went in 1:11.84 and swooped to the front at the top of the stretch, running a mile in 1:37.14.

“I wanted him to stay closer. We've been taking him, not way out of it, but pretty far and that's a lot of ground to make up in a stakes race,” Jenkins said. “I told Victor, 'Keep him up in there and make them run,' and he did. Victor gave him a great ride.”

Shackqueenking finished third, with two lengths separating him from runner-up Workin On a Dream and Forewarned in fourth. They were followed by Informative, Tappin Cat, Mischief Afoot, Treasure Trove, Bustoff, and McElmore Avenue.

Cordmaker, a gelded son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, added to his lead in the MATCH Series' 3-year-olds and up long dirt division with his 11th career victory from 33 starts, pushing his lifetime bankroll over $700,000 and bouncing back from being disqualified from second to sixth for interference in the Sept. 18 Polynesian at Laurel.

“His last race, when he had that [incident] down here, you never know how they're going to react the next time, and that made me nervous,” Jenkins said. “But he came around great.”

Formerly run as the Broad Brush, the multi-millionaire and four-time Grade 1 winner he trained, the Richard W. Small was renamed following the beloved horseman's death from cancer in 2014. Baltimore-born 'Dickie' Small served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a Green Beret before becoming a trainer, also campaigning Broad Brush's son, 1994 G1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Concern. He won at least one stakes race in Maryland every year but one between 1974 and 2014 and is also known for helping launch the riding careers of female jockeys such as Andrea Seefeldt, Jerilyn Brown, Rosie Napravnik, and Forest Boyce.

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Cordmaker’s Richard Small Win Gives Him Lead In MATCH Series

Hillwood Stable's Cordmaker, a mainstay in the Maryland stakes ranks for several years, pulled away late to win the $100,000 Richard Small Stakes at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., Nov. 27 and in the process took the lead in the overall standings for the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships (MATCH) Series heading into the championship leg Dec. 26 at Laurel.

With regular rider Victor Carrasco aboard, Cordmaker broke well in the 1 1/8-mile stakes and found himself in a good spot in third behind Workin On a Dream and Shackqueenking, who raced one-two, respectively, until a duel developed on the far turn. Cordmaker, nursed along by Carassco, rallied three-wide on the turn, reached the front in the final eighth of a mile, and pulled away to win by 1 3/4 lengths for his third stakes victory of the year.

Workin On a Dream, a blowout winner of an allowance race at Laurel in his last start for owner Steven Walfish and trainer Robin Graham, held gamely for second under jockey Forest Boyce. Shackqueenking, who had won his last two starts in allowance company at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., for owner Pocket 3's Racing and trainer Gary Capuano, easily held for third under Jaime Rodriguez as the favorite.

Cordmaker, who cleared the $700,000 mark in career earnings with his 11th win in 33 starts, paid $12.40 to win as the fourth choice in a field of 10. The 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Curlin was bred by Robert Manfuso and Katy Voss and purchased as a yearling for $150,000 by Hillwood Stable, which is operated by longtime Maryland Thoroughbred owner Ellen Charles.

“I wanted him to stay close early,” trainer Rodney Jenkins said after Cordmaker won his second MATCH Series stakes in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Long—Dirt division in 2021. “I didn't want him to have a lot of ground to make up. I told Victor, 'Keep him up there and make them run.' This is a great result for the horse, the barn and Mrs. Charles.”

Cordmaker, who has started in all five legs thus far in his division, won the Victory Gallop Stakes at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., in August. He returned in the Polynesian Stakes at Laurel in September and crossed the finish line in second but was disqualified and placed sixth for drifting out near the three-sixteenths pole. Despite the setback, he picked up 5 MATCH bonus points in the Polynesian and padded his division lead.

“He broke well and we had a great trip,” Carrasco said. “I followed (Shackqueenking) because I thought he was the only horse who could beat us. As soon as we passed the five-sixteenths pole, I said, 'Go,' and he responded nicely. He got the job done.”

Cordmaker entered the Richard Small with 24 points. He earned 10 points for the victory and another 2 bonus points for making his fifth start in the division. That gives him 36 points, nine more than Hello Beautiful, who leads the Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division with 27 points.

The division winners and the overall champion will be decided at Laurel the day after Christmas, when the final stakes for each of the MATCH Series' four divisions will be run.

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Jockey Julian Pimentel Taking A Break To Contemplate His Future

Journeyman Julian Pimentel, a Maryland mainstay since 2006 that will be forever linked as the regular rider of late Mid-Atlantic legend Ben's Cat, is taking the winter off to contemplate his future.

Pimentel, 40, finished sixth aboard Norman Lewis' 4-year-old filly Castilleja for Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury in Saturday's opener at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., a six-furlong starter-optional claimer for fillies and mares 3 years old and up.

According to Equibase statistics, it was the 101st mount of the fall meet for Pimentel, 302nd of the year, and 11,299th in a career that began in his native Colombia before coming to the United States in 2000 and working as an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He first rode in New Jersey before making the move to Maryland.

“I've been fighting with my weight a little bit lately, so I'm going to go home to relax, spend time with family and not think about it and when I come back, I'll see what happens,” Pimentel said. “This is all I've been doing all my life.

“I've never done anything else. I have fun, but it's hard to do. Everything has to come to an end,” he added. “I'm definitely coming back, I just don't know if I'm going to ride again. I don't know exactly what I'd do.”

Pimentel has 11 wins at the fall meet, 42 this year, and 1,806 in a career that included eight Grade 3 wins and mounts in the 2019 G1 Kentucky Derby and 2011, 2014, and 2019 G1 Preakness. His victory in the 2017 G3 General George at Laurel was the first graded-stakes victory for Imperial Hint, who would go on to win four Grade 1 stakes and more than $2.2 million in purses.

Ben's Cat was, by far, Pimentel's greatest horse. Pimentel was aboard for 41 of 63 starts including 30 in a row from June 2012 to November 2015. Together they won 22 races, 17 of them in stakes, topped by the 2013 and 2014 G3 Parx Dash, 2012 G3 Turf Monster, 2012 Maryland Million Turf Sprint, 2013-15 Mister Diz and Jim McKay Turf Sprint, and 2012-14 Fabulous Strike Handicap. Ben's Cat was euthanized at age 11 in June 2017 due to complications from colic surgery.

“Ben's Cat was very important to me, a very good horse,” Pimentel said. “When we went to the Derby, that was great. There were a lot of good times.”

Ronnie Gerardo, Pimentel's agent since February 2009, said the jockey is leaving Tuesday for Colombia and expected to return following Laurel's 2022 winter meet, which runs through March 27.

“This may be his last mount. He's going home to give his body a break and around April, he'll see how he is and if he feels like he can go back down to 118 [pounds] again,” Gerardo said. “He's competitive. It's a little harder these days. The older you get, your metabolism slows down. He's done a good job taking care of his body. He's had a good career.”

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Gerardo said Pimentel first began thinking about taking a sabbatical when Maryland racing was paused from mid-March to late May 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Pimentel had single-season highs of 1,039 mounts and $4,387,978 million in purse earnings in 2001 and 146 wins in 2011, when he also won his 1,000th race aboard Pet Me Pet Me at Delaware Park.

“He's leaning toward retirement. It all depends on his weight,” Gerardo said. “I'm praying that he'll be back because I'm going to miss him. We've been together for almost 13 years. It's a long time, especially in this game.”

Other graded-stakes winners for Pimentel are Divisidero, Control System, Evil Minister, and Runspastum. He ranks fifth with 13 career wins in the Maryland Million, five behind Hall of Fame leader Edgar Prado.

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