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Epic Idea Takes Maryland Million Ladies At Laurel

Call it poetic justice.

After surviving a steward's inquiry following a victory in the Maryland Million Ladies last year but being placed second upon review of the Maryland Racing Commission in May, Vivian Rall's homebred Epic Idea left no questions Saturday, driving between horses entering the stretch to win the $100,000 Maryland Million Ladies by a half-length over Maldives Model at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. It was another three-quarters of a length to Judi Blue Eyes in third.

A 5-year-old mare by Great Notion trained by Michael Merryman and ridden by Daniel Centeno, Epic Idea covered a firm 1 1/8-mile turf course in 1:49.46.

“It's big redemption for us,” said Merryman after the race. “I have to bite my tongue a little bit right now because everyone knows that (the disqualification) was not right. But all the credit to the breeder, Vivian Rall. She's one of the best horsemen in Maryland. Credit to my mom for bringing this horse along with us…. just a credit to all the nice horsemen we have behind this filly.”

Breaking alertly from the gate, Epic Idea was rated fourth along the inside entering the first turn and down the backstretch by Centeno while longshot Tipsy Chatter set fractions of :23.63, :47.89, and 1:12.04. But entering the stretch, Centeno moved Epic Idea off the rail and outside a tiring Tipsy Chatter and outside Brushing to take the lead and the Maryland Million Ladies.

Epic Idea came into the Ladies off a third-place finish at 5 ½ furlongs Sept. 30. “She came flying last time,” Merryman said.

The race reunited Epic Idea with Centeno, who had ridden the mare last in October of 2020.

“If you look back at her form, the best race she ever ran was with Centeno,” Merryman said. “We wanted to win so I made him fly up from Tampa to ride her.”

Said Centeno: “I talked to Mike and he said she was training really good. She sprinted the last race and we were going back to long. I told him we had a little bit of speed outside, and she always breaks sharp, so going to the first turn she's going to be right there. She broke really sharp, and she got a perfect trip. I found some room turning for home and she finished strong.”

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Buff Hello Wins Maryland Million Nursery At Laurel

In a crowded race loaded with speed, no one could catch Buff Hello.

Joseph Besecker's Buff Hello ($13) broke running from his inside draw and never looked back, sprinting clear to a two-length triumph in Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The Nursery for 2-year-olds and Lassie for 2-year-old fillies, each contested at six furlongs, were among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 36th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.

It was the sixth career Maryland Million win for trainer Claudio Gonzalez and second of the day for 18-year-old jockey Charlie Marquez, who also captured the Turf Starter Handicap to kick off the Maryland Million program. The winning time for the Nursery was 1:10.51 over a fast main track.

“It was not an easy race, especially with the [post] position we had today. The [rail] position is really hard, especially with [14] horses and a lot of horses that have speed,” Gonzalez said. “The good thing about Charlie is, he listens. He warmed up the horse really good, he broke and rushed up and took the lead, and he did the right thing. He stayed on the rail and he won the race.”

A maiden special weight winner July 31 at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., where he also led from start to finish, Buff Hello entered the Nursery off a sixth-place finish in the one-mile Sapling Sept. 5 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Marquez wasted no time getting the Buffum colt involved, hustling to the front and posting fractions of :22.12 and :45.21 with Hickory Tree winner Local Motive and narrow 7-2 favorite Mr. Mox alternating in second.

Buff Hello remained in command as the field straightened for home and was set down for a drive by Marquez, opening up after going five furlongs in :57.62. Coastal Mission came with a run on the far outside to edge Local Motive by a neck for second, with Buff Hello's stablemate, Shady Munni, another 2 ½ lengths back in fourth.

“He had the blinkers on and I know, watching the replays, he kind of looked like a little lazy of a lazy horse, so we warmed him up good. I sent him out of there and he's the kind of horse you have to keep on going the whole way. He really dug in deep today,” Marquez said. “I got headed at the top of the stretch but I knew that I had a lot of horse, and coming to the wire was a great feeling.”

Buff Hello was purchased for $26,000 as a yearling last fall at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md. He was making his Laurel debut after racing twice each at Monmouth and Pimlico, where he was beaten a neck in a July 11 maiden special weight by Mr. Mox.

“I was really confident with both my horses in here. [Shady Munni got] bumped really hard in the gate and that's why he finished fourth. But, doesn't happen maybe he's there, too,” Gonzalez said. “Buff Hello, all the time he showed he had talent, that's why I gave him a chance in the stake at Monmouth. That day we didn't get lucky, but today he proved he had talent.”

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Prendimi Outlasts Tappin Cat to Take Maryland Million Classic

Prendimi held the lead from gate to wire, but his win in his third try at Maryland Million Classic was not an easy one. The 6-year-old gelding outlasted the stretch-long challenge from a persistent Tappin Cat to take the Classic by a head at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Prendimi took the top spot right out of the gate, with Ain't Da Beer Cold and Tappin Cat in second and third a half-length back. Thorough early factions of :23.61 and :46.84, Prendimi ran comfortably on the lead under jockey Mychel Sanchez. Ain't Da Beer Cold pulled even with Prendimi as they approached the far turn, with Tappin Cat going to the outside to find racing room

Around the turn, Ain't Da Beer Cold faded as Tappin Cat made his bid for the lead as they straightened out into the Laurel stretch. Prendimi had a half-length on Tappin Cat, but the challenger would not quit, forcing Prendimi to dig in late stretch to hold off Tappin Cat and win by a head. The Poser was third. Torch of Truth, Dream Big Dreams, Crouchelli, Dashing Lou, and Ain't Da Beer Cold rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:50.46. Find this race's chart here.

Prendimi paid $26.20, $7.80, and $4.60. Tappin Cat paid $2.40 and $2.10. The Poser paid $3.60.

Bred in New Jersey by owner GJ Stables, Prendimi is by Dance With Ravens out of the Tour d'Or mare Cigno d'Oro. He is trained by Luis Carvajal, Jr. The Maryland Million Classic is Prendimi's first win in 2021, for a lifetime record of six wins in 30 starts and $472,005 in career earnings.

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Maryland Million: Double Crown Returns In Sprint, So Street Chasing Second Stakes Victory In Turf Sprint

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Double Crown, a two-time stakes winner that is also twice Grade 3-placed, brings a record of success to his home state as he ships in from Kentucky for Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint at Laurel Park.

The six-furlong Sprint for 3-year-olds and up on the main track and $100,000 Turf Sprint, a 5 ½-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up, are among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 36th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.

Highlighted by the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up, first race post time is 11:30 a.m.

Bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Bowman and Rebecca Davis, Double Crown was an impressive debut winner by a neck over Ournationonparade in September 2019, his only previous run at Laurel. Both horses were purchased privately by Dean Reeves following the race, and Ournationonparade would return the following month to capture the Maryland Million Nursery.

Double Crown was sent to South Florida, where he won the 6 ½-furlong Roar and seven-furlong Carry Back and was third in the Smile Sprint (G3) last summer at Gulfstream Park. The 4-year-old Bourbon Courage gelding was at historic Pimlico Race Course last fall for the Chick Lang (G3), where he ran second to Yaupon.

This year, Double Crown had one win and one second from four starts and was fifth in the July 3 Smile Sprint (G3) before being sent to Keeneland-based trainer Tom Amoss, for whom he will be making his first start.

“He's been working out at Keeneland and he's had some good breezes. He's doing good, he looks great and he seems to feeling good, Reeves said. “It's not too long a ship. We had come from Florida the other times, and coming from Kentucky is not quite as bad. Hopefully that'll help. We're looking forward to it. I think we're going to be real competitive in it.”

Double Crown is favored at 9-5 and drew Post 7 in the main body of a field of 12 where fellow multiple stakes winners Jaxon Traveler (7-5) and Whereshetoldmetogo (8-5) join Abuelo Paps and Where Paradise Lay on the also eligible list.

“He's just so consistent and tough. He runs every time. You've got to bring your 'A' game if you're going to beat him. He just does it all right. He goes to the track and he works hard in training. He's just been a great horse to have as part of the stable,” Reeves said. “The Maryland program is a solid program and I think he fits with the upper echelon of horses in that program. I think it'll be a really good race, and we're excited to be coming.”

Feargal Lynch gets the riding assignment from Post 7.

Bred, owned and trained by longtime Maryland horseman Nancy Heil, Karan's Notion sprung a front-running 16-1 upset of last year's Sprint, the first of back-to-back victories for the gelded son of Great Notion, who ranks third all-time among stallions with 16 Maryland Million wins.

Karan's Notion (10-1) in winless in six starts this year, returning from a five-month break to be seventh going 6 ½ furlongs Aug. 27 at Timonium. Following a failed turf experiment Sept. 11 at Laurel, he returned to the dirt and rebounded to be second by three lengths in a similar 5 ½-furlong optional claimer Oct. 1.

“Our first two races [after the break] were not good. He didn't like the turf and then he got the one hole at Timonium and was going to duck in there where you break and he had to take up and he displaced and just trailed the field,” Heil said. “He did have a nice little prep before this race and he's training very well, so I think he's coming in just as good as he did last year.”

Karan's Notion has raced primarily at Laurel, with four wins and five seconds in 12 of his 16 lifetime starts. Regular rider Yomar Ortiz gets the return call from Post 6.

“In training he's done everything right. He couldn't do it any better. I have to throw away the first two races and just go on. In the last race, he was rated a little bit and he got stuck behind some horses, so he couldn't catch the speed at all. But, he did get open late and got second. He's running his heart out,” Heil said. “He likes to run on the front. He likes to be free. My only hope is that he gets free to run and then the best horse wins.”

Louis Ulman and Neil Glasser's Kenny Had a Notion (12-1) was a stakes winner on both turf and dirt as a 2-year-old, capturing the Maryland Million Nursery over stablemate Alwaysinahurry. He won the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid Jan. 16 at Laurel to open 2021 but has struggled with one second and two thirds in six subsequent starts. He was third, a neck behind runner-up Karan's Notion, in the Oct. 1 race at Laurel and his trainer, Dale Capuano, has the most wins in Maryland Million history with 14.

Second choice on the morning line at 2-1 is Smart Angle's Fortheluvofbourbon, a winner of four of seven starts, all at Parx, for trainer Michael Pino since being claimed for $50,000 last May at Churchill Downs. Among the victories was the six-furlong Banjo Picker Sprint Aug. 23, contested over a sloppy and sealed track.

Also entered are Valued Notion and Air Token, respectively first and second in an off-the-turf edition of the five-furlong Ben's Cat June 13 at Pimlico; Whiskey and You, most recently fifth in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Sept. 18; and Band On Tour, a winner of two straight of four of his last five races.

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More than two years after becoming a stakes winner in the 2019 Howard County at Laurel, Runnymoore Racing's 4-year-old gelding So Street goes after an elusive second stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

Bred in Maryland by R. Larry Johnson and trained by Jamie Ness, So Street ran second to Fiya in last year's Turf Sprint when it was reintroduced following a seven-year absence. He has gone winless since, finishing sixth in the 2019 Maryland Million Nursery.

“He's just got bad luck,” trainer Jamie Ness said. “Every time we're in a good spot, it comes off the turf, or he's been right there every time. He's ready but, unfortunately, just hasn't won.”

Sixteen of So Street's 20 career races have come in stakes. He has placed four times since the Howard County, contested at 5 ½ furlongs on the Laurel turf, with a third in the 2019 Atlantic Beach and seconds in the 2020 Tom Ridge, Laurel Dash and Turf Sprint. He has also finished fourth three times, including the Aug. 23 Parx Dash (G3).

“I think he's in a great spot,” Ness said. “We're restricted to Maryland-sired so it's a little easier than all those other stakes I've run him in. He runs just good enough to make me run him back in stakes, but he just can't quite get there. Maybe Saturday is his day. We're hoping. He tries. He really tries.”

Rated at 3-1 on the morning line, So Street will have Jaime Rodriguez aboard from Post 6 in a field of 11 that includes also-eligible Can the Queen, winner of the July 24 Sensible Lady Turf Dash at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Favored at 7-5 in the program is Gordon Keys' homebred Grateful Bred, fourth in last year's Turf Sprint and winner of the 5 ½-furlong Meadow Stable July 19 on the Colonial Downs turf. In his most recent start, the 5-year-old Great Notion gelding was fifth, beaten a length, by Xy Speed in the Oct. 2 Laurel Dash.

Joining the top two returning from last year's Turf Sprint are Godlovesasinner (third), Love You Much (fifth) and Joseph (sixth). Showtime Cat, Sue Loves Barbados, Sky's Not Falling, Rock the Boat and Grand Skylark are also entered.

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