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VIDEO: Salter, Tullock Handicap Key Maryland Million Races

The 35th edition of the Jim McKay Maryland Million Saturday at Laurel Park will feature eight stakes and four starter stakes that have drawn competitive fields for 'Maryland's Day at the Races.'

Created in 1986, Maryland Million Day celebrates progeny of stallions standings in the state. The groundbreaking concept has spawned copycat events across North America. Saturday's 12-race program drew 130 entries.

Maryland Jockey Club hosts and analysts Stanton Salter and Tim Tullock take a look at three key races on Saturday's program: the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic, the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf, and the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff.

While capacity is limited at Laurel Park due to safety protocols, fans can watch and wager on all the races at https://1st.com/bet/

First race post is 11:25 a.m.

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‘He Gives It His All Every Time’: Lewisfield Making Third Consecutive Trip To Maryland Million Sprint

Making just his third start of the year and first in two months, Linda Zang's multiple stakes-winning homebred Lewisfield returns in time for his third consecutive trip to the Maryland Million in Saturday's $100,000 Sprint at Laurel Park.

The six-furlong Sprint for 3-year-olds and up is among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 35th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.

Carded as Race 10, the Sprint immediately precedes the featured $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up. First race post time is 11:25 a.m.

A gelded 6-year-old son of Great Notion, the Maryland Million's leading active sire with 13 career winners, Lewisfield won the Sprint in 2018 and was third last year during a campaign where he was named the champion Maryland-bred sprinter, bookending his season with stakes victories at Laurel in the Not For Love and Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial.

Both stakes wins came at the Sprint's six furlongs, where Lewisfield owns a record of 7-4-5 from 19 tries. Finishing first or second Saturday would put him over $500,000 in lifetime earnings.

“He definitely likes the track and that's the distance he likes,” trainer Jeff Runco said. “We had a nice workout the other day with him and he's been training well since, so we're going to get him ready for Saturday. Hopefully, he'll do well. I think he'll be fine.”

Lewisfield is named for an Arabian breeding operation owned by Zang's late father-in-law. Her husband, James F. Lewis III, was a mainstay on the Maryland racing scene as an owner-breeder and first president of Maryland Million Ltd., and has had a stakes race for 2-year-olds run in his honor since his death in May 2012.

Like many horses, Lewisfield's 2020 season was compromised amid the coronavirus pandemic that put racing on hold across the country including Maryland and Runco's base at Charles Town. Lewisfield didn't debut until July 4 at Laurel, finishing fourth in a six-furlong optional claimer, beaten less than three lengths off a seven-month layoff.

In his most recent race, Lewisfield was in striking position for a half-mile in the seven-furlong Russell Road Aug. 28 at Charles Town before fading in the final eighth to run last of nine. He didn't return to the work tab until Oct. 1, and fired a bullet half-mile in 48 seconds Oct. 15 for the Sprint.

“He wasn't able to race. He was in training the whole time,” Runco said. “There's a lot of horses out there like this, who were ready to run but with no place to run so you train them and train them and train them. It's really not good for the horses because they need to race when they're ready to run.

“The shutdown was tough on him,” he added. “He lost a lot of time this year being in training and everything closed down. It's a shame, but it is what it is. We'll see how he does. We'll try this and I think after this I want to give him a chance on the grass, hopefully this year.”

Lewisfield has won four career stakes and placed in 10 others through 25 starts, including thirds in the 2018 and 2019 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico Race Course. Horacio Karamanos is named to ride from Post 7 for Runco, a winner of more than 4,300 career races.

“He's just been great. He's a great horse. He's been a fun horse to have,” Runco said. “We've been able to travel with him. He always tries. He's had a couple of rough trips here and there but that's how racing is. He gives it his all every time. Hopefully we'll have a good trip on Saturday and we'll see how it goes.”

Also making his third straight trip to the Sprint, but first for trainer Jerry O'Dwyer, is Clover Hill Farm and Clover Hill Racing's Onemoregreattime. Another son of Great Notion, the 5-year-old gelding finished fourth in 2018 and sixth last year for previous trainer Jerry Robb.

Onemoregreattime was beaten a head after setting the pace in a six-furlong optional claimer July 4 at Laurel, his debut for O'Dwyer and first race following the 2 ½-month coronavirus pause. He has finished off the board in three subsequent starts, most recently running fifth in the Polynesian Stakes Sept. 5.

“We're very happy with him. We think he runs best fresh, so we haven't run him for a while. We just decided to back off him and aim him for this race,” O'Dwyer said. “This is our primary goal, so that's why he hasn't run in a while. But he's a very active horse, he hasn't missed a beat in training, he breezes good every week. We just did a nice maintenance half-mile last week, he's very fit. We just wanted to keep him fresh and happy going into the race.”

In his recent races, Onemoregreattime has run up against such horses as multiple stakes winner Laki, who parlayed a runner-up effort in the Polynesian to victory in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Oct. 3, and Polynesian winner Eastern Bay, who is the first of five Maryland-bred also-eligibles in the Sprint.

“He's always knocking heads with the best of them around here, and he's always right there. He'll get his turn,” O'Dwyer said. “Hopefully this year this could be his year. We hope it can be. I'm very happy with how he is. He can't be in any better form. I think we finally figured out that he just likes to run fresh so we're going to try to keep him that way. He's run some very good numbers and he's never disgraced.”

Jevian Toledo has the call from Post 3.

Maryland's leading trainer the past three years, Claudio Gonzalez entered both Eastern Bay and Maryland-sired Baptize the Boy, a son of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox that drew Post 2. Magic Stable's Baptize the Boy has been third or better in seven of nine starts this year with two wins, racing primarily at Parx.

Robert D. Bone's Eastern Bay, claimed for $35,000 in February, would need at least two scratches from the main body of the field to draw into the race. Following the Polynesian, he came up a nose short of Laki following a dramatic late run in the De Francis.

“He ran so big the last time. He didn't break that sharp and it was a little too much for him to do. If he was a little closer to the group, maybe we catch him, but that's racing,” Gonzalez said. “He likes what we do with him. He's a classy horse. He doesn't need too much. We try to keep him happy and he shows you he is in the afternoon.”

Also in the main body of the race are Whiskey and You; recent Parx allowance winner Brilliant Chase; Seany P; stakes-placed Hall Pass, fourth in last year's Sprint; Karan's Notion, For the Moment and Let's Play Nine, a winner of three of four career starts but unraced since March 13.

Grade 3-placed stakes winner Whereshetoldmetogo, Abuelo Paps, defending Sprint champion Taco Supream and Girls Love Me join Eastern Bay on the also-eligible list.

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Distance, Ground Should Benefit Mr. D’Angelo In Repeat Bid For Maryland Million Turf Victory

More than 12 months after springing a 17-1 upset in the only other stakes attempt on his resume, Kevin P. Morgan's homebred Mr. d'Angelo is one of the main contenders as he returns to defend his title in Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Turf at Laurel Park.

Extended another furlong to 1 1/8 miles from 2019, the Turf for 3-year-olds and up is among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 35th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, 'Maryland's Day at the Races' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.

A total of five races are scheduled for Laurel's world-class turf course, set to be contested over the Bowl Game and Exceller layouts. First race post time is 11:25 a.m.

Like many horses this year, Mr. d'Angelo got a belated start to his 2020 campaign in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. He has gone winless in just three starts, but has shown a steady improvement in each one at distances from 1 1/8 to 1 1/16 to one mile.

“We've been kind of pointing this way pretty much all year. He appears to be doing very well at the moment,” trainer Tim Woolley said. “He was a little bit unlucky in his last race. He probably should have won his last race but he's back together and the added distance of a mile an eighth this year is going to help, as well. We're kind of excited and he seems to be coming into the race in really good shape.”

A gelded 4-year-old son of late stallion and Australian Group 1 winner Seville, Mr. d'Angelo exits an open one-mile allowance at Laurel Sept. 17 where he found himself in his customary trailing position for a half-mile before launching a determined bid that saw him fall a neck shy of King's Honor.

“He's just one of those horses that when you have to come from way off the pace, which seems like his style, there's always going to be complications in running. That's just the way his style is. He just likes to come from way out of it and we don't try to change things up, we just hope that everything falls into place,” Woolley said. “That last race he probably should have won, he was just a little bit unlucky again. The horse that beat him kind of drifted out into his path a little bit and we kind of just lost that edge. Also, the last race was only a mile and I think he'll really like the mile and an eighth distance this time around.”

Mr. d'Angelo employed a similar strategy to win last year's Turf by 1 ¾ lengths, then went unraced until returning in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance July 18 at Laurel, running third by 2 ¼ lengths. Next out he was fourth, beaten less than a length, in an open 1 1/16-mile allowance, his first of two straight races over a turf course rated good.

Also returning for this year's Turf are Somekindofmagician and Pretty Good Year, respectively second and third at 32-1 and 21-1 in 2019; Cannon's Roar, Taxable Goods and No Bull Addiction.

“There's a few of the horses that he raced against last year in the race again, and they are probably a bit more accomplished in some of the regular races but he's certainly going to be one of the main challengers again this year,” Woolley said. “I think the mile and an eighth suits him and the turf having a little bit of softness in it is going to take the starch out of some of these horses where I think he really just likes that. He'll like the distance and he'll handle any turf course we give him.”

Jevian Toledo, up for the last four starts including last year's Turf, rides back from Post 4 in a field of 12 plus also-eligibles Dundalk and Maryland-bred Hanalei's Houdini.

Bell Gable Stable's Somekindofmagician has yet to win a race in 2020, but has three seconds and two thirds from seven starts for trainer Jamie Ness. A six-length winner running for a $25,000 claiming tag Aug. 19 at Parx, the 6-year-old Street Magician gelding has run third in a pair of optional claiming allowances since, one rained off the turf.

Lead Off Stable's Pretty Good Year has had a similar hard-luck season in seven starts with one win, one second and two thirds. He was beaten a half-length when runner-up to Confessor Sept. 7 then ran third behind Super John Sept. 26, both optional claiming allowance events at Delaware Park.

Taking Risks Stable's Cannon's Roar comes into the Turf in top form with three consecutive wins including a dead-heat triumph with Nick Papagiorgio last out, a second-level optional claiming allowance going 1 1/8 miles over the Pimlico Race Course turf Sept. 25. Prior to that, he won back-to-back allowance at Laurel going one and 1 1/16 miles.

Cannon's Roar, a gelded 6-year-old son of Orientate, got his usual winter break before coming back but was unable to get started until June 6 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Jorge Ruiz has the return call from outside Post 12.

“He's come back and had a good year so far. We always turn him out during the winter because he's much better on the grass. He's just come back and done well,” trainer Dale Capuano said. Capuano is the leading trainer in Maryland Million history with 11 wins among his 3,504 career victories.

“He's been pretty versatile. He can go to the front or lay off the pace, it doesn't really matter. It depends on the pace of the race, obviously, but he's pretty versatile that way,” Capuano said. “He's just been doing well so hopefully he has good luck in the race. Last year he clipped heels and almost went down, so hopefully we get good racing luck this year. He didn't get beat by much last year despite that so, hopefully, with some luck he should be OK.”

Rounding out the field are Benny Havens, Nick Papgiorgio, Rising Perry, Seville Barber, Seville Row and Tommy Shelby.

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Hello Beautiful Moving Forward Into Maryland Million Distaff

After having her coming out party during last year's Maryland Million, Hello Beautiful returns for this year's $100,000 Distaff Saturday at Laurel Park in what her connections hope becomes a welcome back celebration.

The seven-furlong Distaff for fillies and mares 3 and older is among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 35th 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 11:25 a.m.

Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful was a popular 3 ¾-length winner of the Maryland Million Lassie last October in her fifth career start, which served a prelude to her 11 ¾-length romp in the Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship to close her 2-year-old season.

“We'd love to see her run the same way she did last year,” trainer Brittany Russell said.

Some planned time off turned into an extended vacation for Hello Beautiful amid the coronavirus pandemic which pushed her 2020 debut to June 1 in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint at Laurel, where she finished seventh. She rebounded with a front-running 8 ¼-length open allowance score June 20, also at Laurel, both under the trainer's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell.

“She's been great. She's been moving forward since we got her home,” Brittany Russell said. “She's put in a couple of really nice works. We're just hoping we can get her back on track. We've got her home with Sheldon back up, and hopefully she can run a good race and we can figure out how we're going to move forward from there.”

After giving some consideration to the Test (G1) at Saratoga, Hello Beautiful was redirected to the seven-furlong Audubon Oaks Aug. 9 at Ellis Park but lost all chance after getting wiped out exiting the starting gate and never getting into contention behind Mundaye Call's track record-setting performance.

Hello Beautiful wound up at Saratoga for the six-furlong Prioress (G2) Sept. 5, setting a blistering pace pressed by eventual winner Frank's Rockette before tiring to be sixth. Both races came without Sheldon Russell, who missed two months with a fractured wrist and will climb back aboard Saturday from Post 6.

“She ran against some serious racehorses in those two races and things didn't go our way, but that's racing,” Brittany Russell said. “I think if we can keep her home and get her back on a racetrack that we know she likes and walk her out of her stall and just see if we can get her back on track or at least running well, I think that's the main thing right now.

“We asked her to do a couple things and it didn't work out,” she added. “Hopefully, no excuses on Saturday and we can get a good effort. There's a lot of positives going into it.”

Among the competition for Hello Beautiful are a quartet of fellow multiple stakes winners in Artful Splatter, Las Setas, Limited View and Never Enough Time, the latter a Maryand-bred who is second on a list of four-also eligibles.

Chanceland Farm and Wayne Harrison's Las Setas swept the Wide Country, Beyond the Wire and Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies last winter and spring at Laurel for trainer Katy Voss, her co-owner/breeder. Off the board in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and Politely seven months apart to cap 2019, she has raced just once in 2020 finishing fourth in an off-the-turf optional claiming allowance Sept. 19.

Limited View, like Hello Beautiful, is a past winner of the Maryland Million Lassie, her victory coming in 2017. Co-owned by John Salzman Jr. and Fred Wasserloos and trained by Salzman, the 5-year-old Freedom Child mare has won two of her last three starts sprinting 6 ½ and six furlongs at Laurel, where she owns all nine of her career wins.

James C. Wolf's Artful Splatter beat 11-time stakes winner Anna's Bandit by a half-length in the one-mile Geisha Stakes Jan. 18 and won one of her next two starts before the coronavirus shutdown. She needed four starts to break through once racing returned but has won two of her last three races, running second in the Twixt Stakes Sept. 5 at Laurel and romping by 10 ¼ lengths in the Sept. 26 George Rosenberger Memorial in the Delaware Park slop, both going 1 1/16 miles.

“She does love the slop,” trainer Kieron Magee said. “She absolutely annihilated them that day. Alex rode her great. He went slow the first half in 49 [seconds] and after they went the half he just opened up on them and broke their hearts. It was over. They tried to catch her and they were done. She was so impressive. That was unbelievable, watching that race.

“There's some speed in the race so I don't think we'll have the lead. I worked her [the other day] behind a horse and she went by the last part of it. She's sat off the pace before. It's obviously not her favorite way to do it, but she can do that,” he added.

Alex Cintron, up in the Delaware stake, gets the return call from Post 5.

Making just her fifth career start and first in a stakes will be Coconut Cake, who takes a three-race win streak into the Distaff for NRS Stable, James Chambers and trainer Tim Keefe's Avalon Farm. By 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox, Coconut Cake has impressed Keefe with her combination of talent and determination, having won her races by less than two lengths combined.

“She had always done what we asked her to do in the morning. I really wasn't sure how good she was going to be, but I thought she was going to be decent,” Keefe said. “To go out and watch her run, obviously she's got the ability but she's also got that desire which some horses have and some don't. You can't train that in a horse. The horse has to come with that, and she has that desire to really want to get there first.”

Kevin Gomez will be back aboard for the third straight race, breaking from outside Post 10.

After going winless in four 2019 starts, Harry Kassap's homebred Quiet Imagination has put together a solid 3-year-old campaign with two wins, three seconds and a third from eight races. Most recently, the 3-year-old daughter of Imagining rallied on the inside to be third in the six-furlong Tax Free Distaff Sept. 26 at Delaware, missing second by a head.

“She's an Imagining filly that's been very competitive and very productive all year. She deserves a shot again on the big day. The race on paper looks like it's going to be extremely competitive but she's one that's just been ultra competitive all year,” trainer Tim Woolley said.

Quiet Imagination was second in her only other try at seven furlongs. Woolley will also saddle defending champion Mr. d'Angelo in the $100,000 Maryland Million Turf.

“She's going to like the added distance. We've been trying to get her to stretch out longer than six furlongs,” Woolley said. “We're going to be there to enjoy the day and show off the horses.”

Completing the field are Bunting, Gifted Heart, Le Weekend and She'smysunshine. Joining Never Enough Time on the Maryland-bred also-eligible list are Grade 3 winner Project Whiskey, Tax Free Distaff runner-up Dancer's Melody and S W Briar Rose.

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