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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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Cordmaker Continues Quest For MATCH Series Championship

Hillwood Stables' Cordmaker, the leader of his Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships (MATCH) Series division and not without a chance to land the overall championship, is one of 11 horses entered in the $100,000 Richard Small Stakes Saturday, Nov. 27, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 1 1/8-mile Richard Small is the fifth of sixth legs in the 3-Year-Olds and Up Long–Dirt division. The final stakes in the division, the $100,000 Native Dancer at 1 1/16 miles, is set for Dec. 26 at Laurel.

Cordmaker, trained by Rodney Jenkins, is a 10-time winner, and multiple stakes winner, who is approaching $700,000 in career earnings. He has started in all five MATCH division stakes this year and has been following his normal work pattern since his last start in the one-mile Polynesian Stakes at Laurel Sept. 18.

Though Cordmaker crossed the finish line in second, the 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Curlin was disqualified and placed sixth for drifting out at the three-sixteenths pole. It was the first time in seven 2021 starts that he officially finished worse than fourth.

Based at Laurel, Cordmaker has amassed 24 MATCH Series points including 5 bonus points for making his fourth start in the division last time out and will pick up another 2 bonus points with a start in the Richard Small. Regular rider Victor Carrasco is named again.

“He's going into (the race) real well,” Jenkins said. “He's very sharp. When the weather turned cool, he got cool. He likes it. We're going for the MATCH (title). He's ahead right now for the males.”

McElmore Avenue, owned by trainer Mary Eppler and RAM Racing Stable, will make his third divisional start in the Richard Small and will qualify for MATCH Series bonus money. Horacio Karamanos returns aboard the 4-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by El Padrino who finished second to Cordmaker in the Victory Gallop Stakes at Colonial Downs and fourth in the Polynesian.

McElmore Avenue is one of a handful of horses who would qualify for bonus money. He currently has 10 points, one less than Harpers First Ride, but that runner has been on the sidelines for months and isn't expected to compete in the Dec. 26 finale.

Park-based trainer Uriah. St. Lewis has entered a pair in the Richard Small: Forewarned and Informative, both owned by Train-Brook Stable. Forewarned, a 6-year-old Ohio-bred horse by Flat Out, won the 1 1/4-mile Ohio Endurance in his last start for his first victory of 2021. Forewarned has started twice in the MATCH Series division and has 3 points; a start in the Richard Small and the Native Dancer would put him in the mix for bonus money.

The overall leader in the 2021 MATCH Series is Hello Beautiful, who has 27 points and three starts in the Filly and Mare Sprint—Dirt division. Trainer Brittany Russell said the 4-year-old Maryland-bred filly by Golden Lad is being pointed to the Dec. 26 finale—a victory plus 5 bonus points for her fourth start would give her a maximum of 42 points; the minimum she could have depending on finish position would be 33 points.

MATCH Series division bonus money is awarded to the owner and trainer as follows: $20,000/$10,000 for first, $15,000/$7,500 for second, and $7,500/$3,000 for third. In addition, the owner and trainer of the overall points-earner regardless of division will receive $20,000 and $10,000, respectively.

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Miss Leslie Finds Winner’s Circle Again In Thirty Eight Go Go At Laurel

BB Horses' Miss Leslie returned to her multiple stakes-winning form after five straight off-the-board finishes, outrunning long shots Lookin Dynamic and Villanelle to win Saturday's $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 1 1/16-mile Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, was the last of three $100,000 stakes on the card, preceded by the James F. Lewis III for 2-year-olds and Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies.

Miss Leslie ($4) was ridden by jockey Angel Cruz, who escaped injury after being unseated during Saturday's third race. Together they settled near the back of the pack in the early going, trailing all but one horse as Sosua and Grade 1-placed Off Topic raced together through splits of :23.94 and :47.29.

Cruz tipped Miss Leslie off the rail leaving the backstretch and began to roll on the turn, getting into contention after six furlongs went in 1:12.02. They continued on once straightened for home and hit the wire in 1:43.63 over a main track rated good, turning back Lookin Dynamic by a half-length. It was just a head back to Villanelle in third.

Miss Leslie entered the Thirty Eight Go Go off a 5 ¼-length optional claiming allowance win going one mile, 70 yards Oct. 21 at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., with Cruz up. Her previous stakes wins came in the April 23 Weber City Miss April 23 and last December's Anne Arundel County, both going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel.

“I rode her one time so I knew how she does. She breaks a little slow,” Cruz said. “Claudio just told me to wait for a moment to move and that's what I did. I waited, I moved on the outside and she kicked on.”

The Thirty Eight Go Go honors the two-time Maryland-bred champion bred and trained by Hall of Famer King Leatherbury. Eight of her 10 career wins came in stakes including the Grade 2 Gardenia, Grade 3 Tempted, and Maryland Million Lassie in 1987 and three consecutive runnings of the Geisha (1988-90).

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MATCH Series: Off Topic Back For Second Off The Layoff In Saturday’s Thirty Eight Go Go

Before she heads off to the breeding shed at the end of the year, D Hatman Thoroughbreds' Grade 1-placed Off Topic will continue her quest to become a stakes winner in Saturday's $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up, part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series, joins the $100,000 James F. Lewis III for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies on the nine-race program. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Initially purchased for $160,00 as a yearling in 2017, Off Topic raced 13 times for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher with two wins, two seconds and three thirds, most notably finishing third in both the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Gazelle (G2) and fourth in the Alabama (G1) in 2019. In between, she ran fifth in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

As part of the dispersal of late owner Paul Pompa Jr., who passed away last October, Off Topic was sold at Keeneland's Horses of All Ages sale in January, where D Hatman's Matt Dorman paid $575,000 for the 5-year-old daughter of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense and sent him to trainer Phil Schoenthal.

“She was being sold as a racing or broodmare prospect. She had kind of gone off form last year and we felt like maybe there was some opportunities there if she got some time off,” Schoenthal said. “We bought her as a broodmare prospect, really. He's trying to build a broodmare band and she's a great big, huge, beautiful Street Sense filly who's Grade 1 stakes placed. So, we were buying her with the end goal of putting her into the broodmare band.

“We discussed at that time just going ahead and retiring her and getting her bred, but he'd been on a buying spree of building his broodmare band and we had 20 mares in foal,” he added. “He said, 'Look, we've got 20 mares about to have foals, let's go ahead and take her back to the races and see if we can have some fun this year and go ahead and breed her next year.' That was just fine with me, of course.”

Off Topic began working her way back at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. in March and was under consideration for the Allaire du Pont (G3) on the eve of the Preakness Stakes (G1) in mid-May but missed time following a freak training mishap.

“We gave her the winter off and brought her back in the spring, and she was getting ready to run. We were kind of pointing for that race on Preakness weekend with her and were really excited about it,” Schoenthal said. “One day in training she was galloping along, and she's a real strong horse, difficult to gallop, and the rein broke in half. It just snapped right in half while she was galloping. The rider came off and she got loose and ran around the racetrack.

“As luck would have it she tried to make the gap and jumped the fence and scraped her knee all up real bad. It got into the joint so we had to take her off to New Bolton and she had to have surgery and get that all cleaned up,” he added. “That kind of set her back a couple more months. That was really disappointing. It took us a little while to get her over that and get her back to the races.”

Off Topic launched her comeback in the one-mile Twixt Sept. 18 at Laurel, just 16 days shy of one year since her prior start, running seventh. She finished behind Artful Splatter (second), Josie (third), Miss Leslie (fourth) and Lookin Dynamic (sixth) and ahead of Villanelle (eighth) – all of whom return in the Thirty Eight Go Go.

“We were hoping to run her in a two-other than and we just couldn't get one to go. I probably entered her four or five times looking for two-other-thans on the dirt all over the East Coast going long and just didn't have much luck getting her in,” Schoenthal said. “Talking to the owner we decided she's going to go be a broodmare. The goal with her is not to win a $50,000 two-other-than pot. We're trying to enhance her resume a little bit and add some more black type or maybe make her a stakes winner. So we said lets go ahead and put her in these stakes and see if we get lucky.

“She's a great big, huge filly who's a long-striding, grind it out kind of filly. A mile and an eighth, a mile and a quarter is really what she wants, as evidenced by her grade 1 placing at Saratoga going long. We knew that the one-turn mile was not going to be in her favor,” he added. “She was closer to the pace than I expected and then at the quarter pole I think she just got tired and backed out of the fight. I didn't think it was a bad race for the first one back in a long time. She's come back since then and she's breezed three or four times and is training really well. We're really pleased with her and I'm expecting her to move forward and run a better race now.”

Off Topic drew Post 4 under jockey Victor Carrasco and is the longest shot on the morning line in a field of nine at 30-1. Pending the result, she may have one more start in the $100,000 Carousel Dec. 26 at Laurel, the finale in the MATCH Series fillies and mares 3 and up long dirt division.

“Obviously she's a long way removed from her better form and there's some question as to whether she still has it or if she even wants to do it,” Schoenthal said. “I am hopeful. She is one of the nicest horses I've ever been around. She's just as classy as they come. Really more so for her sake, I hope she runs well just because I have such a high opinion of her that I want everybody else to see it, too.

“There's that race in the series next month going a mile and an eighth so I'm hoping to use this race and then run her in that spot at a distance I know she's going to relish,” he added. “After that, I'm sure she'll be retired and off to the breeding shed. I think we have her penciled in to get bred to Charlatan this year. Let's put her on the right track and give her a shot.”

Josie, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, is the 9-5 program favorite. Winner of the Iowa Distaff July 3 at Prairie Meadows, she was beaten less than a length in the Twixt, her most recent start.

Multiple stakes winner Artful Splatter came up a head short of Dreamalildreamofyou after setting the pace in the Twixt, and is back on the dirt after running seventh in the Maryland Million Ladies Oct. 23.

Completing the field are fellow stakes winners Trolley Ride, third in the 2019 Thirty Eight Go Go for trainer Bernie Houghton, and Miss Leslie, along with Scatrattleandroll, Sosua and Villanelle.

The Thirty Eight Go Go honors the two-time Maryland-bred champion bred and trained by Hall of Famer King Leatherbury. Eight of her 10 career wins came in stakes including the Gardenia (G2), Tempted (G3) and Maryland Million Lassie in 1987 and three consecutive runnings of the Geisha (1988-90).

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