Valued Notion | Horse Racing Free Tips

Corrales Racing LLC's Air Token, claimed more than a year ago by trainer Jose Corrales for $10,000, led every step of the way to win Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint by 2 ¼ lengths over a late-closing Double Crown at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. Valued Notion was third.

Air Token, second earlier in the year in the Ben's Cat and fifth in the Bert Allen, raced second behind the longshot Valued Notion under jockey J.D. Acosta. After Valued Notion set fractions of :22.35 and :44.93, Air Token took over down the stretch before covering the six furlongs in 1:09.63. Corrales couldn't ask for a better trip.

“He doesn't like to be in front,” he said. “He likes to sit behind horses and make the right move.”

“He's always a good breaker from the gate,” Acosta said. “I didn't want to put him on the lead, because he likes to chase horses. I knew there was a lot of speed and you saw how fast they went. The only thing with this horse is, when he starts to make a move he likes to lay into horses. I got beat one time at Pimlico because he was lugging in. When he switched leads I had to make sure that I kept him away from other horses. As soon as we turned for home, he was really aggressive down the stretch.”

The post Air Token Wins Maryland Million Sprint At Laurel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Valued Notion made his stakes debut a memorable one for owner Hillwood Stable LLC and trainer Rodney Jenkins when he led gate-to-wire under jockey Xavier Perez to win the $75,000 Ben's Cat by two lengths over Air Token. Oldies But Goodies checked in third while favored Hemp, who broke slowly, finished fourth.

Valued Notion, a lightly raced 4-year-old gelded son of Great Notion, covered the 5 furlongs in :58.19 over the main track after the races were taken off the turf.

Breaking from post 10, Valued Notion broke out of the gate quickly and was chased from the outside by longshot Xmasinthecity past an opening quarter in :22.22 and a half in :45.47. But entering the stretch, Perez put away Xmasinthecity and held off the remainder of his opponents.

“He was in contention right away. I was just trying to let the 12 [Xmasinthecity] go ahead of me,” Perez said. “I watched a couple of his races and he kind of slowed down at the end. As soon as I put my horse against the bit, he took me to the front and I just cruised. He was doing it so comfortable and I just let him do it himself until we got to the top of the lane.”

Valued Notion, who broke his maiden at third asking in February, followed up that victory with an allowance victory before finishing a tired fourth in his last start April 9.

Bred, owned and trained by Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury, Ben's Cat won 32 of 63 career races, 26 stakes, and more than $2.6 million in purses from 2010 to 2017. A four-time Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, Ben's Cat died July 18, 2017 from complications following colic surgery.

The post Valued Notion Wins Stakes Debut In Ben’s Cat appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post