willa on the move | Horse Racing Free Tips

Though her career has been one with far more successes than failures, Hello Beautiful has also shown a resilience to match her talent. Trainer Brittany Russell will be hoping for more of the same from the history-making filly when she caps her 4-year-old season in the $100,000 Willa On the Move Dec. 26 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful had a three-race win streak snapped when she finished last of five as the favorite in the six-furlong Politely Nov. 26 at Laurel. Russell said the Golden Lad filly came back well, if agitated, from the performance.

“She was very unhappy after the race, in a just [ticked] off kind of way. She knew that it wasn't supposed to go like that,” Russell said. “When I went back to check on her, it wasn't her normal munching her hay. It was like, 'Get away from me.' The important thing is she's doing well, and she's still Hello Beautiful.

“She's been fine. She really only ran about a quarter of a mile, if you really look at how it went down,” she added. “She came back no worse for the wear. She's doing fine, and she's trained well since.”

Prior to the Politely, Hello Beautiful was a front-running winner of the Alma North at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., and the Weather Vane and Maryland Million Distaff to put her career win total at 10, eight of them in stakes. She is one of only seven horses in event history with three Maryland Million victories.

Hello Beautiful broke from the rail and found herself atypically behind horses in the Politely, outrun to the lead by Princess Kokachin, another speedy type that drew the post just outside the favorite. Jockey Jevian Toledo opted to drop back and then make a run that never materialized.

“I probably should have been a little more clear with Toledo to just kind of stay on that filly. We know our filly. She was a step slow that day, but you've got to go. You've got to go with her,” Russell said. “They were moving, they were going quick, but that's our game, too. When she kind of got checked out of there, it was over.”

Toledo climbs back aboard for the fourth straight race in place of Russell's husband, injured jockey Sheldon Russell, and they drew Post 6 in a field of eight at 124 pounds, a topweight she shares with Call On Mischief and Jakarta.

“You can look at it all different ways, but had our filly drawn outside that filly that day, it might have been a different outcome, too. It's fine. It happens,” Russell said. “You better learn how to lose races, because we lose a lot more than we win. Just be a good loser and hopefully, she bounces back next time.”

Eric Rizer's homebred Princess Kokachin will break inside Hello Beautiful from Post 3 under regular rider Xavier Perez, looking to extend her win streak to six races. The Politely marked the stakes debut for the Jerry Robb-trained 3-year-old Graydar filly, with all of those victories coming against older horses. She set testing fractions of :21.98 and :45.12 before finishing up in 1:11.22 to win by 5 ½ lengths.

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Beaten in the Alma North and May 15 Skipat, also at Pimlico, in two previous trips to Maryland this year, Down Neck Stables' Call On Mischief is set to make her Laurel debut. She prevailed by a half-length after a prolonged drive to win the six-furlong Mahoning Distaff Nov. 22, and was most recently second in the Garland of Roses Dec. 11 over a sloppy surface at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya captured last year's Willa On the Move to cap her 3-year-old campaign on a five-race win streak. Winless in her first four starts to open 2021, she went three months between the Grade 3 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Feb. 20 and Skipat, and returned to the winner's circle with a popular 6 ¼-length optional claiming allowance triumph in front-running fashion sprinting six furlongs Nov. 5 at Laurel.

Also entered are Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta, a stakes winner making her first start for trainer Mike Trombetta and first dirt start since running fourth in the June 2020 G3 Vagrancy at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.; Kaylasaurus, racing first off the claim for Penn National-based trainer Tim Kreiser; Kentucky shipper Miss Mosiac; and multiple stakes-placed Paisley Singing.

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Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, unraced since finishing sixth in defense of last fall's Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash victory, is set to return for his 39th career start in the $100,000 Dave's Friend Dec. 26 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

The 18th running of the Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up and 11th renewal of the Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 years old and up, both sprinting six furlongs, are among six $100,000 stakes on a nine-race Christmastide Day program.

In addition to Dave's Friend and Willa On the Move, the Robert T. Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up at about 1 1/16 miles and the 1 1/8-mile Carousel for fillies and mares 3 and older close out the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series in their respective divisions.

Laki broke outwardly and was never able to get into contention in the six-furlong De Francis Sept. 18 at Laurel, winding up well behind first-place finisher Wondrwherecraigis, who would be disqualified to second for interference but go on to win the G3 Bold Ruler in his subsequent start.

The 8-year-old Cuba gelding was given plenty of time to recover by trainer Damon Dilodovico, not returning to the work tab until Nov. 21. His last two breezes have come since Laurel's main track underwent renovations in early December.

“I'm glad we were able to get a second breeze on the new surface. I think that will help,” Dilodovico said. “Maybe that will work out as an advantage for those of us that are stabled here.

“He seems ready. We gave him a little break after the Dash, which he always seems to come back well from. We're pretty happy with where he is right now,” he added. “He earned the time off. He's a warrior.”

Laki is 11-for-38 lifetime, including 19 for 24 in the top three at Laurel, with $833,162 in purse earnings. He has won at least one stakes race five straight years, a streak he extended in the Frank Y. Whiteley going six furlongs April 24 at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md. He also leads MATCH dirt sprinters with 21 points and will clinch a third straight division title following 2018 and 2019. The Series was shelved in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We may race him next year but I think we'll decide after this. We do plan on giving him another real winter break after this race and we'll see how he is afterward,” Dilodovico said. “[Owner Paul 'Buck'] Kalinowski will hopefully have a spot and can take him back home. He's rehabbed very well at his farm up in Connecticut.

“He's done a good job with him. Hopefully, he can take him up there and keep an eye on him and send us back a fresh old man,” he added. “That said, we won't [push] him. He's done his job. If he decides he wants to stop, we'll stop. But we are going into the season with at least the thought that we'll bring him back.”

Regular rider Horacio Karamanos has the call on Laki from the rail in a field of eight.

Sharing topweight of 124 pounds with Laki is Madaket Stables, Ten Strike Racing, Michael Kisber, and BTR Racing, Inc.'s Whereshetoldmetogo, a fellow multiple stakes winner that enters the Dave's Friend on a two-race win streak. Both victories, in the six-furlong New Castle Sept. 25 at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., and seven-furlong Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses Nov. 26 at Laurel, came by a neck.

“The last time he was kind of forced to go wide, and it's nice to kind of see him overcome some things, regardless of what the outcome is,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “In terms of how he gets the job done, he just gets it done. I think that's the main thing. He still wants to do it. He likes racing.”

A 6-year-old El Padrino gelding, Whereshetoldmetogo has won 13 of 31 career starts with $744,791 in purse earnings, and has six wins in eight tries at Laurel. Other wins this year have come in the Not For Love at Laurel and Alapocas Run at Delaware, along with a third in the Challedon at Pimlico.

“He's great. We always thought he was doing well when he was over at Pimlico, but he's a different horse over at Laurel when he trains. He's just happier,” Russell said. “Something about it, I don't know, back in the barn, just how he is on the racetrack and everything. Obviously, he shows he loves it in the afternoon. We're happy that [this] one is at Laurel and he's at home.”

Jevian Toledo, Maryland's leading rider at both the fall meet and overall for 2021, will be aboard for the third straight race from Post 4.

The Dave's Friend also attracted Karan's Notion and Air Token, respective upset winners of the 2020 and 2021 Maryland Million Sprint. Bred, owned, and trained by Nancy Heil, Karan's Notion is winless in eight starts this year including a runner-up finish to Whereshetoldmetogo in the Not For Love.

Air Token won the Oct. 23 Sprint by 2 ¼ lengths for owner-trainer Jose Corrales, then came back with a gutsy effort between Whereshetoldmetogo and Youngest of Five in the stretch to finish third by a neck in the Bender.

“Racing is a competition and you need a little bit of luck. The horse ran a big race and came back good and that's how you take it in this business. You're not always going to win,” Corrales said. “He's a horse that just keeps improving. He's a very consistent horse. He's a very nice horse and I'm happy to have him. He's a pleasure to have. He's got a great personality.”

Threes Over Deuces, promoted winner of last year's New Castle who ran third by a neck this fall; multiple West Virginia-bred stakes winner Penguin Power; Youngest of Five; and Newbomb complete the field.

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