Bryan Minnich's homebred gelding King's River, taking advantage of a class drop to graduate in dominant fashion last time out, will step back up into stakes company for the first time in Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Million Nursery at Laurel Park.
The Nursery for 2-year-olds and $100,000 Lassie for 2-year-old fillies, both sprinting six furlongs, are among eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 38th 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.
By millionaire Irish War Cry, whose three graded-stakes wins included the historic Pimlico Special (G3) in 2018, King's River was one of eight juveniles in for a $20,000 tag Sept. 29 on opening day of Laurel's fall meet. He had finished off the board in each of his first two races, the first in a waiver maiden claimer and the second in a $50,000 claimer on the grass at Colonial Downs.
“We felt we needed to make that move because he'd been struggling a little bit and we thought it would be something to give him a little confidence. I don't know if it gave him that much confidence, but we're going to find out. It was definitely the race I was looking for,” trainer Linda Albert said. “We'll see how it looks when we go to the big leagues this time.”
Breaking from the rail, King's River quickly recovered after being bumped at the start to assume an early lead and go on to a front-running 13-length triumph while pulling away despite being green under a hand ride from jockey Forest Boyce. The performance convinced the connections to take a shot in the Nursery, which Albert won in 2007 with Regal Solo, who would return to win the Classic in 2010.
“After the race we were sitting there saying that the race is coming right up. You do only get one crack at it with a 2-year-old. It's right here and it is one of my favorite days, so we'll give it a try,” Albert said. “He's doing great.”
King's River gets Boyce and the rail again in a full field of 14 that includes Maryland-bred also-eligibles Call Me Andy and It's My Rainbow.
“It's not ideal [but] it's where he was last time. It's going to kind of force his hand to be up close like that but, hopefully, he learned a little something last time,” Albert said. “That was the trouble in his other two races. He wasn't learning much, but we're going to give him a chance. We're glad to have Forest back. She's got the hot hand right now.”
Four horses – Bigdaddysboy, Blame the Tux, Point Pelee and Full Proof – enter the Nursery off victories. No Guts No Glory Farm's homebred Bigdaddysboy, a popular three-length debut winner Sept. 1 at Timonium, is one of three horses trained by John Robb, who won the Nursery in 1993 with Run Alden and 2011 with Glib.
Maryland's leading trainer, Brittany Russell, is represented by Karmac Stable homebred Prado Road. The gelded son of Golden Rod was beaten a neck in his lone start, a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight over a wet-fast track Sept. 30 at Delaware Park.
Rolling Meadows Farm's homebred maiden Summerstateofmind was second, beaten 2 ¼ lengths by Robb-trained Nursery entrant Dance for Green Aug. 6 at Laurel, and ran fourth in a six-furlong maiden special weight Sept. 15 at historic Pimlico Race Course. Trainer Tim Keefe is seeking his first win in the Nursery.
“I almost won it with a maiden a few years back [Dancing With Maude in 2016]. People thought I was crazy but I knew the horse belonged. He came flying and finished second,” Keefe said. “Obviously [Summerstateofmind] is still a maiden, but it doesn't matter. He's run well. His last race was good. He was beaten by a bunch of [well-bred] horses so we decided we'd give it a shot and see where we are with him.”
Catahoula Moon, Kohler's, Street Tough and Speedyness complete the field.
The post ‘You Do Only Get One Crack At It’: Homebred King’s River Steps Up For Maryland Million Nursery appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
