irst of Two $75,000 Turf Stakes on Closing Day Program Sunday
10 Races Friday to Launch Final Weekend of Laurel’s Summer Meet
BALTIMORE – Cut From Class, stubborn in defeat to near-millionaire and two-time graded winner Sparkle Blue in an unplanned stakes debut last month, faces no such rival when she attempts to restart her win streak in Sunday’s $75,000 All Brandy at Laurel Park.
The 52nd running of the All Brandy for fillies and mares 3 and older co-headlines a 13-race summer meet closing day program with the $75,000 Find for 3-year-olds and up, also restricted to Maryland-bred/sired horses and scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Owned and trained by the father-daughter team of Steven and Caitlin Keil, Cut From Class was sent off at odds of 12-1 despite having won three consecutive races heading into the 1 1/8-mile Big Dreyfus July 21 at Laurel, where she led to the top of the stretch and dueled with Sparkle Blue before grudgingly giving way late to be second by a half-length.
Sparkle Blue, trained by Graham Motion, has won five stakes including last year’s Big Dreyfus and the March 9 Hillsborough (G2) and 2022 Valley View, and was third in the 2022 American Oaks (G1) with $957,988 in purse earnings.
“If it took that kind of horse to beat her, then I was feeling pretty good about that,” Caitlin Keil said. “I’ve been excited for this race. Honestly this is the first stakes race I had really planned on for her. The three-other-than didn’t go last month so we went into that open filly and mare stakes. I actually feel a little better that this is restricted, but as we know it’s a horse race and anything can happen. I do like keeping it here local with other Maryland-breds.”
A fall 2020 yearling by Blame, Cut From Class did not make it to the races until her 4-year-old season, winning second time out last June in a five-furlong turf sprint at historic Pimlico Race Course. Nine races followed including three straight over the winter at Penn National before she visited the winner’s circle again with a front-running eight-length allowance triumph sprinting seven furlongs on the main track April 11 at Charles Town.
“She wasn’t really due for a complete layoff over the winter, so I decided to give her a shot up at Penn National. The dirt is a little bit more shallow there as opposed to Laurel’s deep sand,” Keil said. “I decided we’ll give her one shot up there and see how she does, take her home for a little break on the farm. She ran third up there and my dad said, ‘Let’s still take her to the farm but let’s train her off the farm a little bit.’
“My dad kind of took the reins for just a little bit. Farm training’s hard. You’ve got to work with snow and weather and some days it’s slick and some days it’s frozen,” she added. “That was just kind of keeping her going through the winter, and the plan was always to come right back to turf when it came back around.”
Following her romp at Pimlico, which came over a muddy and sealed track, Cut From Class was back on the grass for a second-level optional claiming allowance going 1 1/16 miles June 9 at Laurel, settling just off the lead before getting up to win by a half-length.
“That restricted allowance early in the spring they weren’t writing for the turf, so I didn’t really have a choice. I waited for the races to come back to Pimlico because I felt like she might prefer that dirt track over Laurel,” Keil said. “It wasn’t too long of a wait, and that day we got really lucky. We got just enough rain that they sealed and packed that track, and it wasn’t real muddy yet but it wasn’t harrowed.
“That really worked in her favor I think that day,” she added. “With that under her belt, she got some confidence at Charles Town and then she got to come back to her home track and got lucky with that sealed track. The first chance I could I put her back on the turf because we knew that’s where she’d thrive.”
The 27-year-old Keil of Manchester, Md., who won her first career race as an owner-trainer with Fainor’s Filets March 9 at Laurel, and her father purchased both Cut From Class and fellow 5-year-old mare Catch the Kitten from Fasig-Tipton’s October 2020 sale in Timonium. Cut From Class owns four wins and nearly $156,000 in purses earned while Catch the Kitten, purchased for $20,000, is a three-time winner approaching a six-figure bankroll.
Cut From Class drew outermost Post 13 in a field that includes two main-track-only entrants, Bella Bettina and Malibu Beauty.
“We’ve had these mares for about four years. It took me a little while to get them going and get there with them, but it’s paid off,” Keil said. “The hard work pays off. My dad’s been there with me the whole time, of course. He’s my words of wisdom.”
Jean Mahoney’s 4-year-old filly Gold Digging Broad finished second by a nose at odds of 21-1 in last year’s All Brandy but was promoted to the win following the disqualification of Downtown Katie for interference. She is joined this year by Miguel Vera-trained stablemate Circle Home, bred and owned by Dark Hollow Farm.
Gold Digging Broad began her campaign with a front-running 3 ¼-length allowance victory over a sloppy and sealed Laurel main track Jan. 6 going 1 1/16 miles and is winless in three subsequent starts, all on the grass, most recently running fourth by three lengths in a one-mile spot July 19 at Colonial Downs.
“She’s training amazing. She’s doing great, better than last year, so I said I might as well give her a shot in the stake. There’s not many left for the Maryland-breds and she’s been doing good so why not,” Vera said. “She faced open company at the beginning of the year and she won easy. I think that she fits in the race.”
While Gold Digging Broad does her best running on or near the lead, Circle Home is a closer that is looking for her first stakes win in her fourth try. In her most recent start the 5-year-old Bodemeister mare was sixth, beaten 2 ¼ lengths, in the six-furlong Jameela July 14 on the Laurel turf.
“The race was too short for her,” Vera said. “She’s a closer and last time out when she got to running the race was almost over. She didn’t get beat very far. She’s been training amazing, too, and she’s going to be more than OK in there.”
Shamrock Farm homebred Thegirlfromireland went off as the favorite in last year’s All Brandy, finished third by less than a length but was put up to second via disqualification. She didn’t race again until finishing well back of Motion-trained stablemate Sun Bee in a one-mile optional claiming allowance May 17 at Pimlico then returned with a half-length restricted allowance victory going 1 1/8 miles June 1 at Laurel.
Also entered are the Mike Trombetta-trained pair of Lifelovenlaughter and multiple stakes-placed Naval Empire; One Silk Stocking, fifth by two lengths in the Jameela and fourth by 1 ¼ lengths in the 2023 Megahertz (G3) at Santa Anita; last out winners Atlas Strong and Next Episode; Juniper Juice and My Brazilian Girl.
Bred by John Manfuso Sr., former owner of the Maryland Jockey Club, All Brandy was named Maryland’s champion 3-year-old filly of 1962 and would go on to win three stakes in 1963 including the Barbara Fritchie Handicap. All Brandy was also the granddam of Maryland’s 1981 champion 2-year-old colt A Magic Spray.
10 Races Friday to Launch Final Weekend of Laurel’s Summer Meet
Laurel Park’s 35-day summer meet comes to an end this weekend starting with a 10-race program Friday. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
In all Laurel has 34 races scheduled over the final three days, with 11 on Saturday and a 13-race finale on Sunday that includes the $75,000 Find and $75,000 All Brandy for Maryland-bred/sired horses at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Jamie Ness holds a 22-15 edge over Brittany Russell among leading trainers. Ness has 15 horses entered at Laurel on the weekend including Bestsugardaddyever in the Find to Russell’s seven. Ness’ stable rider, Jaime Rodriguez, leads J.G. Torrealba, 39-30, in the race for leading jockey. Rodriguez is named in 17 races over the weekend while Torrealba has calls in 22.
In addition to live racing, Laurel will host its annual Crackin Crab Feast Saturday featuring all-you-can-eat blue crabs and unlimited select drinks. For tickets or more information, click here.
There will be mandatory payouts in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 8-13), 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 9-13) and $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) wagers Sunday. Entering Friday’s card there is a Rainbow 6 carryover of $619.43.
Live racing moves to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium for its seven-day meet Aug. 23-25 and Aug. 30-Sept. 2. Laurel opens its calendar year-ending fall stand Saturday, Sept. 7.