2YO Stablemates Pavoni, Colpo d’Oro to Debut Sunday
Angel Art Springs 40-1 Upset in Maiden Special Weight
20-Cent Rainbow 6 Solved Saturday for $51,003 Payout

BALTIMORE – Having emerged well from his comeback race last weekend, Hillwood Stable’s Mid-Atlantic fan favorite Cordmaker is expected to get a little more time before making his next start.

Trainer Rodney Jenkins said Saturday that he plans to bypass Laurel Park’s Thanksgiving weekend stakes with the 7-year-old gelding, who was nominated to both the $75,000 Howard & Sondra Bender Memorial Nov. 25 and $100,000 Richard W. Small Nov. 26, the latter a race he won in 2021.

“We have an allowance race coming up here in a couple weeks,” Jenkins said. “We’re going to put him in there and then after that start looking for a stakes for him.”

There is an open allowance race for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the main track, same distance as the Small, in the Laurel condition book for Dec. 11.

A Maryland-bred son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, Cordmaker became a graded-stakes winner in the Feb. 19 General George (G3) at Laurel, his 14th career win and 10th in a stakes. He was given time off and went unraced until finishing sixth in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Nov. 4 at Laurel.

Cordmaker returned to the work tab with a bullet five-furlong breeze in 1:00 Friday at Laurel. He is $9,120 shy of becoming the first millionaire for both Jenkins and Hillwood’s Ellen Charles.

“He came out of it good. He’s doing fine. I think he just needed a little more conditioning,” Jenkins said. “He hadn’t run in a while and he’s better for having the race. I promise you he won’t be unfit next time.”

2YO Stablemates Pavoni, Colpo d’Oro to Debut Sunday

Trainer Graham Motion will unveil a pair of Medaglio d’Oro first-timers Sunday at Laurel in one of two maiden special weight events on the nine-race program.

First race post time is 12:15 p.m.

Race 7 sprinting seven furlongs on the main track attracted a full field of 11 2-year-old maidens, including Motion-trained stablemates Pavoni and Colpo d’Oro. Wertheimer & Frere homebred Pavoni is out of the Grade 3-winning mare Nootka Sound and has been working over both the dirt and all-weather surfaces at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. for his debut.

Fortune Racing’s Colpo d’Oro has also trained over multiple surfaces at Fair Hill since early September. A grandson of 2000 Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Tiznow, he was purchased for $120,000 as a yearling in November 2020.

The narrow 4-1 program favorite is John Hall, bred and owned by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds in Maryland and trained by fall meet leader Brittany Russell. Out of the mare Who’s in Town, winner of the 2014 Safely Kept at Laurel, he is a son of Grade 1 winner Violence and grandson of champion sprinter Speightstown.

Sunday’s other maiden special weight comes in the opener, for horses age 3, 4 and 5 also going seven furlongs. Russell will also send out the morning line favorite in DARRS, Inc.’s Goldbar, a gelded 3-year-old son of Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Blame bred in Pennsylvania by retired Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard. Goldbar has run third in two prior starts for previous trainer Michael Stidham, both sprinting over the all-weather surface at Presque Isle Downs.

Race 6 is a first-level allowance for fillies and mares 3 and up scheduled for 5 ½ furlongs on the Dahlia turf course that drew an overflow field of 14 including Courtlandt Farm’s Join the Dots, trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, and Translate, third or better in 12 of 15 career starts racing first off the claim for trainer Ferris Allen.

Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up will go 5 ½ furlongs on the main track in a Race 8 where four-time winner Heir Port, sixth after setting the pace last out in the Maryland Million Sprint Oct. 22, returns for trainer Jamie Ness. Sycamore Hall homebred Frightland is entered to make his first start since an 11-length maiden special weight romp June 17 at Laurel.

20-Cent Rainbow 6 Solved Saturday for $51,003 Payout

No Guts No Glory Farm’s Cocktail Dreaming, owned and trained by Jerry Robb, got up in the final strides to edge favored Musicmansandy in Saturday’s ninth-race finale at Laurel Park to help one lucky bettor hit the 20-cent Rainbow 6 for a $51,003.72 jackpot payout.

The Rainbow 6 had gone unsolved for 20 consecutive racing days since being hit for $12,582.58 Oct. 16. Cocktail Dreaming ($6.60) ran six furlongs in 1:13.18 over a fast main track in the claiming event for 2-year-old fillies to complete the winning 3-6-9-7-8-1 combination.

Other winners in the sequence were Angel Art ($83.20), Hot Lookin Royal ($9.60), Six o’Clock Sarah ($12.40), Full Count Felicia ($5.60) and Prince of Jericho ($3.60).

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

The Rainbow 6 starts anew in Race 4 Sunday. First race post time is 12:15 p.m.

Notes: Jockey Angel Cruz rode back-to-back winners Saturday with Hot Lookin Royal ($9.60) in Race 5 and Six o’Clock Sarah ($12.40) in Race 6 … Jockey Xavier Perez and trainer Jerry Robb teamed up to win Race 3 with Unadulterated ($6) and Race 9 with Cocktail Dreaming ($6.60) … Jockey Sheldon Russell was unseated when his mount, 3-year-old filly Raise Your Game, stumbled one step out of the starting gate in Race 5, a six-furlong claiming sprint. Russell was tended to on the track before being assisted to his feet and into the track ambulance. He was replaced on his remaining three mounts including Full Count Felicia ($5.60), an easy winner of a Race 7 allowance under Carol Cedeno, and 2-year-old colt Prince of Jericho ($3.60) in the Race 8 optional claiming allowance feature, ridden by Feargal Lynch. Both horses are trained by Russell’s wife, Brittany Russell … Copper Penny Stables’ Angel Art ($83.20) collared favored pacesetter Expectations Met in mid-stretch and surged past, withstanding a late run from How Sweet She Is on the far outside to spring a 40-1 upset in Race 4, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies. The winning time was 1:14.67 for six furlongs over a fast main track. A claim of foul from jockey Carlos Lopez aboard third-place finisher Expectations Met, a $300,000 yearling last fall, was dismissed.