Beguine Goes the Distance in Alma North

BALTIMORE – Repole Stable’s Be Better, a homebred son of champion Uncle Mo, extended his win streak to three races by passing multiple stakes winners Nimitz Class and Ournationonparade in deep stretch and going on to a 1 ¼-length triumph in Saturday’s $100,000 Deputed Testamony at Laurel Park.

The 27th running of the 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up and the seventh renewal of the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and older going 6 ½ furlongs were among five stakes worth $500,000 in purses headlined by the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for older sprinters.

Ridden by Sheldon Russell for his wife, Maryland’s leading trainer, Brittany Russell, Be Better ($7.80) picked up his first stakes win in his fifth start since being sent to the Mid-Atlantic after going 2-for-7 primarily in New York for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

“He showed up in great shape. I didn’t have a whole lot to do,” Brittany Russell said. “Really we just kind of got him happy. He seems to really like Maryland. We found a couple spots for him that seemed to pick his head up and that seemed to give him some confidence.”

Be Better ran second and third in his first two tries for Russell in the spring at Laurel, both at a mile, before breaking through with a 3 ¾-length optional claiming allowance victory May 20 on the undercard of the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, at historic Pimlico Race Course.

In his prior start, Be Better again came from off the pace to notch a 5 ¼-length third-level allowance score June 17 at Laurel, his second straight going 1 1/16 miles. The Deputed Testamony was his fourth overall win and first in four tries at 1 1/8 miles.

“We’ve had this race on our radar for some time, since he won the three-other-than. We had some some options to run in New York and Delaware, but we opted to just point to this race and give him some time and it seemed to work out,” Russell said. “When you see the overnight come out and you see the horses in the race, it was a tough spot. But, as good as he’s been doing and stepping forward I felt like he was up to the task.”

Ournationonparade, one of two horses in the Deputed Testamony for red-hot trainer Jamie Ness, outran his rivals to the front and led through an easy opening quarter-mile of 25.59 seconds. Nimitz Class, the 1-9 favorite who had a five-race win streak – including four consecutive Laurel stakes – snapped last time out, settled in second followed by 14-time career winner Yodel E.A. Who and Be Better.

Sheldon Russell remained unhurried on Be Better as the half went in 49.84 without a change in running order, though Nimitz Class began to close the gap on the leader. They reached the top of the stretch together and Nimitz Class was able to ease by Ournationparade passing the eighth pole, but Be Better was only starting to roll on the far outside and surged past them both, finishing up in 1:49.68 over a fast main track.

“It’s great,” Brittany Russell said. “Just watching Sheldon’s body language as he was riding him, I just felt like he had horse and I felt like when he tipped him out he was going make a run. It was just a matter of if he was going to get there.”

Nimitz Class stayed up for second, a half-length ahead of Ournationonparade, with stablemate Yodel E.A. Who seven lengths back in fourth. Wish for Peace, Mischief Afoot and defending champion Ridin With Biden were scratched.

“I’m delighted. I’m so excited. Ihave to thank Mike Repole and his team. They’ve been super supportive in sending us a horse like this,” Russell said. “It’s huge. I’m very thankful for these guys. Winning races like this today, it’s a lot of fun.”

The Deputed Testamony returned to the Maryland stakes calendar in 2020 after not having been run since 2008. It pays homage to the last Maryland-bred winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), who upset Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sunny’s Halo in 1983. Bred and raced by Bonita Farm and Francis P. Sears and trained by Bill Boniface, Deputed Testamony also won the 1983 Haskell (G1) and Federico Tesio.

Beguine Goes the Distance in Alma North

Beguine, a 4-year-old homebred daughter of Gun Runner owned by Charles Matses and trained by Edward Allard, led gate-to-wire to win the $100,000 Alma North, covering 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.83.

Out of the five-time winning mare Shananies Song, Beguine, second by a neck last year in the Fantasy (G3), has won two of her three starts this year. The Alma North turned out to be pretty straight forward for Beguine and jockey Jevian Toledo, who went to the front, clicked off fractions of :22.70 and :45.52, and drove home 2 3/4 lengths in front of Response Time. Dreamster checked in third.

Only five went to post in the Alma North after Street Lute, Prince Kokachin, Sweet Gracie and Moody Woman scratched.

The Alma North is named for the Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year in 1971 and Maryland-bred champion older filly of 1972. Owned by the late Eugene Mori’s East Acres Stable, Alma North won 23 of 78 career starts with $513,597 in purse earnings from 1970-74. Her victories included graded-stakes scores in the Matchmaker (G1) and Vineland (G2), Margate (G3) and Betsy Ross (G3) handicaps in 1973.