G3 Winner Magic Michael Narrow 5-2 Favorite in Field of Eight
Nominations Close Saturday for $75,000 Star de Naskra June 29

BALTIMORE – An accomplished group of eight older horses, including graded winners Magic Michael and Double Crown and 13-time winner Boss Logic, are entered in an open stakes-quality allowance as the summer meet resumes with a live nine-race program Friday at Laurel Park.

Post time is 12:25 p.m.

The 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-olds and up in Race 8 attracted a salty field that has combined for 60 wins, 11 stakes wins, 27 stakes placings and more than $3.4 million in lifetime purse earnings.

“These horses, I don’t think there’s a whole lot that separates them. I think it’s more of who gets the best trip and will be right there to get the job done,” said trainer Phil Capuano, who will send out Laurel’s 2022 Bald Eagle Derby winner Vance Scholars. “Hopefully that’s Vance this time and it’s his turn.”

Vance Scholars returned from more than eight months between starts to run sixth in the 1 1/8-mile John B. Campbell Feb. 17 in his 5-year-old debut. He has since run second to Be Better March 17 and Magic Michael May 27 in similar spots and was third by less than a length behind Ain’t Da Beer Cold and Magic Michael in the 1 1/8-mile Native Dancer April 13.

“He came out of that last race pretty good,” Capuano said. “He had a shot to win and I thought he ran a real great race. He just always shows up. Since he came back off the layoff he’s done everything I’ve asked him to. He’s been running against some tough company and if he gets beat he makes them run to beat him.”

Magic Michael, trained by summer meet leader Jamie Ness, snapped a five-race losing streak last out that included a head loss in the Native Dancer and third to Grade 2 winner Double Crown in the Robert T. Manfuso Dec. 23. The 7-year-old, a narrow 5-2 program favorite, owns 13 wins topped by the 2021 Greenwood Cup (G3) and has placed in seven stakes.

Boss Logic will be racing first off the claim for trainer Kieron Magee, who took the 6-year-old for $55,000 after running third as the favorite to his former stablemate and Vance Scholars in the May 27 race at Pimlico. Two days earlier, Magee lost two of his best older horses, Classier and Rominski, for an identical price tag out of the same race.

“I had some fresh money so I thought, ‘Let me take this one,’” Magee said of Boss Logic. “We’ve had him a couple weeks and he’s been training great. He’s sound and ready to go. He’s a nice old horse. He knows how to win. I think we’re in a decent spot. Ness’ horse is the horse to beat, so we’ll see what happens.”

A 42-1 upset winner of the 2022 Kelso (G2) at Aqueduct, Double Crown owns nine lifetime wins, five in stakes, has placed in nine others and earned more than $932,000 in purses. This will be his 11th start of 2024, coming six days after finishing fifth in the Jim and Sandra Rasmussen Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

Rounding out the field are March 16 Harrison Johnson Memorial winner Shaft’s Bullet; Ain’t Da Beer Cold, unraced since his Native Dancer victory in mid-April; 2023 Deputed Testamony winner Be Better, most recently fifth in the historic Pimlico Special (G3) May 17; and Feeling Woozy, cross-entered in an open six-furlong allowance sprint Sunday at Laurel.

Nominations Close Saturday for $75,000 Star de Naskra June 29

Nominations close Saturday to the $75,000 Star de Naskra for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs to be run Saturday, June 29 at Laurel Park.

Free nominations can be made by contacting stakes coordinator Eleanor Albert at Eleanor.Albert@marylandracing.com, 301-725-0400 (work) or 443-695-0962 (cell).

Entries will be taken and post positions drawn for the Star de Naskra Sunday, June 23.