Connections to Decide Monday on Juvenile or Juvenile Turf Nov. 4
Multiple Stakes Winner Morello Favored in Saturday Comeback
Jockey Eric Camacho Makes Triumphant Return Friday on Post Time

BALTIMORE – Tami Bobo and Lugamo Racing Stable’s Congruent, a $350,000 son of Tapit, is headed to the Breeders’ Cup following his decisive victory in the Laurel Futurity Oct. 1 at Laurel Park.

Trainer Antonio Sano said Friday from Gulfstream Park that a decision is coming next week as to which race the connections will target, either the $2 million Juvenile (G1) or $1 million Juvenile Turf (G1), both Nov. 4 at Keeneland.

The Juvenile is contested at 1 1/16 miles on the main track, while the Juvenile Turf travels one mile on the grass. The Laurel Futurity, Congruent’s first stakes win, was originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the turf until remnants of Hurricane Ian caused it to be moved to a sloppy and sealed main track and run at one mile.

“The race was supposed to be on the grass but after it rained and the race came off, we decided to run. He won two races on the dirt very good,” Sano said. “The horse ran well and came back well.

“The next race is the Breeders’ Cup, but I don’t know whether it will be on the dirt or the turf,” he added. “I have a meeting with the owners Monday night where we’ll make a decision which race to run.”

In the Laurel Futurity, jockey Feargal Lynch tucked Congruent in third along the rail, momentarily dropping back to fifth while awaiting room midway around the far turn. Lynch gave Congruent his cue straightening for home, splitting pacesetter Splendor Beauty to his inside and Free Soul, then engaged in mid-stretch with Otago who had a clear run on the outside before steadily edging clear to win by 2 ½ lengths in 1:40.45.

“We wanted to try him on the turf,” Sano said. “We were 100 percent confident going into the race either way. The jockey gave him a perfect trip.”

Sano purchased Congruent for Bobo and Luis Gavignano of Lugamo at OBS’ March sale of 2-year-olds in training after the horse fetched $200,000 as a yearling last July. His mare, Part the Seas, won the 2013 Bessarabian (G3) on Woodbine’s all-weather surface, while grandsire Stormy Atlantic was a two-time stakes winner on dirt. Tapit was a Grade 1 winner that has become one of the most influential sires of his generation.

“He’s a very, very nice horse,” Sano said. “I liked the pedigree. It’s a very good pedigree and his conformation is very, very good. We have been very happy with him.”

All four of Congruent’s races have come on dirt. He ran fifth in debut July 16 before graduating in a seven-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 13, both at Gulfstream. He stretched out to a mile in a Sept. 10 optional claiming allowance at Delaware Park, finishing third, prior to the Laurel Futurity.

The Futurity, contested as a Grade 1 from 1973-88 and having maintained its graded status through 2004, has a rich history dating back to 1921 inaugural winner Morvich, who would go on to win the 1922 Kentucky Derby. The Futurity has also been won by Triple Crown champions Affirmed, Citation and Secretariat along with Barbaro, In Reality, Honest Pleasure, Quadrangle, Riva Ridge, Spectacular Bid and Tapit.

Multiple Stakes Winner Morello Favored in Saturday Comeback

Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, Craig Taylor and Diamond T Racing’s Grade 3 winner Morello, unraced since mid-June, drew the rail in a field of seven and is the 7-5 program favorite for his comeback in Saturday’s featured eighth race at Laurel Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Morello will be ridden by Sheldon Russell in the third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs on the main track. Among his rivals are multiple stakes winners Local Motive, Greeley and Ben, Exculpatory and Wendell Fong and Grade 3-placed Mojovation.

Morello, a chestnut son of 2016 champion 2-year-old male and 2017 Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Classic Empire, has raced four times this year starting with wins in the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield and one-mile Gotham (G3) over the winter at Aqueduct.

Purchased for $250,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic 2-year-old in training sale last May at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Morello has run sixth in each of his two most recent starts – the April 9 Wood Memorial (G2) and June 11 Woody Stephens (G1).

Greeley and Ben (2-1) is racing for the first time since being claimed for $40,000 by trainer Jeffrey Englehart out of a neck victory sprinting six furlongs Sept. 4 at Saratoga. The 8-year-old gelding owns 21 wins and $742,798 in purse earnings from 35 career starts, and was third in the March 19 Whitmore (G3) at Oaklawn Park.

Jockey Eric Camacho Makes Triumphant Return Friday on Post Time

Jockey Eric Camacho, riding for just the third time in six years, picked up his first victory since 2016 when he guided Hillwood Stable’s Post Time, a 2-year-old Maryland-bred son of Frosted, to a two-length debut triumph Friday at Laurel Park.

Camacho, 38, exercises horses in the morning for trainer Brittany Russell, including Post Time, who ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:04.26 over a fast main track in a maiden special weight originally carded for the Bowl Game turf course.

“Thank you Jesus,” Camacho said. “I rode one race last year at Colonial Downs for [trainer] Michelle Lovell, just to stay busy and keep in tune and stuff. Previous to that I was off for 4 ½ years.

“This is for my brother, who passed away in 2019 and my father, who passed away in 2021. So, this means a lot to me,” he added. “I wish they could be here for it.”

Camacho won 785 races between 2004 and 2016, capturing Laurel Park’s 2005 winter meet riding title. He finished third on Tap Attack Aug. 25, 2021 at Colonial, his first mount since running ffith on Perfect Game Cain Jan. 2, 2017 at Laurel.

A native of Columbia, where he was a teenager studying mechanics at a local technical institute and working at a tire store before deciding to become a jockey after a chance meeting with rider Alberto Delgado, Camacho won the 2008 Forward Gal (G3) and Davona Dale (G2) on Bsharpsonata and 2013 Bashford Manor on Debt Ceiling.

“I’ll be picky here and there,” Camacho said about a possible comeback. “It’s all about opportunities.”

Post Time displayed plenty of energy before the race, and settled into fifth as even-money favorite Landon Jack set the pace into the far turn, going a quarter-mile in 22.45 seconds. Camacho tipped off the rail and swung widest of all leaving the turn as the half went in 44.79, and raced greenly through the stretch before reeling in the pacesetter inside the sixteenth pole and coasting to the wire.

“This is a colt that I’ve been on regularly. He’s a playboy. He likes to play around,” Camacho said. “As you could see, he came out of the paddock standing on his hind legs. But I do know the horse very well, that’s why I was never concerned at any point. He broke sharp and put me right in a great spot.

“Once he struck the lead and the front horse was down on the inside, he was kind of looking for someplace to go,” he added. “He knew where to go, to the wire.”

Notes: Jockey Jevian Toledo swept the early daily double with Wicked Mercury ($8.40) in Race 1 and Old Alliance ($3.80) in Race 2, and completed his Friday hat trick aboard Red Queen ($9.80) in Race 5 … Post time for Saturday’s nine-race program is 12:40 p.m.