Alexis’s Storm Popular Winner of Maryland’s 2022 Juvenile Opener

BALTIMORE – Multiple stakes-winning filly Luna Belle remains on course for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) May 20 at historic Pimlico Race Course, returning to the work tab with an easy half-mile breeze Saturday morning at Laurel Park.

Owned by Deb Greene and trainer Hamilton Smith and bred in Maryland by Smith, Greene and her late father, Fred Greene Jr., Luna Belle went four furlongs in 48.80 seconds over a fast main track with regular exercise rider James ‘Bobo’ Brigman aboard.

The time ranked eighth-fastest of 46 horses at the distance. It was Luna Belle’s first piece of work since extending her win streak to five races – all in stakes – in the April 16 Weber City Miss, which earned her an automatic spot in the 98th Black-Eyed Susan.

“She went good. It was right about what we wanted,” Smith said. “I told the kid to go in 49 [seconds] or something like that and he was pretty dang close to it, so everything worked out well. She did it well within herself, so that’s all we needed and all we wanted to do right yet.

“She could have done more if he asked her to,” he added. “I told him to just get her running and get a nice easy hold of her and let her run against the bit, just sit with what he had, and that’s what he did. We didn’t want any more than that. She worked good and came back bouncing, so that’s what we like.”

Luna Belle began her win streak in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies in mid-December, which clinched her being named Maryland’s 2-year-old filly champion of 2021. She has rattled off four straight wins to start her sophomore campaign including the Jan. 29 Xtra Heat, Feb. 19 Wide Country and March 19 Beyond the Wire at distances from six furlongs to one mile.

“[We’ll] more or less continue what we’ve been doing leading up to now. We’ve got a work pattern laid out for her and we’ll do most of the same things we’ve been doing all along. I’m not going to change up too much,” Smith said. “So far everything is going well.”

The 1 1/16-mile Weber City Miss was Luna Belle’s first try around two turns. The Black-Eyed Susan, first run in 1919 as the Pimlico Oaks, is contested at 1 1/8 miles and will mark Luna Belle’s graded-stakes debut.

Calipha, a homebred of Mrs. James A. Bayard trained by late Hall of Famer Bud Delp, was the last Maryland-bred to win the Black-Eyed Susan in 1994. Since 1976, other state-bred winners have been Wide Country (1991), Weber City Miss (1980), Caesar’s Wish (1978) and What a Summer (1976).

“We’re going to go over there and try the big girls, so to speak, for once. I think she deserves a chance and hopefully she’ll perform well. We’ll see what happens,” Smith said. “So far, everything is going the way we want it to go so we’re going to head for Pimlico.”

Alexis’s Storm Popular Winner of Maryland’s 2022 Juvenile Opener

Juvenile racing in Maryland for 2022 got off to a strong start at Laurel Park when Matthew Schera’s homebred filly Alexis’s Storm powered to a popular 4 ¼-length victory in Saturday’s opener.

Ridden by seven-pound apprentice Jeiron Barbosa for trainer James ‘Chuck’ Lawrence II, Alexis’s Storm ($4.80) ran 4 ½ furlongs over a fast main track in 54.27 seconds in the maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies.

All seven horses that were entered in the race were first-time starters. Alexis’s Storm has two older siblings, Thunder Day and Zira, which were also owned and bred by Schera and trained by Lawrence and won in the career debut.

“We expected her to run well,” Lawrence said. “Everything she’s done and everything the whole family has done has been very precocious early. She was my best 2-year-old, so we thought we’d give it a shot and it looks like it paid off.”

Alexis’s Storm broke sharply and was placed forwardly by Barbosa, racing between She’s So Fly on her outside and Cocktail Dreaming on the rail, who held a slight advantage after an opening quarter-mile in 24.56 seconds. Alexis’s Storm took command on the turn and straightened for home in front, opening up with little encouragement and hand-ridden to the wire.

Cocktail Dreaming was second, 9 ½ lengths ahead of Galactic Tide, followed by She’s So Fly and Bee Queen. Roaringlikethunder and program favorite Tappin Josie were scratched.

“She’s always been very straightforward. She’s gone through all the steps. With these 2-year-olds, it’s the ones that go right through and don’t have any problems,” Lawrence said. “Knock on wood, she went right through the training preps with no trouble and she was always good at the gate. I figured that if she was standing well in the gate, they wouldn’t outbreak her.

“When she was going easy up close on the front end I knew we were pretty golden, because in her workouts her works have been better at the end than at the beginning,” he added. “So, I was very pleased.”

Alexis’s Storm is gray or roan daughter of multiple graded-stakes winner Race Day – also the sire of Florida Derby (G1) winner and Kentucky Derby (G1) contender White Abarrio – out of the A.P. Warrior mare Cherie’s A.P. She had six works since mid-March over both the dirt and all-weather surfaces at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., including a bullet half-mile on the dirt in 49 seconds April 21 in her final prep.

“All of [the siblings] have won first time out, and it’s just a credit to the guys that help me,” Lawrence said. “All my guys in the morning have really just done a good job. With these babies, it’s all about education I think. It’s a lot of fun. It’s exciting when you think you have a nice one and they go over there and prove you right.”

Notes: Seven-pound apprentice Jeiron Barbosa extended his lead atop the rider standings with a Saturday double, sweeping the early double with Alexis’s Storm ($4.80) and Baptize the Boy ($5.80). He has 18 wins at the spring meet, three more than runner-up Jevian Toledo with four racing days remaining … Toledo won Saturday’s feature in Race 8, an entry-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds, with The Elkstone Group’s homebred The Addison Pour ($6.80) … Trainer Linda Albert sent out a pair of winners Saturday, Pounding Music ($14.20) in Race 3 and Blue Sky Venezuela ($4.80) in Race 7 … Trainer Mike Trombetta also won twice, with Mose Perfect ($40.60) in Race 5 and Consultant ($6) in Race 7 … Laurel will host a 10-race live program Sunday starting at 12:40 p.m.