First Race in 162 Days for G3-Placed 8-Year-Old Gelding
Trainer Mike Gorham Sends Out Three Winners Friday

BALTIMORE – Robert D. Bone’s 8-year-old gelding Eastern Bay, a stakes winner who was beaten a nose in the 2020 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3), asserted his class over six rivals and made a triumphant return to the races Friday at Laurel Park.

Ridden by seven-pound apprentice Maclovio Enriquez Jr. for Claudio Gonalez, Maryland’s leading trainer since 2017, Eastern Bay ($10) ran six furlongs in 1:10.11 over a fast main track to cruise by 4 ¾ lengths in the starter optional claimer for 4-year-olds and up.

It was the first race in 162 days for Eastern Bay since running fourth in a similar spot Sept. 24 at Laurel, and his 13th victory from 42 lifetime starts.

“He’s doing good, that’s why I decided to run,” Gonzalez said. “He showed in the morning that he’s ready. He’s an old, classy horse and he showed it in the race.”

Eastern Bay got squeezed back at the start and settled along the rail in fourth as W W Springtime, stakes winner Maythehorsebwithu and 7-5 favorite Swing West rolled up front through a quarter-mile in 22.61 seconds. Enriquez tipped outside midway around the turn and they came with a steady run down the center of track to open up on the competition.

Swing West edged W W Springtime by a nose for second. They were followed by 2021 Miracle Wood winner Maythehorsebwithu, The Great Dansky, Spotted Bull and Awesome D J.

“He had to check after the break, but he took a good position after that inside,” Gonzalez said. “The three horses were going fast up front and he sat in behind and then he started to run. [Enriquez] said he still had a lot of horse.”

Eastern Bay has six wins, one second and three thirds from 13 starts since Gonzalez claimed him for $35,000 Feb. 21, 2020 at Laurel. He became a stakes winner in the 2020 Polynesian and wound up just short of Laki following a dramatic late rally in the De Francis.

“I thought he won the race,” Gonzalez said. “He runs big all the time.”

Gonzalez was unsure what would be next for Eastern Bay, who also ran third to Laki in the 2020 Frank Y. Whiteley Jr.

“It all depends. He hadn’t run for a long time so we’re going to see how he comes back and decide where we’re going to run,” Gonzalez said. “The owner was very happy, too. We gave him the rest. I talked to him and said he needed that, and he showed it today how he came back so good.”

Notes: Five-pound apprentice Jean Alvelo and trainer Mike Gorham teamed up for back-to-back winners Friday with Sammie Sunshine ($3.40) in Race 3 and Escape Fund ($4.40) in Race 4. Gorham added a third winner with Borracho ($8.60) in Race 9 … Leonard Mattingly’s Beneath the Stars ($5.40), exiting three consecutive stakes with one second and one third, returned to the winner’s circle in Race 8, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-old fillies. The winning time for 5 ½ furlongs was 1:04.56 … Laurel will host a nine-race program Saturday starting at 12:25 p.m. and featuring a 20-cent Rainbow 6 carryover of $689.14.