8-Year-Old Gelding Chasing 17th Career Victory in Allowance Sprint
Champion Jockey Jevian Toledo Enjoys Four-Win Day Saturday
20-Cent Rainbow 6 Solved Saturday for $32,868 Jackpot Payoff

BALTIMORE – Built Wright Stables’ 8-year-old gelding Eastern Bay, riding a two-race win streak, will be chasing both his 17th career victory as well as a return to stakes competition Sunday at Laurel Park.

A win in featured Race 7, a third-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs that has drawn fellow stakes winners Alwaysinahurry and Exculpatory, could earn Eastern Bay a shot at the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash July 16.

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up highlights the second of three busy stakes Saturdays in July at Laurel. It is joined on the program by the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 6 ½ furlongs and a pair of $100,000 events scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the grass – the Prince George’s County for 3-year-olds and up and Big Dreyfus for fillies and mares 3 and older.

All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

Owner-trainer Norman ‘Lynn’ Cash nominated both Eastern Bay and fellow Grade 3-placed Sir Alfred James to the De Francis. Eastern Bay was second, beaten a head by recently retired Laki, in the 2020 De Francis – then a Grade 3 race – for previous trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

Cash, who owns all the more than 40 horses he trains, is no stranger to wheeling back horses quickly. Sir Alfred James came back in seven days off a ninth in the Forego at Turfway Park to run third in the General George (G3) Feb. 19 at Laurel.

“If he wins tomorrow and he comes out OK, then we’re going in the De Francis,” Cash said. “The reason being is, if we don’t get the win then we can still keep running in the same condition, protected. If we get the win, then we’ve got to look up and up the claiming price. If we get this win tomorrow, then we’re going to look to the De Francis.”

Eastern Bay is favored at 2-1 on the morning line and will be ridden from Post 3 by seven-pound apprentice William Humphrey, who has been aboard for all three starts since the claim including wins May 28 at historic Pimlico Race Course and June 19 at Laurel. Cash also entered Outlier, in for a $44,000 tag.

“He’s a really nice horse,” Cash said of Eastern Bay. “This time we’re in for the condition and not for the tag, which is really nice. Apparently, I learned how to read a condition book. We were worried last time that we’d get claimed. I didn’t realize that I could have run for the condition then, too, but we got lucky. And he won pretty easy last time, too, it seemed like.

“We have a second horse in there, too, this time that has a little front speed that might actually help the race set up,” he added. “Outlier is usually a distance horse, but he likes the front end. So, we’re excited.”

Cash claimed Eastern Bay for $35,000 out of an April 3 win for Gonzalez. Overall, the son of E Dubai owns 16 wins and $677,478 in purse earnings from 46 career starts, and is 11-for-32 lifetime over Laurel’s main track.

In his most recent stakes attempt, Eastern Bay ran third in the six-furlong Frank Y. Whiteley last April at Laurel. He was a 1 ¼-length winner over Laki in Laurel’s Polynesian one start before the De Francis in 2020, his lone stakes triumph.

“He had back class where he had run really well in the past. I think a lot of people might have been afraid of him because he’s 8 years old. He’s training great and, I’ll be honest, I think he’s running the best of his life right now,” Cash said. “He was a very good horse before we got him. Sometimes it’s just a little change in style and sometimes it’s just being in the right place when the horse feels good.

“Another thing we did is we put William Humphrey on him and so we’re getting seven pounds off, and that probably brought him a little ways, too,” he added. “Instead of running around the track with an extra seven pounds on your back, it’s got to help to be lighter.”

Based at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Kentucky, Cash keeps a string of nearly two dozen horses at Laurel. He entered Saturday ranked fifth at the summer meet with five wins from 18 starters (28 percent) and $190,540 in purse earnings.

“We’ve had really good success and good luck with claiming these types of horses,” Cash said. “I think it’s a combination of just being there at the right time and maybe changing things up just a little bit that maybe freshens a horse. A change of routine might freshen horses a little bit, and then the weight coming off. It’s exciting.”

Champion Jockey Jevian Toledo Enjoys Four-Win Day Saturday

C J I Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm’s 3-year-old gelding Al Loves Josie jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back, rolling home by 3 ¼ lengths in Saturday’s Race 8 feature to complete a four-win day for jockey Jevian Toledo.

A Maryland-bred son of Holy Boss, Al Loves Josie ($8.40) was a pickup mount for Toledo, who began the day winning each of the first three races but had his final four scheduled horses scratch on a day when overnight rain forced turf racing to be moved to the main track.

Xavier Perez, Robb’s stable rider, was originally named on Al Loves Josie but wasn’t able to get to Laurel after piloting a pair of Robb’s horses at Delaware Park including multiple stakes winner Street Lute, who finished seventh in the Dashing Beauty.

Al Loves Josie ran six furlongs in 1:10.02 over a sloppy main track to edge Berks in the entry-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up. Sugar Gray Leonard, the 2-1 favorite, ran fourth.

“To be honest, I was ready to leave and they told me Xavier wasn’t going to make it back from Delaware if I wanted to pick up a horse in the eighth,” Toledo said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ Jerry Robb always does a great job and it paid off to stay here.”

Toledo, Maryland’s three-time overall champion including 2021who is represented by agent Marty Leonard, won Race 1 on Prima Ballerina ($3) and Race 2 with Appalachianheights ($4.20), both 3-year-old fillies, as well as Race 3 aboard 2-year-old filly Ice Cold Frosty ($5.40).

“I have to thank my agent and all the trainers and owners for all the opportunities today. I had a really great day. The weather looked like it was going to be bad but the rain held off and all the horses ran good. No complaints,” Toledo said. “We had a good trip on every single horse and when I asked them, they all took off and all ran good.”

Toledo’s performance gave him a 16-14 lead in the summer meet rider standings over Jean Alvelo, who won Race 5 Saturday aboard Knowhowiknow ($8.80) for meet-leading trainer Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon.

Notes: Five Hellions Farm’s Ice Cold Frosty ($5.40), purchased for $100,000 in March, splashed to a front-running 2 ½-length triumph in Race 3, a six-furlong maiden special weight for 2-year-olds, going the distance in 1:12.61 over a sloppy main track in his second career start for trainer Lacey Gaudet … Other maiden special weight winners were Prima Ballerina ($3) in Race 1 and Swift Action ($8.40) in Race 6. Both 3-year-old fillies, respectively trained by Michael Stidham and Michael Trombetta, were six-figure yearlings in the fall of 2020 … Saturday’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 was solved by one lucky bettor for a $32,868.24 jackpot payoff after Magnificent Pearl ($10.60) rallied up the inside to take Race 9. Other winners in the sequence were R B’s Star ($2.80) in Race 4, Knowhowiknow ($8.80) in Race 5, Swift Action ($8.40) in Race 6, Federal Offense ($5.60) in Race 7 and Al Loves Josie ($8) in Race 8 … Laurel will host eight live races Sunday starting at 12:40 p.m.