Daring Do, Spicy Marg Look to Snap All That Magic’s Win Streak
Among Three Stakes Worth $275,000 in Purses Sunday, Sept. 10

BALTIMORE – Recent stakes winner Daring Do and her multiple stakes-placed stablemate Spicy Marg give trainer Wesley Ward a strong hand going up against All That Magic, riding a four-race win streak, in Sunday’s $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash at historic Pimlico Race Course.

The sixth running of the five-furlong Sensible Lady for fillies and mares 3 and up, carded as Race 8, is the second of three stakes worth $275,000 in purses during a 10-race program on opening weekend of Pimlico’s boutique nine-day fall meet.

Also on the card are the $100,000 Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles in Race 9 and the $75,000 Challedon for 3-year-olds and up which have never won an open sweepstakes sprinting six furlongs in Race 5. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Ward brings Wayne G. Lyster III, W. Gray Lister IV and Bryan Lyster’s Spicy Marg back to Pimlico for the third time in the Sensible Lady, a race where she ran fourth by a length last fall. The 5-year-old Into Mischief mare was second, 1 ¼ lengths behind Train to Artemus, in the May 19 The Very One on the undercard of the Black-Eyed Susan (G2).

“She’s a tryer,” Ward said. “The Lysters have been very patient with her. We had her spotted for a race at Saratoga, a three-other-than allowance, but unfortunately it didn’t go. She’s more effective at five [furlongs] anyway. She’s going to take them, hopefully, from start to finish. That’s her game.”

Five of Spicy Marg’s last seven defeats have come by two lengths or less, and she has been third or better in nine of 14 career starts including a runner-up finish in the 2020 Tyro at Monmouth Park, her career debut. Most recently she was third by a length after drifting late in a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance June 16 at Ellis Park.

“She’s an older mare now, lightly raced, and she fires every time you lead her over there,” Ward said. “If the conditions are fast and firm, she’ll be leading them right down to the dirty dollar.”

Daring Do, a 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief bred and owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables, became a stakes winner last time out in the 5 ½-furlong Pea Patch July 16 at Ellis Park. Though fast in her own right, Daring Do settled behind the speed and came with a late burst to get up by a length.

“She’s been an awesome filly to train, just beautiful to be around. She’s a barn favorite. She always showed promise since she came in,” Ward said. “We’re glad to get a stakes win in her, being bred the way she is. As fast as she is, she’s learned how to settle and come from off the pace so that makes her even more dangerous.”

Out of the Blame mare More’n Likely, Daring Do went unraced at 2 and has three wins and two seconds in five starts this year including a previous victory over her elders in an open 5 ½-furlong allowance on the Keeneland turf April 20, her first time facing winners.

“I think what’s good is that she can settle and rate to where she can have that punch at the end. I think that’s been the biggest key for her. The other one I have in there is the opposite. She’s just all go,” Ward said. “We’ve always liked her and she’s bred in the purple, so to get a stakes win out of her and have that black type for the Jacksons just makes it fantastic.”

Walter Rodriguez is named to ride both Spicy Marg (Post 3) and Daring Do (Post 9) in a full field of 12.

Pewter Stable and Spedale Family Racing’s All That Magic has strung together four consecutive wins, three of them at Monmouth Park and all since being moved to the turf by trainer Kathleen Demasi after winning one of four starts sprinting on the dirt in Pennsylvania.

“It was really just a matter of timing. We put her in on the grass and I didn’t know if she was going to like it or not and the rest is history. She just really, really, really likes it. Mentally she’s been really good,” Demasi said. “She’s like a little magic wand, so it’s been nice.”

All That Magic, a 4-year-old daughter of Fast Anna, ran for a $40,000 tag when she began her streak with a three-quarter-length claiming triumph June 9 at Monmouth. From there she won back-to-back allowance races by 11 combined lengths, the first over a yielding course at Penn National. Most recently she was a determined front-running winner of the 5 ½-furlong Incredible Revenge Aug. 6 at Monmouth, beating Train to Artemus by a nose off a nine-day turnaround.

“I’ll tell you, I was just going to be happy being second because I figured the other filly [Train to Artemus] was going to be really tough. But, boy, she really did gut it out. She just stuck her little nose out there and said, ‘I’m not letting you by,’” Demasi said.

“She ran back in very quick fashion, too. That’s not typical of something I would normally do, but she was telling me that she could handle it and it was really fun to be able to see her pull that off,” she added. “In the back of my mind I had always thought that we would point to this race at Pimlico just because I thought the timing would be good for her, so everything really worked out as far as that goes.”

Jockey Nik Juarez has been up for the entirety of the streak and returns to ride from Post 4.

“It looks like a pretty competitive field,” Demasi said. “We’re excited. We’re glad to be there. She’s a cool horse. It’s been really fun, and I’m looking forward to it. I think she’ll like the Pimlico course, too.”

Seven horses come into the Sensible Lady off wins including Runnymoore Racing’s 3-year-old filly Alla Breve, who beat older horses in a 5 ½-furlong allowance for Maryland-bred/sired females Aug. 5 on the Laurel Park turf, where she also broke her maiden first time out last fall for trainer Michael Matz.

David Jacobson-owned and trained Self Isolation is entered to race on grass for the first time since last August when she was based in Southern California with trainer Doug O’Neill. The 5-year-old mare earned her ninth lifetime win in a six-furlong allowance Aug. 8 at Laurel.

Miller Racing’s Sassy Beast was supplemented into the Sensible Lady following her gate-to-wire three-quarter-length victory in the 5 ½-furlong Andy Guest July 22 on the grass at Colonial Park. The 5-year-old The Big Beast mare had only one prior turf start, when she finished third behind Train to Artemus in the five-furlong Lightning City Feb. 18 at Tampa Bay Downs at odds of 63-1.

Klein Racing’s homebred Goin’ Good, trained by Brad Cox, chases a second stakes win and first since the 2021 Coronation Cup at Saratoga. The 5-year-old daughter of Congrats has placed in nine other stakes among her 19 starts, beaten a head in the five-furlong Clarksville Handicap July 7 at Horseshoe Indiana and 1 ½ lengths in the 5 ½-furlong Kentucky Downs Preview Mint Ladies Turf Sprint Aug. 5 at Ellis Park in her two most recent.

Completing the field are 2021 Star Shoot winner Can’t Buy Love, second in the Andy Guest and third in the Incredible Revenge, each by less than a length; last-out winners Shoshanah and Angel Art; Sweet Temperament, second in the Orleans Jan. 6 on the dirt at Delta Downs; and Whiskey and Rye.

Turf sprinter Sensible Lady took consecutive runnings of Pimlico’s The Very One in 2012 and 2013, two of her seven wins in 14 starts at 3 and 4. The Street Sense filly was trained by Tim Salzman for Three Lyons Racing, who purchased her for $9,500 as a 2-year-old at Ocala’s April sale. She went on to earn $436,640 from 22 starts. From May 2012 to June 2013, the filly won six stakes while racing at Pimlico, Colonial Downs, Penn National and Saratoga and placed in three others during the 10-race streak.