Million Classic

Jackson Bryer teaches English, not Pari-mutuel 101, at the University of Maryland in College Park. However, the tenured professor quickly is becoming a horse racing expert.Mary's Buckaroo, the thoroughbred gelding that Bryer owns in partnership with Carroll County trainer Joanne Hughes, is developing into one of the state's most consistent older horses and is racing his way into contention for top prize in the Maryland Million Classic, to be run Oct. 14.Yesterday, at Laurel Park's fall opening, the horse tuned up for the $200,000 stakes by circling the field and rallying to a half-length victory over long shot Fireside Brass in the $37,125 Chase Me Stakes.

Eighttofasttocatch was just that Saturday at Laurel Park, as he ignored the rain, mud and closinghorses to win the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic and set off a joyous celebration in the winner's circle. Owned by Arnold Heft and his wife Sylvia, Eighttofasttocatch represented the couple's longtime search for a champion. "Though I owned the Bullets and the Capitals with Mr. Abe Pollin, we never really had a champion," said Arnold Heft, who named the horse after Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who wears the No. 8. "This has to be the biggest thing for my wife and me. This is my first real champion, and I'm 92 years old. " Sylvia Heft, couldn't stop smiling, and she kissed everyone who wished her congratulations.

He has earned paychecks in all seven of his 2006 races, has won two stakes this summer and prevailed in his most recent start, in the Owners Day Handicap at Delaware Park. By no measure does Cherokee's Boy appear to be slowing down at the age of 6, continuing a stellar career in which he has earned money in 46 of 47 outings with the only exception being the 2003 Preakness, when he finished far behind triumphant Funny Cide. But the owners have decided that their horse's appearance in today's $250,000 Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park will be his final one and Cherokee's Boy will be retired to stud after a race against six rivals he is expected to handle easily.

Eighttofasttocatch has gone from being an excitable horse to a well-mannered, explosive performer who is the morning line favorite for Saturday's Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park. The 5-year-old gelded son of Not For Love owes that in part to the companionship of a pygmy goat named Gigi. As trainer Tim Keefe and his exercise rider Peter Brown-Whale worked on Eighttofasttocatch's on-track etiquette, Gigi worked on the Laurel Park-based horse's nervous system. She settled into the chestnut's life and lowered his heart rate, calmed his nerves and improved his level of performance.

The seventh Maryland Million Classic on Saturday will mark the 104th career start of the incorrigible, incredible Little Bold John.John J. "Jerry" Robb, the horse's owner-trainer, said yesterday that he definitely intends to run the 10-year-old gelding in the 10-furlong, $200,000 race.If the horse wins, it might be the richest stakes victory ever for a 10-year-old thoroughbred. A quick look in the history books shows that Kelso and John Henry, geriatric geldings with the same feisty spirit and iron-clad constitution, raced only though their ninth year.

Bob Haynes almost couldn't believe his eyes, as he watched his horse Due come from last place to win the $250,000 Maryland Million Classic. "People thought I was crazy, but when I claimed Due in 2004, I said, `I want to win a Maryland Million race,'" he said. "I didn't necessarily mean the Classic." But the Classic suited Due just fine. Jockey Anna "Rosie" Napravnik patiently rated her horse in last place, willing to take the dirt that was thrown in both her face and Due's. Finally, at the far turn, she moved him out four wide and took control near the eighth-pole.

A strong 10-horse field is set to go to post in Saturday's $300,000 Maryland Million Classic, the highlight of a 12-race card celebrating Maryland stallions and their offspring. Due, the winner of the Classic in 2006, got the No. 3 post at yesterday's draw at Laurel Park. Trainer Dale Capuano said the post would suit the 6-year-old gelding sired by Rinka Das very well. "I think he drew No. 3 last year, too," Capuano said. "It was good luck for us then and we hope it will be again. But Due likes to come from behind, so the post doesn't really matter."

King Leatherbury has spurned the inaugural running of the Kentucky Cup with his Grade I winner, Taking Risks, and is starting the horse instead in the Maryland Million Classic.Yesterday, Maryland's No. 1 trainer of winners said he is skipping the $400,000 Kentucky race on Saturday because his horse would have to carry more weight in the race than some of the nation's most proficient runners.Just last week Taking Risks was listed as one of the intended Kentucky Cup starters. But Leatherbury said Taking Risks was being penalized too much for his 7 1/2 -length victory in the Philip H. Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park on Aug. 21."

The number of horses entered for the Maryland Million is down from last year, but there is still plenty of quality evident among the fields for the 12-race series a week from tomorrow at Laurel Race Course.When preliminary entries were taken yesterday, 142 horses had been entered, nearly 30 fewer than a year ago. But two Grade I winners -- Taking Risks in the Maryland Million Classic and Prenup in the Maryland Million Sprint -- are in the lineups. In addition, Grade I-placed Mz. Zill Bear heads the field for the Maryland Million Ladies turf stakes, which she won last year.

The 12 Maryland Million races Oct. 9 at Pimlico have attracted 170 pre-entries, including Presidentialaffair, a 5-year-old son of Not For Love who will likely be favored in the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic. Final entries will be taken and post positions drawn Wednesday for the series for horses sired by Maryland stallions. Among the pre-entries are 16 in the $100,000 Turf Sprint, which will be run for the first time. One of the most festive days of racing in the state, the Maryland Million is the third largest in terms of wagering behind Preakness and Pimlico Special days.

Major League Lacrosse Reese named general manager of Bayhawks Brian Reese , who has been with the Denver Outlaws since their Major League Lacrosse inception in 2006, was named general manager of the Chesapeake Bayhawks on Friday, effective next month. Reese resigned as the Outlaws' GM this month and served as the team's coach from 2007 through 2010, going 30-12. During his six-year career with Denver, the team had a winning record and clinched a playoff berth each season.

Grant Whitacre's acting career began with a scribbled phone number on the back of a racing program. It almost ended there, too. The 25-year-old jockey, who grew up in Howard County and graduated from Atholton, was getting dressed in the jockeys' room at Laurel Park in August. As he was putting his clothes on, he noticed a piece of paper stuck to the wall. It was a casting call for jockeys interested in auditioning for roles in a Disney movie about legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

A strong 10-horse field is set to go to post in Saturday's $300,000 Maryland Million Classic, the highlight of a 12-race card celebrating Maryland stallions and their offspring. Due, the winner of the Classic in 2006, got the No. 3 post at yesterday's draw at Laurel Park. Trainer Dale Capuano said the post would suit the 6-year-old gelding sired by Rinka Das very well. "I think he drew No. 3 last year, too," Capuano said. "It was good luck for us then and we hope it will be again. But Due likes to come from behind, so the post doesn't really matter."

Bob Haynes almost couldn't believe his eyes, as he watched his horse Due come from last place to win the $250,000 Maryland Million Classic. "People thought I was crazy, but when I claimed Due in 2004, I said, `I want to win a Maryland Million race,'" he said. "I didn't necessarily mean the Classic." But the Classic suited Due just fine. Jockey Anna "Rosie" Napravnik patiently rated her horse in last place, willing to take the dirt that was thrown in both her face and Due's. Finally, at the far turn, she moved him out four wide and took control near the eighth-pole.

He has earned paychecks in all seven of his 2006 races, has won two stakes this summer and prevailed in his most recent start, in the Owners Day Handicap at Delaware Park. By no measure does Cherokee's Boy appear to be slowing down at the age of 6, continuing a stellar career in which he has earned money in 46 of 47 outings with the only exception being the 2003 Preakness, when he finished far behind triumphant Funny Cide. But the owners have decided that their horse's appearance in today's $250,000 Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park will be his final one and Cherokee's Boy will be retired to stud after a race against six rivals he is expected to handle easily.

Philadelphia Park-based trainer Marty Ciresa returns to the Maryland Million Day races with the favorite in the $250,000 Classic this afternoon, but he has no trouble recalling his feelings from the days when he didn't even have an entry. "I remember when I would have died to have had a horse in the Classic," said Ciresa, whose Presidentialaffair is the favorite today at Laurel Park to repeat his victory of a year ago. "With a horse like Presidentialaffair, I know there is more pressure because people expect him to win," he said.

The weather was dreadful: Pouring rain. Thunder and lightning. It was an understatement to say the track was sloppy.But assistant trainer Kevin Boniface wouldn't use the elements as an alibi yesterday when he assessed Oliver's Twist's third-place performance in the Maryland Million Classic two weeks ago."Everybody had to run over that track," said Boniface. "Sometimes, it's a little bit of an advantage for horses who have been over it 60 times rather than 15, but basically I think he just came up a little bit short."

The Maryland Million spirit is everywhere these days at Laurel Race Course.Even Cellular One, the maker of a one-minute documentary-style television commercial that will air for a year in Maryland beginning Oct. 18, was in the swing of things yesterday at the track.Cellular One opted to use Timely Warning, winner of the Maryland Million Classic in 1990 and 1991, as the featured horse in the black-and-white commercial that follows a day in the life of a jockey and talks about a commitment to winning in relationship to the company's product.

The 12 Maryland Million races Oct. 9 at Pimlico have attracted 170 pre-entries, including Presidentialaffair, a 5-year-old son of Not For Love who will likely be favored in the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic. Final entries will be taken and post positions drawn Wednesday for the series for horses sired by Maryland stallions. Among the pre-entries are 16 in the $100,000 Turf Sprint, which will be run for the first time. One of the most festive days of racing in the state, the Maryland Million is the third largest in terms of wagering behind Preakness and Pimlico Special days.