Selima

Trainer Richard Schosberg scored an East Coast double yesterday with a pair of 2-year-olds.Nine minutes after Schosberg won the $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park with the colt Maria's Mon, the filly River of Rum, which he trains for Heatherwood Farm, scored a three-quarter-length upset in the $100,000 Selima Stakes at Laurel Park."

Softly Lit and Embracing Hearts finished first and second, respectively, in the 82nd running of the Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Saturday at Laurel Park. The $75,000 Selima, Laurel's oldest stakes race, was the feature attraction as the track celebrated its centennial. Laurel Park debuted on Oct. 2, 1911, under the auspices of the Laurel Four Corners County Fair and quickly became an autumn fixture on the racing calendar. A estimated 4,657 attended Laurel Park's 100th Birthday Bash and Fall Fest on Saturday.

LAUREL -- Ken de Saron and Smiling And Dancin, the winners of Maryland's premier 2-year-old events, made their fondness for soft turf abundantly clear when running away with their respective races, the Selima Stakes and Laurel Futurity, yesterday.Ken de Saron, a maiden filly who had finished third in France in her only prior start, won the Selima by 9 3/4 lengths after surging to the lead on the backstretch rail. Eric Legrix, one of France's top jockeys of 1991, was aboard.Maurice Zilber, the legendary French trainer, said he was "very, very confident" of Ken de Saron's chances.

Laurel Park Scat's Lassie favored in $75K Selima Stakes Scat's Lassie will go for two wins in a row for trainer Bruce Levine when 10 fillies start in the 82nd running of the $75,000 Selima Stakes, race No. 9 on the 10-race card Saturday at Laurel Park. The six-furlong test is Laurel's oldest stakes race, and 16 Selima winners have earned Eclipse Awards as champion 2-year-old fillies. Scat's Lassie (3-1) was a debut winner on the turf at Saturday's distance against New York-breds.

Because of an editing error in yesterday's editions, horse breeders Nick and Elaine Bassford were identified incorrectly as owners of Heavenly Prize, who won the Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park Saturday.The Sun regrets the error.Irish Forever delivered.The little chestnut filly, bought at the Timonium Fairgrounds for a bargain price in May, came from next-to-last in the eight-horse field and won the $145,400 Selima Stakes yesterday with authority over a yeilding turf course.It was the biggest career victory at Laurel Race Course for trainer Billy Boniface, whose greatest moments in the state have occurred at Pimlico.

The Selima Stakes was almost a re-run of Saturday's Laurel Futurity.Just as Millions had the day before, heavily favored Magic Broad prospered under jockey Edgar Prado's tactics to score a 4 1/4 -length victory in the Grade III $100,000 race for 2-year-old fillies.Prado stalked Timely Irony's slow pace, urged Magic Broad ahead as they entered the lane and pulled away to easily stave off the second choice, Petunia."She broke good, was real sharp and was doing everything nice and easy," said Prado, who is closing in on 400 victories for the year.

For a horse who has shown a liking for racing on the grass, Reach the Top is taking to dirt surfaces with gusto.The big filly showed yesterday that she is versatile, coming from just off the pace to out-duel a game Assault John to win the Grade III, $100,000 Selima Stakes at Laurel Park."

Two out-of-towners came to Laurel Park yesterday with the same idea. And they both succeeded. Not worried about entering unseasoned 2-year-olds into stakes races, Kentucky's Eddie Kenneally and New York's Steven Klesaris took the big prizes in Laurel's rare day of dual stakes races. Kenneally, the former private trainer for the late Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, took the $100,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Haitian Vacation. It was the fourth lifetime start for Haitian Vacation, who entered with one victory on her record.

Irish Forever, the diminutive 2-year-old filly trained in Harford County by Billy Boniface, is scheduled to take on seven rivals today in the $250,000 Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park.It is the first start for the horse since she convincingly won the Selima Stakes on Oct. 16 at Laurel.Boniface had originally planned to race the filly, who is unbeaten in four grass starts, in Florida this winter. "But there wasn't any stakes for her there worth more than $50,000," he said.

LAUREL -- The International Turf Festival at Laurel Race Course concluded yesterday with a sweep by local horses and jockeys in the final two events.It is the first time in the six runnings of the Turf Festival that a local horse or trainer had won any of the races, which annually attract some top European runners."

Two horses whom Marylanders can put on their very, very, very early Preakness watch list finished one-two in the $100,000 Laurel Futurity yesterday at Pimlico Race Course. Defer, a son of Danzig, finished two lengths ahead of Funk, a son of Unbridled's Song, in the Grade III stakes that has showcased such stars as Secretariat, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid. The Laurel Futurity was run at Pimlico because the Laurel racing surfaces are being rebuilt. Trained by Shug McGaughey at Belmont Park and ridden by Jerry Bailey, Defer at 3-5 odds raced in third and then thundered down the stretch for an impressive victory.

After his promising Toccet drew the outside post position in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, John Scanlan got up from his table at Arlington Park and left the room. He knew the outside in the 1 1/8 -mile race, with its short run to the turn, was the kiss of death. Toccet ran ninth in a race Scanlan thought, with a better draw, he could have won. Yesterday, perched in the cozier 5 post, Toccet fulfilled Scanlan's expectations by charging to a 6 1/4 -length triumph in the $100,000 Laurel Futurity on the colt's home track at Laurel Park.

Two out-of-towners came to Laurel Park yesterday with the same idea. And they both succeeded. Not worried about entering unseasoned 2-year-olds into stakes races, Kentucky's Eddie Kenneally and New York's Steven Klesaris took the big prizes in Laurel's rare day of dual stakes races. Kenneally, the former private trainer for the late Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, took the $100,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Haitian Vacation. It was the fourth lifetime start for Haitian Vacation, who entered with one victory on her record.

Trainer John Servis insists he would not have been out of place taking his filly Jostle to the Breeders' Cup gathering Saturday at Gulfstream Park.But a virus forced him to put his prize filly on the sideline and send her to Laurel Park for yesterday's $100,000 Grade III Selima Stakes. It was bad news for the rest of the field.The Philadelphia-based trainer watched with satisfaction as Jostle coasted to a 4 1/2-length victory, her third in four lifetime starts. She covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1 minute, 52.16 seconds.

TodayThree Grade 3 stakes are on tap at Laurel this weekend, each worth $100,000.An early post time of 11: 15 will be in effect today to coincide with the Breeders' Cup Series simulcast from Gulfstream Park. Nine 2-year-old colts will contest the 77th running of the Laurel Futurity at 1 1/8 miles over the main track. The Futurity will be the eighth race.Unbeaten Albert Says, trained by Grover Delp for the father-son team of Harry and Tom Meyerhoff, heads the field. The Kentucky-bred son of Personal Hope, who has never been around two turns, won a pair of sprints at Delaware Park in front-running fashion.

The Selima Stakes was almost a re-run of Saturday's Laurel Futurity.Just as Millions had the day before, heavily favored Magic Broad prospered under jockey Edgar Prado's tactics to score a 4 1/4 -length victory in the Grade III $100,000 race for 2-year-old fillies.Prado stalked Timely Irony's slow pace, urged Magic Broad ahead as they entered the lane and pulled away to easily stave off the second choice, Petunia."She broke good, was real sharp and was doing everything nice and easy," said Prado, who is closing in on 400 victories for the year.

LAUREL -- Tepid favorite Solar Splendor drew post No. 12 for tomorrow's Budweiser International, but the talk at Laurel Race Course yesterday focused more on the weather.Forecasts called for yesterday's steady rain to end before this morning, and track president Joe De Francis said he is optimistic the Laurel Futurity and Selima Stakes, which precede the International, will not have to be transferred to the main track."We'll have to reassess the situation if our forecast services are -- wrong," he said.

For a horse who has shown a liking for racing on the grass, Reach the Top is taking to dirt surfaces with gusto.The big filly showed yesterday that she is versatile, coming from just off the pace to out-duel a game Assault John to win the Grade III, $100,000 Selima Stakes at Laurel Park."

For the proprietor of a one-horse stable, Phyllis Susini is doing just fine in the racing business.Her one charge happens to be Captain Bodgit, who extended his winning streak to five yesterday by out-finishing Concerto by three quarters of a length in the Grade III, $100,000 Laurel Futurity."