Stakes Winner

The real running was done 30 minutes after the conclusion of the $50,000 Horatius Stakes yesterday at Laurel Park.It was then, in a $14,500 claiming race, that former stakes runners Foxie G. and Majesty's Turn turned the clock back a few years and made some horsemen scratch their heads.The race was won by Majesty's Turn, a 9-year-old who blazed the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1: 16 4/5 and paid $9.60, $4.60 and $3.80. He covered six furlongs in 1: 10 4/5, about five lengths better than Running Copelan did on his way to winning the seven-furlong Horatius Stakes 30 minutes earlier.

A potent entry of Sharp Appeal and Claudius is likely to be the bettors' choice in today's $200,000 Dixie Stakes, which has been run since 1870, three years before the first Preakness.The Grade II Dixie -- at 1 1/8 miles on the grass -- is the highlight of five companion stakes to the 122nd Preakness.Sharp Appeal comes into the race with five straight victories, including two graded events in his past two starts. Trainer Marty Wolfson claimed the colt for $50,000 as a 2-year-old and he has won nearly $300,000 this season.

Another generation of stakes-winning Delp trainers has emerged on Maryland's thoroughbred racing circuit.Gerald Delp, 32, sent out his first stakes starter, Riverland, yesterday in Pimlico's Toddler Breeders' Cup, and the 2-year-old filly, sent off the 6-5 favorite in the 10-horse field, responded with a neck victory over the White Rose Stable's Sweetheart Slew."

For the past few years, Dale Capuano has worn the mantle of Maryland's up-and-coming young trainer.Now he's got quite a worthy rival in Graham Motion, 31, who differs in both style and stable strategy.Capuano has shown he can bring along young horses and win stakes, but he still deals mostly in volume and claimers.Motion strictly develops young horses, mostly for breeders, and has a proven high win percentage -- about 39 percent so far at Laurel this summer with seven winners from 18 starters.

About one minute before 4 p.m. yesterday, stewards at Laurel Park prepared to scratch Josephine Abercrombie's Hasten To Add from the $100,000 Laurel Turf Cup.The reason? Jim Day, Canada's four-time leading trainer who had just shipped in the horse from Toronto, had forgotten to pay a $100 fee to obtain his Maryland trainer's license.Just when racing commission personnel were about to lock their doors, Day popped in and paid the money.About a half-hour later, Hasten To Add's timing was just as perfect.

It's no surprise that King Leatherbury continues to send out a stream of winning horses.What is a bit unusual, though, is the perennially leading trainer's clout in recent Laurel stakes.Claiming is the name of the game and is how the 61-year-old trainer maintains his winning reputation, although he has saddled his share of stakes winners through the years.When Gotcha Cornered came from off the pace and wore down Northern Lion yesterday in the $32,175 Pro Bidder Stakes, it was Leatherbury's third stakes winner in the past four weekends at Laurel Park.

Short Stay, a Maryland Million winner, and Goldminer's Dream, who was bumped from the starting lineup in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, are favored in two rich weekend stakes at Laurel Park.Nationally, things are quiet in stakes activity a week after the Breeders' Cup.The Northern Dancer Stakes at Laurel, which carries a $100,000 purse and is restricted to Maryland-breds, is the richest event in the country today -- along with stakes that have similar-sized purses in California, New York and Kentucky.

Eight stakes winners are among 13 3-year-old fillies scheduled to vie in today's $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the Preakness eve feature at Pimlico.The 70th running of the Grade II race has lured Forcing Bid, Alywow and Ask Shananie, all multiple stakes victors, for a 1 1/8 -mile test.All three will carry extra weight, with Forcing Bid assigned 122 pounds, Alywow 119 and Ask Shananie 117. Premier Mombo, a stakes winner around two turns last September here, will also carry 117 pounds. All others get 114.Forcing Bid has come from off the pace in her past two starts, winning the Grade III Busher Breeders' Cup at Aqueduct and the National Jockey Club Oaks at Sportsman's Park, both at 1 1/6 miles.

When the field was officially drawn yesterday for the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, there was one semi-surprise.The owners of Never Wavering came through with a $15,000 late-filing fee and entered their 5-year-old thoroughbred in the race.It is the first time in the five-year history of the Dash that a so-called supplemental entry will be in the starting lineup.Never Wavering, listed at 10-1 odds, is one of 11 horses scheduled to run tomorrow in the six-furlong sprint, which is the richest stakes of the summer at Laurel Race Course.

Two of the best local Preakness-age colts clash today for the first time in the Dancing Count Stakes at Laurel Race Course.They are the proven stakes winner, Run Alden, and the unbeaten 3-year-old, Can't Be Denied, who has won his first two Laurel starts by a combined total of 11 1/2 lengths.A third principal contender, graded stakes winner Popol's Gold, will be scratched, according to his trainer, Billy Turner.Run Alden, winner of the Maryland Million Nursery and Maryland Juvenile Championship, "gave us a scare three weeks ago when he slipped and hurt his stifle [hip joint]

Horse racing Draw for $1.25M Haskell, featuring 'Rachel,' is today The field for Sunday's 42nd running of the $1.25 million Grade I Haskell Invitational has started to assemble at Monmouth, and the race will be drawn on at 11:30 a.m. today. The Haskell draw can be seen live on the Monmouth Park website, www.monmouthpark.com. Already on the grounds are Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem, Long Branch Stakes winner Atomic Rain, Continental Mile stakes winner Bunker Hill and Iowa Derby winner Duke of Mischief.

Cherokee's Boy, who is scheduled to be retired to stud after the race, has been installed as an overwhelming 1-2 favorite on the overnight line for the $250,000 Maryland Million Classic on Saturday at Laurel Park. The Classic is the headliner on the 21st annual Maryland Million Day program, which drew 117 starters for 12 races with purses worth nearly $1.5 million. With the assistance of good weather, Million officials are hoping for an on-track crowd approaching 25,000 for a card with a first post of 12:35 p.m. The racing is limited to the offspring of Maryland sires - a concept originated by Jim McKay.

Joe De Francis, the Maryland Jockey Club's chief executive officer, was all smiles at the Preakness Stakes draw yesterday, not at all put off by suggestions made during the ESPN broadcast that poor sportsmanship was being shown by the majority of trainers who chose not to bring their Kentucky Derby horses to the Preakness. "I think the problem was that Barbaro was so dominant trainers didn't want to face him again," De Francis said. "It's always a mixed blessing - or a double-edged sword - for a horse to win the Derby as easily as he did. The positive is that it generates excitement and enthusiasm for the Triple Crown among a lot of average spectators and the negative is it's very much tougher to convince the 19 trainers behind him to take him on in the Preakness.

NEW KENT, Va. - The maximum field of 14 runners, including Preakness also-ran Bay Eagle, will battle for the winner's share of the $200,000 purse in today's fourth renewal of the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Contested at 1 1/4 miles on the track's state-of-the-art turf course, the race is the state's richest. Bay Eagle is one of two Virginia-bred horses in the 3-year-old field and the leading money winner ($139,923). He finished eighth to Point Given in the Preakness, but is largely untested on the grass with only one start, a second-place finish in a maiden race at Laurel Park in November.

A pair of $50,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds highlight the race cards this weekend at Laurel Park. Today Six fillies are entered to start in the $50,000 Landaura Stakes. All six are looking for their first stakes victory. Five of the six come into the race off wins. Three of these won their previous starts in New York. In 23 combined starts, the six have finished in the money 21 times. Skeedattle Associates' Strike It Up galloped home by 13 lengths in an allowance score at Aqueduct on Jan. 31. She is trained by Anthony Dutrow and will be ridden by Rick Wilson.

Today: The $75,000 Private Terms Stakes, set for its 12th running, has attracted 10 3-year-olds, including several nominees for the Triple Crown series. While several of those entered have never gone 1 1/8 miles, Connect, Oro de Tejano and Dawn of the Condors have won at this route. Connect won the Miracle Wood stakes here in January, while Oro de Tejano and Dawn of the Condors are local allowance victors. Of those eligible for the Triple Crown, Ben the Man would have been the classiest of the group.

The real running was done 30 minutes after the conclusion of the $50,000 Horatius Stakes yesterday at Laurel Park.It was then, in a $14,500 claiming race, that former stakes runners Foxie G. and Majesty's Turn turned the clock back a few years and made some horsemen scratch their heads.The race was won by Majesty's Turn, a 9-year-old who blazed the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1: 16 4/5 and paid $9.60, $4.60 and $3.80. He covered six furlongs in 1: 10 4/5, about five lengths better than Running Copelan did on his way to winning the seven-furlong Horatius Stakes 30 minutes earlier.

A potent entry of Sharp Appeal and Claudius is likely to be the bettors' choice in today's $200,000 Dixie Stakes, which has been run since 1870, three years before the first Preakness.The Grade II Dixie -- at 1 1/8 miles on the grass -- is the highlight of five companion stakes to the 122nd Preakness.Sharp Appeal comes into the race with five straight victories, including two graded events in his past two starts. Trainer Marty Wolfson claimed the colt for $50,000 as a 2-year-old and he has won nearly $300,000 this season.

About one minute before 4 p.m. yesterday, stewards at Laurel Park prepared to scratch Josephine Abercrombie's Hasten To Add from the $100,000 Laurel Turf Cup.The reason? Jim Day, Canada's four-time leading trainer who had just shipped in the horse from Toronto, had forgotten to pay a $100 fee to obtain his Maryland trainer's license.Just when racing commission personnel were about to lock their doors, Day popped in and paid the money.About a half-hour later, Hasten To Add's timing was just as perfect.

Short Stay, a Maryland Million winner, and Goldminer's Dream, who was bumped from the starting lineup in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, are favored in two rich weekend stakes at Laurel Park.Nationally, things are quiet in stakes activity a week after the Breeders' Cup.The Northern Dancer Stakes at Laurel, which carries a $100,000 purse and is restricted to Maryland-breds, is the richest event in the country today -- along with stakes that have similar-sized purses in California, New York and Kentucky.