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Pick Pony | Sept. 13, 2024, 12:20 p.m.
Italian Group 3 winner Atomic Blonde, four times graded-stakes placed in North America, will get some class relief as she shortens up in attempt to regain her winning form in Saturday’s $100,000 All Along at Laurel Park.
The 53rd running of the 1 1/8-mile All Along scheduled for the Kelso turf course is the first of three $100,000 stakes on an 11-race program, followed by the six-furlong Sensible Lady Turf Dash, also for fillies and mares 3 and up, and the one-mile Polynesian for horses 3 and older.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Winters Equine and trainer Christophe Clement, who purchased the 5-year-old mare for $316,225 in December 2022 in France, Atomic Blonde comes into the All Along having run six straight races at 1 ¼ miles or longer. In her most recent she was a non-threatening fifth to McKulick in the 1 ½-mile Glens Falls (G2) Aug. 1 at Saratoga.
Prior to that run, Atomic Blonde was third behind another Grade 1-winning millionaire, War Like Goddess, in the 1 3/8-mile Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) July 7 at Delaware Park, after having rallied for a half-length triumph in Churchill Downs’ May 25 Keertana for her lone win in 12 North American starts.
“I’m excited to see her. It looks like she’s going to be competitive in that spot,” West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. “It’s a good spot for her. She didn’t run her race last time up in Saratoga and I expect that she’ll run a lot better this time and show kind of the form that she showed in Kentucky.”
Jockey Vincent Cheminaud will be aboard for the first time in the All Along from Post 2 in a field of eight that includes multiple stakes winner Malibu Beauty, entered for main track only. Atomic Blonde has been third or better in seven of 11 starts since leaving Europe, where she won the Premio Verziere Memorial Aldo Cirla Tr Arqana (G3) in October 2022 at Milan.
In 2023 Atomic Blonde ran third in the Orchid (G3), Sheepshead Bay (G2) and Canadian (G2) and was second in the April 26 Bewitch (G2) at Keeneland. She has two seconds and a third in three career tries at 1 1/8 miles, including a runner-up finish behind multiple graded-stakes winner Sparkle Blue in Laurel’s Big Dreyfus last summer.
“We’re hoping that she finds the form that she had going into that last race. We expected a much bigger effort out of her last time so that was a little bit of a disappointment,” Bellhouse said. “But, on her good days, as you saw in Kentucky and down at Gulfstream a year ago, she can run with any of them.”
Trainer Graham Motion will send out the pair of No Show Sammy Jo and For Flying. Bridlewood Farm and Madaket Stables’ 4-year-old No Show Sammy Jo will be making just her fifth start and first in stakes company riding a three-race win streak dating back to last June, while Newstead Stables’ For Flying, also 4, won the 2023 Barao de Piracicaba (G1) in her native Brazil and each of her two starts since coming to the U.S. this year.
Maryland homebred Cut From Class, second to Sparkle Blue in the July 21 Big Dreyfus; She’s Dancing, Circle Home and stakes-placed Blood Orange are also entered.
The All Along is named for the French-bred filly that won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Rothmans International, Turf Classic and Laurel’s Washington D.C. International in the span of 41 days in 1983 en route to becoming the first foreign-based horse to be voted U.S. Horse of the Year. A winner of nine races and more than $3 million in purses from 21 starts, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1990.
Five Stakes Winners Top $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash
Stakes winners Love Appeals, All That Magic, Anaita, Loon Cry and L Street Lady head an overflow field of 13 entered for the $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash scheduled for six furlongs on the Fort Marcy turf course.
Both Love Appeals and Loon Cry are trained by New York-based Christophe Clement. Moyglare Stud Farm homebred Love Appeals has won two straight including the five-furlong Incredible Revenge Aug. 11 at Monmouth Park, while Waterville Lake Stables’ homebred Loon Cry also sports back-to-back victories capped by the six-furlong Sweet Briar Too Aug. 3 at Woodbine.
Pewter Stable and Spedale Family Racing’s All That Magic won the Incredible Revenge in 2023 and finished fourth, beaten 2 ¼ lengths, in her title defense. Dunham Thoroughbreds’ Indiana-bred Anaita has been third or better in 22 of 29 starts, 10 of them wins, including the five-furlong Lebanon Valley over a yielding Penn National turf Aug. 30.
Madaket Stables is also represented by L Street Lady, winner of the six-furlong Xtra Heat last winter on Laurel’s main track that debuted with a third to Alla Breve in October 2022 on the Laurel grass. Each of her last three starts were rained off the turf, including the 2023 Coronation Cup at Saratoga, where she ran third.
“We’ve been trying to get this filly on the grass for some time,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “She’s a big heavy filly so we’ve kind of run her fit. She’s been up in New York, so it’ll be nice to keep her home. I’m excited to try her on the grass. It’s a little further. She’s just not quick enough for that 5 ½ but I think if she can get her feet under her and if the race can set up right for her, I think she’ll be running at the end.”
Four-time stakes-placed Blame Day; Queen of the Mud, second in successive stakes on grass and all-weather surfaces; Ms. Bucchero, runner-up in Laurel’s July 28 Alma North yet to run on turf; Shoshanah, second to Love Appeals in the Incredible Revenge; and Hay Stack round out the main body of the field.
On the also-eligible list are Alla Breve, winner of Laurel’s six-furlong Jameela on turf July 14, Carolina Hideaway and Isabel Alexandra.
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.
Continuing on the path to a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup, Hillwood Stable’s Maryland-bred and based multiple graded-stakes winner Post Time returns to his home track for the first time since mid-February in Saturday’s $100,000 Polynesian at Laurel Park.
The 20th running of the one-mile Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up headlines an 11-race program that also features a pair of $100,000 stakes scheduled for the grass – the 1 1/8-mile All Along and 5 ½-furlong Sensible Lady Turf Dash, both for fillies and mares 3 and up. Post time is 12:25 p.m.
Trainer Brittany Russell, who turned 35 Wednesday, said the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar remains under consideration for Post Time, who enters the Polynesian off back-to-back Grade 1 placings at Saratoga. The 4-year-old Post Time ranks first with 22 points in the Breeders’ Cup divisional standings with National Treasure and Japan-based Crown Pride having earned automatic berths.
“We had a few options in front of us but we’re kind of keeping a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup in the back of our minds and, with that being said, it just felt good to maybe give him one at home,” Russell said. “Hopefully we pick his head up and give him a win. He’s been banging heads with all the best his last couple runs. We’re hoping we can get him in the winner’s circle and get a fun run into him.”
Mile races on the dirt are contested around two turns at Del Mar, a circumstance Post Time faced for the first time when he ran third in his most recent start, the Aug. 3 Whitney (G1), finishing ahead of such horses as graded-stakes winning millionaires Disarm, Skippylongstocking, National Treasure and First Mission and Grade 1 winner Bright Future. Prior to that, Post Time was second behind National Treasure in the June 8 Met Mile (G1).
Part of Russell’s string at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. overseen by assistant and exercise rider Emma Wolfe, Post Time has breezed twice since the Whitney including a five-furlong move in 1:02 Sept. 6. In his other tries at one mile, he was second in the May 3 Westchester (G3) at Aqueduct and won the Jan. 28 Jennings against fellow Maryland-bred/ sired horses at Laurel.
“He’s great. I watched him go by the other morning and he was giving Emma a hard time, which was great to see. He’s being himself,” Russell said. “Emma says he’s angry. He’s not pouting, he’s mad. Physically he’s great. He’s holding up to all that in that sense. It’s horse racing. A lot of things can happen in the afternoon. We’re not by any means being like, ‘Oh, he’s going to win.’ But we’re putting him in a spot where he should win and I’m hoping mentally that’ll put him right forward.”
Post Time has run six times at Laurel, all of them wins, including the Maryland Juvenile in 2022 when he was named the state’s top 2-year-old, 2023 Jennings and Feb. 17 General George (G3), his last home start. He drew Post 5 in a field of six under regular rider Sheldon Russell.
“Moving forward, cutting him back to one turn he’s been very good doing it in the races that we have been able to run him one turn. We know it’s not an issue with him,” Brittany Russell said. “It’s one of those things. It’s going to be short field, you just have to see how it sets up. Hopefully he’s the Post Time that he has been the last couple runs, because that should get the job done.”
Other one-mile stakes options this month include the $300,000 Parx Mile Sept. 21 and the $400,000 Ack Ack (G3) Sept. 28 at Churchill Downs, a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the Dirt Mile. Overall Post Time has been third or better in all 12 of his starts with eight wins and $937,910 in purse earnings.
“We’ve all been on the road with him, too. We’re proud of him and he’s showed up and he’s done a lot of good in these big races, but it would be nice to get [owner] Mrs. [Ellen] Charles in the win picture with him if we can,” Russell said. “I think it’ll be nice to not have to ship him. It’s a small $100,000 stake but in the grand scheme of things, if it sets him up good for whatever we choose his next start to be, it fits well in the schedule.”
Russell also entered Frightland, bred and owned by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds, in the Polynesian. It will be the 24th start and first in stakes company for the 6-year-old gelding, who owns a career record of 3-5-3 from 18 races at Laurel and was most recently third by a length in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Aug. 2.
“Frightland is a little bit of a tricky horse. He seems to run good at Laurel and in the summer with all the tracks open I’ve had a little bit of a hard time getting him in,” Russell said. “I was just hoping that in a short field that maybe he could get a piece of it.”
Sterling Road Stables and LBR Racing Stable’s Riccio enters the Polynesian off a dominant nine-length victory in an off-the-turf Find going one mile Aug. 18 at Laurel for trainer Richard Sillaman. It was the first stakes win for the 4-year-old gelding after placing three times previously.
Matt Spencer, Kelly Jo Cox and Bonuccelli Racing’s Ain’t Da Beer Cold is the most experienced Polynesian runner with 40 starts, 32 of them coming at Laurel, where he has a record of 6-5-5 topped by wins in the April 13 Native Dancer and 2023 Maryland Million Classic – the latter by disqualification – at 1 1/8 miles.
Debit Card, coming off back-to-back sprint wins at Charles Town, and Curlin’s Malibu complete the field.
The Polynesian is named for the 1945 Preakness (G1) winner that put together a record of 27-10-10 with purse earnings of $310,410 from 1944-47, 16 of his victories coming in stakes. Named the U.S. champion sprinter in 1947, he went on to a successful stud career most notably as the sire of Hall of Famer Native Dancer, the 1953 Preakness winner, and grandsire of 1966 Preakness winner Kauai King.