Juveniles try to stretch speed

Clever Mind and Limited View won their respective Maryland Million Day races on pure ability. On Saturday at Laurel Park, they will try to build on those performances while stretching out to seven furlongs.

Clever Mind will face five rivals in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity. Limited View has 10 opponents in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship. The card includes two other stakes.

Clever Mind won his debut in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery, despite dropping far back early. He seemingly had too much work to do entering the stretch, but found his best stride and finished smartly to win going away by two lengths.

Owned and bred by Richard Golden, president of the Northview Stallion Station, and trained by Graham Motion, Clever Mind’s final time of 1:10.05 was 2.1 seconds faster than Limited View ran two races later. The 76 Beyer Speed Figure that Clever Mind earned is five points higher than anybody in the Futurity field.

“I can’t honestly remember ever running a firsttime starter in a stakes race before,” Motion said. “I obviously liked him, and he ran to expectations. I expect him to be a little more engaged early this time.”

Clever Mind will be firsttime Lasix in the Futurity after bleeding “very marginally,” according to Motion.

Jamaican Don, the Nursery runner-up, ships back to Maryland from Ohio. A rapid son of Freedom Child trained by Jason DaCosta, he came out of the Nursery to win an allowance race at Mahoning Valley. He has two wins and a pair of runner-up stakes finishes from four starts.

Although Clever Mind blew by him in the Nursery, Jamaican Don’s early speed makes him dangerous.

Limited View is 3 for 4 for co-owner and trainer John Salzman Jr., with her only loss having come in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga. While undoubtedly talented, she is high strung and her nerves have gotten the better of her on occasion.

Following a front-running debut win at Laurel, Salzman took her to Saratoga for the Schuylerville Stakes. Limited View became agitated in the paddock, though, and was scratched after she could not be saddled.

In the Maryland Million Lassie, she was fractious in the gate and then broke awkwardly and bore out. She rallied wide from more than a dozen lengths off the pace to win by three-quarters of a length.

“We’ve had her to the gate four or five times since the race and she’s done okay,” Salzman said. “I think she’s grown up a little bit and settled down some, but we still have to go through all the hoops on race day – the paddock, the pony, the gate.”

Limited View is fast, and if all goes according to plan Saturday, she should be on or near the lead.

Salzman purchased Limited View out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale at Timonium for $5,200. She has earned $117,000 so far.

“She was just my type of horse,” Salzman said. “I buy off appearance. I don’t look at the book. That’s how I get them so cheap every year.”

Frechette and Steamy Hot are top contenders in the Juvenile Fillies Championship.

Frechette, who races for Golden and Motion, is a son of Northview’s successful first-crop sire El Padrino, who recently passed away at age 8 due to complications from colic.

Frechette just missed in her October debut and then came back to win second time out at Laurel by 3 1/4 lengths.

“She ran well in her first start and seemed to benefit from the experience,” Motion said.

Steamy Hot won her maiden in a $40,000 waiver-claiming race by 14 lengths Oct. 29 for trainer Mary Eppler.