Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Hello Beautiful looms large in Maryland Million Distaff
The popular Hello Beautiful seeks a three-peat of sorts when she starts favored in Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.
If Hello Beautiful is successful, it would be her third victory on Maryland Million cards. She captured the Lassie as a juvenile filly and dominated last year’s Distaff, winning by 11 1/4 lengths with a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
Hello Beautiful won her most recent start, the Weathervane Stakes, by 10 1/4 lengths. She looms the controlling speed for trainer Brittany Russell.
“She seems to be full of energy.” Russell said Thursday morning.
Hello Beautiful was a handful prior to the Weathervane.
“The gate has always been a thing with her,” Russell said. “She’s like a no-load in the morning. When she shows herself in the afternoon doing that, it’s not out of character.”
Trainer John Robb counters with Street Lute and Fille d’Esprit, an uncoupled entry with a combined record of 15 wins from 22 starts.
“All of her races are good except for the ones where I’ve tried something different,” Robb said of Street Lute. “I tried the turf, and it didn’t work. I tried Charles Town without the Lasix” – in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks – “and she bled. She gives it to you 100 percent of the time.”
Fille d’Esprit won her last four starts, but this will be her 2021 debut.
“She’s dead-fit,” Robb continued. “She’d have to run in a three-other-than, which is fairly comparable to what we’re running against – other than Hello Beautiful.”
Trainer Gary Capuano entered stakes winner Malibu Beauty. Capuano realizes the challenges that lay ahead.
“Street Lute is such a quality filly,” he said. “She’s beat us twice now. Obviously, Hello Beautiful, they don’t get any better right now. We’re not afraid of her, but I’d rather wait until next year to have to run against her.”
Coconut Cake, Whispering Pines, and Factorintheheat also entered.
Maryland Million Sprint
Double Crown makes his first start for Tom Amoss in the $100,000 Sprint at six furlongs, and the trainer has noticed some quirky behavior from the multiple stakes winner.
“He makes a good push when you ask him,” Amoss said. “But you’ve got to be careful when you ask him. Watching his replays, he tends to wait a bit on horses.”
Amoss has been working on Double Crown’s gate behavior. “He does have a habit of sometimes not leaving as well as he should.”
Double Crown worked a bullet five-eighths in 58 seconds with a final half in a reported 45.60 on Oct. 9. “It was a significant work,” Amoss said.
Capuano’s patience paid dividends for Band On Tour, a gelding who has won four of his last five.
“As a 2-year-old, he looked like he was going to be a good horse,” Capuano said. “He broke his maiden, but then had surgery. He came back and was a handful. He didn’t want to go on a straight course and tried to bolt on the turns.”
Capuano credits jockey Jonathan Joyce for helping Band On Tour’s demeanor. “He’s coming into his own and behaving himself.”
Maryland Million Lassie
Robb sends out Sparkle Sprinkle against impressive maiden winners Waterworks and Dowser in the $100,000 Lassie for juvenile fillies at six furlongs. A gate-to-wire winner of her first two starts, she tired badly in a $25,000 starter allowance 19 days ago.
“She had a head congestion and a breathing problem, so hopefully I have that all cleared up,” Robb said.
Waterworks never got out of first gear after a poor start in her career debut sprinting at Monmouth but exploded to win an off-turf mile event with a 68 Beyer for trainer Steve Asmussen.
Dowser, trained by Michael Matz, was a professional rallying winner of her debut at Penn National. Other contenders include Sweet Gracie, Buff My Boots, and Luna Belle.
Maryland Million Nursery
Mr. Mox, a 10 3/4-length winner of a $75,000 claimer at Delaware, is one of a bevy of contenders in a wide-open edition of the $100,000 Nursery for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.
“The horse always told me he wanted to go two turns, and he really relished that,” trainer Jamie Ness said. “Now, I’m relegated to running him six furlongs, but he’s always been talented.”
Robb mentioned that recent maiden winner All for Love is “nearly impossible to train. He’s a head case but is improving with each start.”
Dale Capuano was impressed with Vance Scholars’s maiden win at a mile. “Basically, he ran the last quarter,” he said. “I’ve had good luck wheeling horses back in six or seven days, and he looks very competitive.”
Buff Hello, dropping out of Monmouth’s Sapling Stakes, must be respected for trainer Claudio Gonzalez.