PADDOCK

The Laurel paddock is something of a geometric wonder.

It’s also a structure dating from the 1920s or ‘30s and eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, according to a recent state-sponsored report, which noted its “many original and distinctive features.”

YOU LOOK MAVILUS

Mavilus couldn’t win a first-level allowance in her start prior to Saturday’s Conniver Stakes. 

No matter. Under jockey Jaime Rodriguez, she rallied from well back to prevail by a half-length for her first stakes win, which isn’t bad for a horse that had been claimed for $5,000 earlier in her career. 

Mavilus is trained by Carlos Mancilla for Michael Scheffres.

“We feel so good,” said the trainer, a winner of over 150 races in his career. “My whole family works together.”

CLASS OF THE FIELD

Nimitz Class proved himself the class of the field in the Harrison Johnson Memorial Stakes, winning off by a half-dozen lengths under jockey Jevian Toledo for trainer Bruce Kravets and owner Tom Coulter.

After showing some promise as a younger horse sprinting, he blossomed late in his three-year-old season and now as a four-year-old with added ground. He’s 4-for-4 going a mile or further, and the Johnson was his third consecutive stakes win.

As for the name: Coulter said he names the horses he breeds alphabetically, and the year this guy was born, all of them got names beginning with ‘N.’ Nimitz Class refers to a class of nuclear powered aircraft carrier.

WEIGHT FOR IT

They also serve who only stand and…umm… weight.

Every horse in every race at Laurel gets weighed prior to the race, the weights then shown on screen.

BLOWING BY

Breezy Gust blew by his rivals to win the Not for Love Stakes by a length-and-a-little.

It was the six-year-old’s first stakes win and also the first stakes win for jockey-turned trainer Josue Arce, who plies his trade at Parx Racing these days, managing an 11-horse stable. Props to jockey Dexter Haddock, who astutely kept the favorite, Eastern Bay, hemmed in behind horses.

“That’s a key of our success right now,” Arce explained. “I got so many good people backing me up.”

BOUNDING HOME

Lady Lowery sped to the front, controlled the pace, and drew away readily to win the Beyond the Wire Stakes for three-year-old fillies by three lengths under Jack Gilligan.

Trained by Will Walden for a partnership including Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and others, Lady Lowery won for the second time in three starts. It was her first race on dirt after a career-opening pair of outings on synthetic at Turfway Park.

“To be honest, we were actually looking at this race for a different filly in our stable,” Walden explained. “We worked them both last week and just felt like Lady Lowery was doing a little bit better and this spot would fit her well,” 

ON STRIKE!

Hayes Strike scored by almost two lengths to take the Private Terms Stakes for three-year-olds.

The Connect colt had certainly kept the right company prior to the Private Terms, earning multiple graded stakes placings. Still, the betting public made him 8-1 at post time, higher than five of his seven rivals.

Horacio Karamanos was up for Kenny McPeek, who said later, “We’ll probably bring him back in the Blue Grass [G1 April 8 at Keeneland]. He’s got a Kentucky-based owner. Dixiana will probably give him a shot back home.”