Forest Fire Wins Classic on Maryland Million Day

Forest Fire doesn't win by much, but, more importantly, he often wins. Racing Oct. 19 in the $153,000 Maryland Million Classic Stakes at Laurel Park, he squeaked out a half-length victory over Prendimi, his third straight victory and the seventh of his 13-race career.

Like his victories at Parx Racing July 29 and Sept. 9—both by a neck—Forest Fire never delivered a knockout blow. But he pushed frontrunning Prendimi through splits of :49.25 and 1:13.40 in the 1 1/8-mile race and inched away in what was essentially a two-horse race from start to finish. 

Tappin Cat was 2 1/4 lengths back in third.

The Classic was the feature on the 34th Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program that had a full card of races worth more than $1 million combined. The stakes were restricted to horses sired in Maryland.

A 4-year-old gelded Pennsylvania-bred son of Maryland sire Friesan Fire  trained by John Servis and owned and bred by Shirley Lojeski, Forest Fire finished in 1:50.42 under Paco Lopez. He returned $8 to win.

"John told me, 'Paco, put the horse right there. You have a very good post, so if somebody wants to go crazy, let them go and you can sit second or third.' I just wanted to see how the race played out," Lopez said. "I had great position and the pace was good, and turning for home he was just going easy and was able to hold off that horse."

Lopez and Servis collected their first Maryland Million victories.

Video: Maryland Million Classic S. (BT)

Earlier at Laurel, speed was on display when Big Bertha Stable's Taco Supream outran two-time graded stakes winner Call Paul for a three-quarter-length victory in the $100,000 Maryland Million Sprint Handicap with six furlongs in 1:08.80.

Taco Supream gave trainer Damon Dilodovico his sixth Maryland Million victory and jockey Sheldon Russell his seventh. It was Russell's second of the day, following Hello Beautiful's victory for his wife, trainer Brittany Russell, in the $101,960 Lassie Stakes.

"He's had a tremendous week," Dilodovico said of his 4-year-old gelding. "He gave us a hell of a mile last fall, so I knew he had the stamina, and I think the track's been speed-favoring, so I'm very happy with the effort. There were some tough horses in this race."

In turf races on the card, Matthew Schera's Zonda earned her first stakes victory in her fifth try, completing 1 1/8 miles on firm turf in 1:50.46 to win the $125,000 Maryland Million Ladies Stakes. Victor Carrasco was aboard for trainer James "Chuck" Lawrence II.

"She breezed incredibly last week," Lawrence said. "She was going into the race so well. She was just peaking, which is so nice."

The stakes race for turf males, the $127,500 Maryland Million Turf Stakes, went to Kevin Morgan's homebred Mr. d'Angelo, who recorded a 1 3/4-length upset. Jevian Toledo rode him for trainer Tim Woolley.

"He's a horse with a lot of heart, and he's very game. He just needs the right trip," Woolley said.

Other stakes at Laurel resulted in victories from Anna's Bandit in the $101,000 Maryland Million Distaff Handicap and Ournationonparade in the $102,000 Maryland Million Nursery Stakes.

The wins from Hello Beautiful (by Golden Lad ) and Ournationonparade (by Cal Nation) gave their sires their first black-type winners. Golden Lad stands at Northview Stallion Station in Maryland, where his stud fee was $5,000 in 2019. Cal Nation, whose fee was $2,500 this year, stands at Kingfisher Lane Farm in Pennsylvania.