Ournationonparade Wins MD Million Classic Off the Claim
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Photo: Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Ournationonparade wins the Maryland Million Classic Stakes at Laurel Park
Happy Go Lucky Stable's Ournationonparade , racing first time for his new connections, paid immediate dividends with a popular and decisive 5 3/4-length triumph in the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic Oct. 22 at Laurel Park.
The 1 1/8-mile Classic for 3-year-olds and up headlined the 37th Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program of 12 races featuring eight stakes and four starter stakes on 'Maryland's Day at the Races,' celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state.
It was the second win of day for trainer Jamie Ness and jockey Jaime Rodriguez, who also teamed up in the $100,000 Lassie with 2-year-old filly Chickieness , bred and co-owned by Ness' Jagger Inc. It was also the second Maryland Million win for Ournationonparade, coming three years after his victory in the 2019 Nursery.
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Ournationonparade ($6) was sent off as the 2-1 favorite in a field of 11 that included the past two Classic winners, Prendimi and Monday Morning Qb along with multiple stakes winners Double Crown and Tappin Cat. Bred in Maryland by John Williamson III, Ournationonparade is a 5-year-old Cal Nation gelding out of the mare Parade of Colors , who Ness also trained.
"She was slow. She really was," Ness said. "(Williamson) approached me and said, 'What about that old mare? When you're done racing her, can I have her?' He said, 'I don't know what it is about her, but I just like her.' She's produced winner after winner after winner.
"Good for him. He was pretty choked up after the race, and that made me a little choked up."
As he did in his front-running 2020 triumph, Monday Morning Qb took the initiative with splits of :24.65 and :49.74, chased by Prendimi and Vance Scholars .
Rodriguez had Ournationonparade settled in fifth with an eye on Predimi who, like Monday Morning Qb, was trying to become just the sixth multiple winner of the Classic and first since Admirals War Chest in 2015-16.
Ournationonparade ranged up on Prendimi midway around the turn, matching strides approaching the stretch and surging past once straightened for home, going a mile in 1:38.71 and continuing to gain separation to the wire, finishing up in 1:51.78 over a fast main track. Vance Scholars came on to be second, a half-length ahead of The Poser, with Double Crown another head back in fourth.
"By the time I got to the quarter pole, he just exploded. I didn't even ask him. I'm just sitting on him and he was cruising on," the winning rider said.
Ness claimed Ournationonparade for $50,000 out of a Sept. 28 win at Churchill Downs sprinting seven furlongs. He had never been 1 1/8 miles before but did win a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer by 9 3/4 lengths Aug. 2 at Horseshoe Indianapolis one start before he was claimed.
"I think he's just a good horse. He's just a little bit better than these horses, and he proved it today," Ness said.
Other Maryland Million Day Stakes winners included:
- Maryland Million Turf Sprint: R. Larry Johnson and R. D. M. Racing Stable's Sky's Not Falling
- Maryland Million Nursery: Charles Reed's Johnyz From Albany
- Maryland Million Ladies: N R S Stable, James Chambers, and Tim Keefe's Coconut Cake
- Maryland Million Distaff: CJI Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm's Fille d'Espirt
- Maryland Million Turf: Samuel Davis' Wicked Prankster
- Maryland Million Sprint: Smart Angle's Fortheluvofbourbon