All Eyes on Showalter in Laurel Park Stakes

A 2-year-old gelding with strong ties to the Baltimore Orioles figures to get plenty of attention in the $50,000 Maryland Juvenile Futurity for state-breds, one of five stakes on the Dec. 26 program at Laurel Park.

 

Showalter, by Quality Road   out of the Dayjur mare Lucette, was bred and is owned by Marathon Farms, which is operated by Orioles majority owner Peter Angelos. He was named by Angelos in honor of Orioles manager Buck Showalter.

 

Laurel officials said the Youtube.com video of Showalter's only race—he won a maiden special weight event Nov. 29 at Laurel—has been viewed about 2,000 times. The popularity means trainer Robert Leaf Jr. has to answer a lot of questions.

 

"People see me and say, 'Hey, you got Showalter. (Are) you running in the stakes?' No pressure, right?" Leaf said.

 

Showalter, who slipped away at 6-1 in his debut despite his local following, defeated Hennessy Fire by a neck; that runner again finished second in his subsequent start.

 

"I think he beat some nice horses when he won," Leaf said. "I know he's running against some horses (Saturday), but I think he'll get the extra distance and, going seven furlongs, he won't have as much pressure from the start."

 

"I was expecting that kind of ability, but maybe not that kind of tenacity," the trainer said of Showalter's debut, in which he grabbed the early lead and was pressured most of the way. "I mean, you never know until they run. But he's a super-tough horse."

 

Angelos will be represented in the $50,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Stakes for Maryland-breds with another Marathon Farms homebred: Lexington Street, a 2-year-old filly by Street Sense   out of the Storm Cat mare Lexington Girl. She is three-for-four with a victory in the Maryland Million Lassie Stakes at Laurel for trainer Gary Capuano.

 

Among those entered in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes for fillies and mares at one mile is Laurel-based Miss Mischief, a synthetic surface specialist who won the Bessarabian Stakes (Can-II) on Polytrack at Woodbine in her last start, and before that captured the HBPA Stakes on Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs & Casino. Owned by Diane Manning and trained by Dale Capuano, the 5-year-old Into Mischief   mare has been training steadily at Laurel in December.