El Areeb, Recruiting Ready Head Dave's Friend Stakes

M M G Stables' El Areeb, who opened the year with back-to-back grade 3 victories before being knocked from the Triple Crown trail with a knee injury, will attempt to end his sophomore season in successful fashion in the $100,000 Dave's Friend Stakes at Laurel Park.

The six-furlong Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and older is the last of six stakes worth a total of $550,000 during a 10-race program Dec. 30 at Laurel. The meet wraps up Dec. 31.

El Areeb earned his first stakes victory in the James F. Lewis III Stakes at Laurel to cap his juvenile season in the midst of a four-race win streak that continued with the Jerome (G3) and Withers (G3) stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack to open 2017. Third after being caught in an early speed duel in the Gotham Stakes (G3) in early March, he exited a subsequent workout needing surgery on a knee and was given time to recover, rejoining trainer Cathal Lynch in September.

The Exchange Rate colt made his return to the races in the seven-furlong City of Laurel Stakes Nov. 11, breaking inwardly and contesting the early pace between rivals before fading to finish sixth, beaten 7 3/4 lengths. 

El Areeb drew post 2 in a field of 14 and will be ridden for the first time by Jose Vargas Jr. as the co-highweight of 123 pounds.

Lynch will send out two other horses in the Dave's Friend—multiple stakes winner Never Gone South and Irish Colonel, a veteran of 26 starts making his first in stakes company.

Sharing topweight with El Areeb in the Dave's Friend is Sagamore Farm's Recruiting Ready, a two-time stakes winner that hasn't raced since finishing third in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) June 10 at Belmont Park.

He won the Bachelor and Chick Lang stakes, both at six furlongs, as part of a three-race win streak that began with an optional-claiming triumph March 10 in his lone previous try at Laurel.

"We wanted to give him some time because he had campaigned hard. He got sick on me and then he came up with a quarter crack and we just gave him the time and let that heal," said trainer Horacio DePaz. "He still stayed in training. We might have given him two weeks off but then he was just tack-walking and did a lot of jogging for 60 days probably. Then he started galloping and we brought him to Florida. He wasn't laid up or anything like that. He's been constantly moving around."

Recruiting Ready has been preparing for his return at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla., where he shows a string of steady works including a pair of bullets since Thanksgiving.

"He actually kind of got himself together really quick. When we were getting him started, he started doing those works very steady and coming out of them very well. He seems like he's moving forward so we figured let's go ahead and give him this race and see how that goes," he added.

Trainer Ken Decker will saddle a pair of Jacks or Better Farm homebreds in Awesome Banner and Fellowship (both by Awesome of Course). Awesome Banner counts the 2016 Swale (G2) and Hutcheson (G3) stakes among his five career stakes wins and he has placed in five graded stakes this year including a runner-up finish in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1). A winner of more than $800,000 in purse earnings, he was reluctant to load and carried wide in the six-furlong Fabulous Strike last out Nov. 22 and wound up fifth.

Fellowship, a 4-year-old colt, won the In Reality Division of the Florida Sire Stakes at 2 and ran third in each of Gulfstream Park's Triple Crown prep races—the Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes (G2), Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), and Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (G1)—in 2016. Eighth in the Preakness Stakes (G1), he cuts back to a sprint for the first time since June as he looks to rebound from a pair of subpar efforts at Laurel going longer.

Stakes winners Whirlin Curlin and A Different Style top a field of 10 juveniles slated for the seven-furlong $100,000 Heft Stakes. Marathon Farms' Whirlin Curlin, a gelded son of Curlin , enters off back-to-back stakes wins. D.J. Stable's A Different Style exits a two-length score in the James F. Lewis III Stakes.

Among the entrants for the seven-furlong $100,000 Gin Talking Stakes are Oldfashioned Style and Sweet Candy Dance, who ran second and third respectively in the Tempted Stakes (G3) Nov. 3 at Aqueduct; and multiple stakes winner Limited View, who enters off a three-race win streak, including two stakes victories.

The $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes, for fillies and mares going one mile, features multiple graded-placed Power of Snunner, winner of the Plum Pretty Stakes at Parx Racing Oct. 7, and Tin Type Gal, who is looking to rebound from a five-race skid.

Flash McCaul, John Jones, Sonny Inspired, and Talk Show Man head the field of 11 in the one-mile $75,000 Jennings Stakes, while the six-furlong $75,000 Politely Stakes' field of nine includes 2016 Maryland Million Lassie Stakes winner Item and multiple stakes winner My Magician.

Entries: Heft S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, December 30, 2017, Race 4

• STK
• 7f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 2 yo
• 1:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Blue Ridge Scout (KY)	Steve D. Hamilton	120	Ollie L. Figgins, III	15/1
2	2Smooth B (PA)	Feargal Lynch	120	Robert E. Reid, Jr.	15/1
3	3Devine Entry (KY)	Horacio Karamanos	120	Linda Rice	6/1
4	4Blame It On Honey (KY)	Jomar Torres	120	Anthony Farrior	12/1
5	5Diamond King (KY)	Frankie Pennington	120	Robert E. Reid, Jr.	5/2
6	6El Corazon (KY)	Dana G. Whitney	120	Kelly Rubley	20/1
7	7A Different Style (KY)	John Bisono	120	John C. Servis	3/1
8	8Big Bella Brown (LA)	J. D. Acosta	120	Cathal A. Lynch	12/1
9	9Whirlin Curlin (MD)	Jevian Toledo	120	Gary Capuano	7/2
10	10Tattooed (MD)	Angel Cruz	115	Timothy L. Keefe	20/1

Entries: Jennings S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, December 30, 2017, Race 6

• STK
• 1m
• Dirt
• $75,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 2:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Flash McCaul (MD)	Feargal Lynch	118	Michael J. Trombetta	10/1
2	2Noteworthy Peach (MD)	Jevian Toledo	118	Gary Capuano	12/1
3	3Clubman (MD)	Sheldon Russell	117	Jonathan Maldonado	6/1
4	4Talk Show Man (MD)	Horacio Karamanos	118	Hamilton A. Smith	15/1
5	5Bridget's Big Luvy (MD)	Elvis Trujillo	118	Michael V. Pino	8/1
6	6Rockinn On Bye (MD)	Taylor M. Hole	118	Stephen M. Casey	6/1
7	7Sonny Inspired (MD)	Carlos Quinones	118	Phil Schoenthal	20/1
8	8Southside Warrior (MD)	Julian Pimentel	118	Michael J. Trombetta	9/2
9	9Final Prospect (MD)	UNKNOWN	118	Gary Capuano	4/1
10	10Kaitain (MD)	UNKNOWN	118	Jonathan Maldonado	12/1
11	11John Jones (MD)	Edgar S. Prado	118	Lacey Gaudet	6/1

Entries: Gin Talking S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, December 30, 2017, Race 7

• STK
• 7f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 2 yo Fillies
• 3:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Limited View (MD)	Edgar S. Prado	119	John E. Salzman, Jr.	7/2
2	2Vertrazzo (KY)	Dana G. Whitney	119	William D. Cowans	8/1
3	3Last True Love (KY)	Julio A. Hernandez	119	Flint W. Stites	15/1
4	4Sweet Candy Dance (FL)	Jomar Garcia	119	Alfredo Velazquez	15/1
5	5Wall of Compassion (KY)	Elvis Trujillo	119	Rudy R. Rodriguez	15/1
6	6Oldfashioned Style (FL)	John Bisono	119	Gary C. Contessa	10/1
7	7Gibby (KY)	Frankie Pennington	119	Scott A. Lake	4/1
8	8Mihrab (KY)	Jevian Toledo	119	H. Graham Motion	15/1
9	9Enrage (KY)	Sheldon Russell	119	Ben Colebrook	6/1
10	10Frigid Sister (KY)	Inoel Beato	119	Flint W. Stites	20/1
11	11Live Large (FL)	J. D. Acosta	119	H. Graham Motion	30/1
12	12Bootsy's Hadenough (KY)	Jomar Torres	119	Kellyn Gorder	15/1
13	13Strategic Dreams (FL)	Feargal Lynch	119	Rudy R. Rodriguez	8/1

Entries: Thirty Eight Go Go S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, December 30, 2017, Race 8

• STK
• 1m
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 3:30 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Indian Paint (KY)	Carol Cedeno	118	Kelly Rubley	20/1
2	2Power of Snunner (PA)	Dana G. Whitney	124	Timothy C. Kreiser	10/1
3	3Tiz Rude (KY)	Frankie Pennington	117	John C. Servis	12/1
4	4Bishop's Pond (KY)	Rosario Montanez	118	Jason Servis	6/1
5	5Crimson Frost (KY)	Horacio Karamanos	117	Linda Rice	4/1
6	6Winter (KY)	John Bisono	118	Cathal A. Lynch	20/1
7	7Julerette (KY)	Elvis Trujillo	118	Ben Colebrook	5/1
8	8Line of Best Fit (ON)	Kevin Gomez	118	Claudio A. Gonzalez	12/1
9	9Chic Thrill (ON)	Feargal Lynch	118	H. Graham Motion	12/1
10	10Miss Inclusive (KY)	Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.	118	John C. Servis	20/1
11	11Trace of Grace (PA)	Julio A. Hernandez	118	T. Bernard Houghton	20/1
12	12Going for Broke (KY)	Sheldon Russell	118	Chad C. Brown	3/1
13	13Tin Type Gal (KY)	Jevian Toledo	118	H. Graham Motion	30/1

Entries: Dave's Friend S.

Laurel Park, Saturday, December 30, 2017, Race 9

• STK
• 6f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Recruiting Ready (KY)	Horacio Karamanos	123	Horacio DePaz	4/1
2	2El Areeb (KY)	UNKNOWN	123	Cathal A. Lynch	15/1
3	3Fellowship (FL)	Steve D. Hamilton	118	Kenneth Decker	30/1
4	4Do Share (KY)	Jevian Toledo	122	Linda Rice	9/2
5	5Favorite Tale (PA)	Frankie Pennington	118	Guadalupe Preciado	12/1
6	6Eighty Three (KY)	Sheldon Russell	118	David Jacobson	20/1
7	7Struth (MD)	Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.	118	Kieron Magee	8/1
8	8Awesome Banner (FL)	J. D. Acosta	118	Kenneth Decker	20/1
9	9Never Gone South (KY)	Rosario Montanez	118	Cathal A. Lynch	20/1
10	10Schivarelli (FL)	Feargal Lynch	118	Thomas Morley	8/1
11	11Ready for Rye (KY)	Edgar S. Prado	120	Thomas Albertrani	6/1
12	12It's the Journey (MD)	Julian Pimentel	118	Michael J. Trombetta	20/1
13	13Afleet Willy (KY)	Jomar Torres	122	Claudio A. Gonzalez	6/1
14	14Irish Colonel (KY)	John Bisono	118	Cathal A. Lynch	15/1