Diamond King Battles Back in Heft Stakes

Cash is King and LC Racing's Diamond King pressed the pace early and battled back against Devine Entry in mid-stretch to score by 1 1/2 lengths in the $100,000 Heft Stakes at Dec. 30 Laurel Park.

The race was one of six stakes originally scheduled for the Saturday card, but deteriorating weather conditions forced the cancellation of the final three races, including the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go and the $100,000 Dave's Friend Stakes. Both the Thirty Eight Go Go and Dave's Friend were rescheduled for Jan. 5. Entries will be taken for both stakes Dec. 31.  

Favored at 6-5 in the field of six 2-year-olds for the Heft, Diamond King hit the wire in 1:24.45 for seven furlongs over a fast track, with Devine Entry a clear second and 22-1 longshot Big Bella Brown third. They were followed by A Different Style and Whirlin Curlin with Blue Ridge Scout to complete the order of finish.

A $235,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale by Charles Zacney, the Quality Road  colt won for the third time in four starts and increased his earnings to $127,800. His only loss came in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs, when he lost rider Frankie Pennington after clipping heels early.

"I knew it was going to be tough, especially because you don't know what to make of that last race. Did he get anything out of that? Psychologically you don't know where they're at after they get dropped like that," said winning trainer Robert Reid Jr. "He's obviously a very smart horse, and he just put that behind him and stepped right up to the plate today."

A Different Style was the quickest from the gate and led through a quarter-mile in :22.31 and a half-mile in :45.90, with Diamond King glued to his left along the rail and a gap to Devine Entry in third.

Devine Entry made a sweeping move on the far outside to challenge the frontrunners leaving the far turn and opened an advantage after straightening for home. Pennington asked Diamond King for more and he responded in kind to retake the lead past the eighth pole and pull clear.

"He was doing it fairly easy. Once the horse outside started backing off, he started playing around," Pennington said. "When he saw (Devine Entry) come flying outside, he was like, 'All right, it's time to go back to work,' and he came running."

Reid said he will look to stretch Diamond King out around two turns in his next start, with an eye on the Triple Crown trail.

"We're aiming that way. We're taking that progression, and if we stumble along the way, so be it. For right now he's done everything we've asked, and I don't think distance will be a problem," the trainer said. "We've liked him since the sale, and we were fortunate that (the owners) went after him and we got him. We've had longer distance races in mind the whole way."

Bred by JSM Equine in Kentucky, Diamond King is out of the stakes-placed Malibu Moon  mare Akron Moon.

In the $100,000 Gin Talking Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the Rudy Rodriguez-trained Strategic Dreams notched her third win in four starts for owners Pick Six Racing, Ian Behar, and Theresa Cotrone.

Racing in seventh and then sixth through the first half-mile, behind fractions of :22.31 and :45.71, Strategic Dreams and jockey Feargal Lynch went five wide around the turn to circle the tiring frontrunners and took control in mid-stretch en route to a 1 3/4-length win. The Archarcharch filly stopped the clock in 1:24.92 for seven furlongs. 

Enrage rallied to secure second and Vertrazzo finished 4 1/4 lengths back in third. Mihrab and Gibby rounded out the top five. Favored Limited View faded to finish ninth. 

"There was a lot of speed in the race, and we were drawn very wide. Rudy told me to just use your head and use your judgment," Lynch said. "We just let the speed develop and once we got into the straight she just picked them up. She's a very nice filly. I like it whenever the horse gets confident, gets to the outside, and lets herself run."

Strategic Dreams was bred in Florida and is out of the winning D'wildcat mare D'fashion. With the win, she increased her earnings to $142,200.

Euro Stable's My Magician won the $75,000 Politely Stakes by a neck with jockey Jomar Torres aboard. The 5-year-old Maryland-bred daughter of Street Magician  finished the six furlongs in 1:10.82 for trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

Matthew Schera's John Jones drew away in the one-mile $75,000 Jennings Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:36.36 with Edgar Prado up. It was the ninth win for the Lacey Gaudet trainee. The 5-year-old Maryland-bred Smarty Jones  gelding also won last year's Jennings Stakes.