Laurel Recap

©Jim McCue

Holey Moley captures first jump race at Laurel since 2000

Paul and Molly Willis’ Holey Moley, who made eight starts on the flat at Laurel before today’s $40,000 maiden hurdle event, must have felt right at home as he took command over Lightup Lightup on the final turn to score by 1 1/2 lengths under Virginia Korrell.

Sent off at 8-1 in the full field of 10, the Barry Foley-trainee stalked the pace in second under patient handling, took the lead outside of longtime leader Lightup Lightup (Sean McDermott) heading into on the final turn, extended his lead at the top of the stretch, and held off Gill Johnston’s Awesome Man (Evan Dwan), and the late-charging 3-1 favorite, Bruton Street-US’ Derby Street (Graham Watters).

The victory in the 2 1/8-mile contest over eight national fences was the first in four NSA outings for the four-year-old son of Maryland-bred Holy Boss, and comes after a strong second to Final Opportunity at the Radnor Hunt Races in May.

Travesuras gets up in final strides to take $45,000 non-winners of two allowance

In a real nailbiter, Irv Naylor’s Travesuras came with a late rush to nail gutsy longtime leader Biggerthanbigtime in the last few strides to secure his first win in more than a year.

With Gerard Galligan aboard for trainer Cyril Murphy, the six-year-old Kentucky-bred was content to sit in fourth (of eight) early as Green Valley Construction and John Moylan’s Biggerthanbigtime (Sean McDermott) showed the was for almost the entirety of the 2 1/8-mile contest.

Despite leading from the start and opening up a significant lead, Biggerthanbigtime fought off late challenges from Riverdee Stable’s favored Palio (Graham Watters), Happenstance Stable’s Awesome Man (Dan Nevin), and Nancy Reed and Jack Griswold’s Bright Eyed Eagle (Eric Poretz). In fact, he pulled away from the field in deep stretch and looked like he’d hold on until the last possible moment.

The win was the second for Travesuras on the NSA circuit in 12 starts, but his ninth top-three finish.

You can watch the race replays on the Maryland Racing’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MarylandRacing/videos