MJC at Laurel: Roanan Goddess Back on Dirt for $100,000 Weather Vane

By David Joseph —-

MJC Photo

Roanan Goddess Back on Dirt for $100,000 Weather Vane

LAUREL, MD – Mens Grille Racing’s Roanan Goddess will be back on dirt, facing her own age group and stretching out to the distance of her last victory when she lines up against a dozen rivals, including three other multiple stakes winners, in Sunday’s $100,000 Weather Vane at Laurel Park.

The fifth running of the six-furlong Weather Vane for 3-year-old fillies serves as the co-headliner on a 10-race program with the 42nd renewal of the one-mile Twixt for fillies and mares 3 and up. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Roanan Goddess, a New York-bred daughter of Leofric based at Laurel with trainer Hamilton Smith, faced older horses for the first time when she ran ninth after breaking slowly in a $150,000 Camptown sprinting 5 ½ furlongs on the grass Aug. 31 at Colonial Downs. It was her third turf stakes attempt since mid-May having finished no better than sixth.

“Those two things help us, being with her own age group for what will probably be the last time, and back on the dirt,” Smith said. “She’s better on the dirt than she is on the turf. I feel a little better about it in this spot than I did about the last one, put it that way.

“She’s training well, but she always does. She’s kind of a feisty thing,” he added. “She’s training good and coming into the race fine. It came up a little tougher and with a few more horses than I expected.”

Roanan Goddess is a two-time stakes winner over Laurel’s main track, taking the six-furlong Xtra Heat Jan. 27 to launch her sophomore campaign and an off-the-turf edition of the Searching by 6 ¼ lengths Aug. 4, contested at one mile. J.G. Torrealba, aboard in that race, returns to ride from Post 2.

“That was one race she was able to win pretty impressively. If she can duplicate that, we might be on the board,” Smith said. “We’re looking forward to it. I hope she runs big. She’s a tough little nut. We’ll give it a swing and see what happens.”

Resolute Racing’s Youalmosthadme will seek a fifth career stakes win in the Weather Vane and second straight following the six-furlong Lake Erie Aug. 5 over Presque Isle Downs’ all-weather surface. The bay daughter of 2013 Preakness (G1) winner Oxbow, trained by Brad Cox, earned her other black-type wins on dirt and has run second in the 2023 Pocahontas (G3) and Pimlico’s May 17 Miss Preakness (G3) and third in the April 7 Beaumont (G2) at Keeneland.

Another four-time stakes winner in the Weather Vane is Cash is King and LC Racing’s Carmelina, whose first open stakes triumph came in the seven-furlong Gin Talking last December at Laurel to cap her 2-year-old season. Front-running winner of the Penny Chenery Aug. 11 at Colonial, also at seven-eighths, she was most recently a troubled fifth in the six-furlong Prioress (G3) Aug. 31 at Saratoga.

“She didn’t get away real clean that day. There were some real fast ones in there so she was a little bit up against it, but she held her own against a group that was pretty tough,” Parx-based trainer Robert E. ‘Butch’ Reid Jr. said.

“She really seems to handle Laurel well. She’s a really good shipper,” he added. “She’s won races at four different racetracks, so she’s not afraid to get on the van and she usually gives a good account of herself.”

Mychel Sanchez gets the riding assignment from Post 4.

The other multiple stakes winner in the Weather Vane is Narrow Leaf Farm’s homebred Miss Harriett, who launched her career last fall with a 62-1 upset of the Maryland Million Lassie. All four of her wins have come at Laurel, including the Feb. 24 Wide Country and July 21 Miss Disco, both at seven furlongs, the latter against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses in her most recent start.

DARRS Inc.’s Cap Classique won the 2023 Smart Halo at Laurel and was second to Carmelina in both the Gin Talking and Penny Chenery. Trained by Brittany Russell, she is cross-entered in Saturday’s Dogwood (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Grade 3-placed Discreet Ops, third in the Miss Preakness; Brookmesa, riding a two-race win streak; Runaway Diva, Popover Gal, Irish Maxima, Vincey Girl, Dewey Doit and Yellow Feathers complete the field.

The Weather Vane pays homage to the Maryland-bred mare trained by Richard W. Delp that won 17 races and $724,532 in purses from 1996 to 1998. A former claimer bred by William B. Delp, Weather Vane went on to register 14 stakes victories including the Safely Kept (G3) and Miss Preakness in 1997, the latter before it was graded, and capped her career by being named Maryland-bred champion older female of 1998.

Mystic Pleasure Seeking First Stakes Win in $100,000 Twixt

Storyteller Racing’s 4-year-old filly Mystic Pleasure, third by two necks in her stakes debut last month, ships in from the Midwest seeking a breakthrough victory in the $100,000 Twixt.

Mystic Pleasure was sent off at 11-1 in the one-mile Groupie Doll Aug. 11 at Ellis Park and led from the outset into deep stretch before grudgingly giving way late under Florent Giroux. She finished behind fellow long shots Pigalle (23-1) and Fancy (16-1) but three lengths ahead of the favorite, Taxed, winner of the 2023 Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“I think she kind of lost focus a little bit when she made the lead. Florent was on her and he told me that she put a nose in front and was going forward and may have hung a little bit,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “I kind of wish the favorite that day who came up on the inside of her, I kind of wish she would have sustained her run and kind of pushed her a little bit more. She kind of lost her focus a little bit and she got surprised from the outside and got nailed on the wire. But at the end of the day, she’s stakes-placed now and we are trying with her pedigree to get the stakes win somewhere.”

A daughter and granddaughter of 2018 Haskell (G1) winner Good Magic and 2005 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Giacomo, respectively, out of the multiple graded-stakes winning mare Disposablepleasure, Mystic Pleasure made her first two starts last spring for previous trainer Brad Cox. She fetched $110,000 at Keeneland’s January sale and debuted for Brisset in a six-furlong optional claimer March 27 on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park.

Mystic Pleasure won an entry-level allowance May 1 at Churchill Downs, where she ran fifth in a second-level spot going 1 1/8 miles before cutting back to 6 ½ furlongs to gain that condition July 7 at Ellis in her prep for the Groupie Doll.

“When she came back at Turfway we knew she’d need a race. We got the 1x out of the way on Derby week and I thought she won pretty impressive,” Brisset said. “When we gave her the first try going two turns, just the setup of the race was not to her favor and we ended up drawing a line through it. She came back going 6 ½ and won pretty nicely, and she almost got the stakes out of the way the other day.

“It’s a filly that we were very attracted by her pedigree,” he added. “She broke her maiden pretty nicely and we liked what we saw physically and we bought her as a potential broodmare prospect in the future. But before that we thought we would give her a try and it looks like it’s paid off so far. She seems to be a pretty nice mare.”

Sheldon Russell is named to ride Mystic Pleasure from outermost Post 7.

“It’s a mile, that’s going to fit her perfect,” Brisset said. “Hopefully that will be a race where we can get the black type win out of the way and then maybe look at even bigger races in the fall.”

Twin Oaks Bloodstock, IEE Racing, Joseph Bulger and Will Campbell’s Miss Justify, winner of the one-mile Wilton July 12 at Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, was supplemented to the Twixt following her fourth-place effort in the 1 ¼-mile Alabama (G1) Aug. 17. She is cross-entered in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile Seneca at Churchill Downs.

Miss New York and Reclusive were both cross-entered but scratched from Wednesday’s 1 1/16-mile Obeah at Delaware Park. Amo Racing USA’s Miss New York ran second at odds of 23-1 in last year’s Twixt behind 2022 Black-Eyed Susan winner Interstatedaydream and most recently was a 3 ½-length optional claiming allowance winner going 1 1/16 miles Aug. 17 at Laurel.

Century Acres Farm’s Texas homebred Reclusive has won her last two stars, the first coming in the six-furlong Regret July 26 at Monmouth Park. Trained by Tina Rena Hurley, the 5-year-old mare is seeking her first stakes win having placed three times previously, twice at Lone Star Park and once at Sam Houston, and has yet to race as far as a mile on dirt.

Princess Indy, winner of the 2023 Sorority at Monmouth Park; and Continentalcongres, first or second in seven of 13 career tries on Laurel’s main track, are also entered along with multiple stakes winner Saddle Up Jessie, who ran third as the favorite in the Obeah.

Twixt was a Maryland-bred champion every year she raced, from 1972-75, retiring as Maryland’s all-time money-winning mare. Her 18 stakes wins were also a Maryland-bred record on the flat. Bred and owned by Mr. and Mrs. John Merryman and trained by their daughter, Katy Voss, Twixt won the Barbara Fritchie (G3) and was named Maryland’s Horse of the Year in 1973 and 1974.

Racing resumes Friday at Laurel Park with a 12:25 p.m. first race post time. The featured ninth race, an $63,000 allowance race at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up, drew a field of eight including graded-stakes winner Super Chow, winner of the Maryland Sprint (G3) and Tom Fool (G3). The 4-year-old’s opponents include Prince of Jericho, third in the Maryland Sprint and a winner last year of the Spectacular Bid and Concern.

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