Pimlico, September 19, 1987—Triumph for the Home Team

Sean’s Ferrari was one of eight Maryland-bred winners on the nine-race card for the second Maryland Million. What made his victory most astounding was he was bred by Margaret McManus (the wife of Maryland Million creator Jim McKay), and owned under the banner of The McManus Stable, a partnership consisting of Margaret, the McManuses’ friend Nancy McManus and Joan Boniface, wife of the gelding’s trainer Bill Boniface.

Sean’s Ferrari, named after Jim and Margaret’s son Sean (now the chairman of CBS Sports), was the second consecutive winner of the Business Express Airlines Nursery sired by Salutely. Amazingly, the owner of Business Express Airlines was Jim McManus, husband of Nancy. Business Express was one of the first to sign up as a Maryland Million sponsor.

Maryland Million runners do not need to foal in Maryland to compete. Of the 310 Maryland Million Day stakes, 25 percent have been won by horses foaled outside the state. In 2014, seven of the nine were bred in Maryland, one in Pennsylvania and one in West Virginia.

Eight of the nine winning trainers were Maryland-based. J. William “Billy” Boniface had the biggest day, sending out three winners (the others being Angelina County and Gold Glove) and finishing third once with six starters. Three wins in one day for a trainer remains the record, which was matched by Ron Cartwright in 1993.

Hall of Fame rider Laffit Pincay Jr. flew in from California for the day to ride the majority of Boniface-trained horses. He won two for Boniface (Sean’s Ferrari and Gold Glove) and one for trainer Ron Alfano (Ringing).
King T. Leatherbury took home his first two Waterford Crystal trophies, winning with Thirty Eight Go Go in the Lassie and Ms. Rutledge in the Distaff. Both were bred by Leatherbury and ridden by Hall of Famers—Chris McCarron (Thirty Eight Go Go) and Kent Desormeaux (Ms. Rutledge). Thirty Eight Go Go was a full sister to Twofox, the dam of three-time Maryland Million winner Ben’s Cat.
The only out-of-state trained winner was Cool Joe, owned by Country Roads and trained by Allen Jerkens. Winner of the Jiffy Lube Maryland Sprint Handicap, he had been narrowly defeated in the inaugural running of the Sprint by King’s Swan.
The day’s winners were all sired by different stallions. All told, the 18 Maryland Million winners the first two years were sired by 16 different stallions.
Little Bold John recorded his 20th career victory from 55 starts, and moved to fourth on the all-time Maryland-bred earners list, with his win in the Budweiser Maryland Classic.

No favorites won on the day. The shortest price was $5.40 paid by Angelina County, part of the entry with Praise Her, who finished second but was disqualified to third in the Omni International Maryland Oaks. The favorite was Too Smart Too Late, who was moved up to second on the DQ of Praise Her.
The biggest return was $44 paid when the 4-year-old filly Jolly Jackie defeated 12 others in the Sagamore Farm Maryland Handicap.
The inaugural Maryland Million Steeplechase was run on September 12 at the Fair Hill Races in Elkton. To attract a quality field, the race was open to all starters but offered a two-tiered purse. Three of the six starters were Maryland Million nominees and ran for $50,000; the others competed for $25,000. Irish-bred Chammsky was the winner, while Maryland Million nominee Mickey Free finished second.