Evenly matched field to line up for $125,000 Turf

Five horses, including each of the top four finishers led by defending champion Wicked Prankster, and hard-luck 9-year-old Cannon’s Roar help comprise a wide-open group of seasoned runners in Saturday’s $125,000 Maryland Million Turf at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Turf for 3-year-olds and up is the fifth of eight stakes and four starter stakes on the 38th Jim McKay Maryland Million program, ‘Maryland’s Day at the Races’ celebrating the progeny of stallions standing in the state. Also scheduled for the Exceller turf course are the $125,000 Ladies for fillies and mares 3 and older going 1 1/8 miles and $100,000 Turf Sprint, a 5 ½-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up.

Doors open at 10 a.m. EST with a first-race post time of 11:30 a.m. Headlining the card is the $150,000 Classic for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles where defending champion Ournationonparade looks to become just the sixth horse to win the Classic in back-to-back years and only the seventh with three Maryland Million victories. 

Owned and trained by Sam Davis, Wicked Prankster has gone winless with two thirds in five starts this year since his front-running three-quarter-length victory in the 2022 Turf. The 5-year-old gelding has not been out since being pulled up in the Aug. 19 Find at Laurel but shows a string of steady works including successive bullets over Laurel’s main track, the most recent a half-mile move in 48 seconds Oct. 7, fastest of 33 horses.

Larry Johnson’s homebred Street Copper edged Charles Blanford’s Crabs N Beer by a neck for second in last year’s Turf. It was the second straight narrow loss in the Turf for Street Copper, the lukewarm 4-1 program favorite that was beaten a head when third in 2021. He exits a half-length victory going a mile on the Colonial Downs turf Sept. 7, when he raced for a $30,000 tag.

Crabs N Beer placed in stakes on turf and dirt last summer prior to his big run in the Turf. Still seeking his first stakes win, he came up a neck short when second to multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Field Pass in the Find. He is listed at 7-2 on the morning line.

Just 1 ½ lengths behind Crabs N Beer in fourth was Alberts Racing’s homebred Johng (10-1), a 6-year-old gelding that has made 29 career starts and was second by a nose to Somekindofmagician in the 2021 Turf. Trainer Tim Keefe, a three-time Classic winner, has yet to win the Turf. 

“I don’t seem to think I’ve ever got the best of that guy. He’s always trying,” Keefe said. “I told Will [Alberts], I know it might sound crazy but he’s run some decent races in the Maryland Million. I said all along let’s give him another year and try him and if he’s still going well and everything’s great, let’s point him toward the Maryland Million. So, here we are. He’s doing well. It’s not a crazy idea.”

Taking Risks Stable’s Cannon’s Roar will be making his fifth straight start in the Turf and first for trainer Phillip Capuano, who took over for his uncle, all-time Maryland Million leader Dale Capuano, following his retirement to start 2023. Cannon’s Roar was seventh in 2019 and 2022, second by a length in 2020 and fourth by a half-length in 2021 – run down both times after taking a lead into the stretch.

This will actually be the sixth Maryland Million for Cannon’s Roar, who was fourth, beaten a length, in the 2018 Turf Starter Handicap. Also placed in three other stakes, including the 2021 Laurel Dash, he comes off a half-length victory going a mile Aug. 19 on the Laurel turf and is rated at 6-1 on the morning line.

“We’re going to try and see if he can’t finally get the Maryland Million Turf after trying for so many years. He’s 9 years old and he just keeps on going,” Capuano said. “He’s doing good. He’s just a cool horse to have around the barn. You just expect to see him year in and year out. He’s always knocking on the door; he’s right there. He’s had a few seconds this year, both here and down at Tampa, but he got a win this year so the connections are happy. He came out of it good, so we’ll give it a shot. Hopefully he can finally take down the race this year, that’d be great.”

Also entered are multiple dirt stakes winner Tappin Cat, making just his third turf start; Lacco Ameno, Jack’s Legend, Fletcher, Starstruck Notion and Maryland-bred also-eligible The Addison Pour.

(Maryland Jockey Club press release. If there are any questions, please contact the organization that provided the release.)