Elnaawi romps in Native Dancer; Lady Sabelia takes What a Summer

A muddy Elnaawi loped home in the Native Dancer (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)

Shadwell Stable’s Elnaawi shipped to Laurel from Belmont
Park in fighting form and took a victory lap in the $100,000
Native Dancer Stakes, the last of four stakes
that took place Saturday afternoon at the Maryland track.

Sheldon Russell captured his second stakes on the
day as he guided the son of Street Sense for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin to
a 7 1/4-length victory. Elnaawi covered the about 1 1/16-mile distance over the
muddy, sealed track in
1:45 2/5.

“The race worked out perfect,” Russell said. “He warmed up good and he took a
liking to the track. He broke well and put me in a great spot. I thought (2-1
favorite) Stormin Monarcho (who finished fifth) was the horse to beat. When he
started backing up, my horse made a huge run and we never looked back.”

This was the first stakes win for Elnaawi, whose best
previous stakes appearances were third-place finishes in the Yankee Affair
Stakes at Belmont Park last September and the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes in 2013.

Star Pearl shone bright in the Nellie Morse (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)

One race earlier, Pearl Bloodstock Ltd.’s Star Pearl hounded the pacesetter
to the top of the lane before wresting away command and drawing away to victory in
the $100,000
Nellie Morse Stakes
to give Russell his first stakes win on the Saturday program.

Before You Know It flew to the front down the
backstretch but Star Pearl stayed on her heels.
The two separated from the rest and the race came down to which would have the
most in the tank. Stay Pearl proved to be best, winning by 3 1/4 lengths.

Trained by Graham Motion, the bay daughter of Tapit completed about 1 1/16
miles over the muddy, sealed track in 1:46 1/5. Another Motion trainee, Zucchini Flower,
finished third.

“Graham had mentioned that she hadn’t really run well on an
off track before. Recently they have liked her morning workouts,” explained Russell,
who rode Star Pearl once previously when the five-year-old mare made her U.S.
debut in November 2013.

Lady Sabelia continued her love affair with Laurel in the What a Summer (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)

The crowd pegged Mrs. Frank Wright’s Lady Sabelia as the
1-5 favorite in the $100,000
What
a Summer
Stakes and she ran to expectations, winning by a comfortable 1/14-length margin over the soggy track
to kick off the stakes action at Laurel on Saturday.

Horacio Karamanos has ridden Lady Sabelia in every start
since her maiden victory, six wins in 10 starts including four stakes. The
daughter of Majestic Warrior, who won for the third consecutive start, covered
the six-furlong What a Summer in 1:12.

“My horse broke good and showed speed but I didn’t want to
run heel to heel with the filly (Winning Image) in front,” Karamanos noted. “We
sat behind waiting. My filly really wanted to go at the three-eighths pole. We swung
outside. She had a nice kick and ran very even down the stretch to the wire.”

The five-year-old mare won
four-of-five races in 2014 for trainer Robin Graham, including the Willa On the
Move Stakes at Laurel on December 6.

“She is a very nice mare but we had to give her quite a bit
of time off when she was younger, about six to eight months, for her shins and
recently she has missed a few starts because of an eye problem. That is why she
only raced four times last year,” Graham said. “She always runs well and I never
have to give the jockey any instructions. If there is speed she can wait and if
there’s not she can go.”

Never Stop Looking never gave up in the Fire Plug (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club)

Somraj Singh’s Never Stop Looking hadn’t won a race since
last January but past performances were of little matter over the muddy going in
the race sandwiched between the What a Summer and Nellie Morse. The Langfuhr
gelding steered wide into the stretch and ran down his foes to win the
$100,000 Fire Plug Stakes
with Roimes Chirinos holding the reins for
trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

Never Stop Looking’s stretch-running heroics got the six-year-old home a neck in
front of Smash and Grab, with fast closer Cutty Shark another neck back in
third. He stopped the clock for six furlongs in 1:11 4/5.

“I told Claudio I wanted to ride this horse back because he
tried hard and was real close to winning,” Chirinos said. “I knew this race was
going to be tough with lots of speed but I have a lot of confidence in my horse.
He picked it up nicely off the turn and ran hard to the finish.”

The win was the second on the card for Gonzalez, who won
the recently completed Laurel Park fall training title.