With two straight wins under his belt and returning to a track where he has yet to lose, the timing is ideal for Wondrwherecraigis to step back into graded company in the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (G3) Sept. 18 at Laurel Park.
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' Wondrwherecraigis enters the six-furlong De Francis off front-running scores, both at six furlongs, in a July optional claiming allowance at historic Pimlico Race Course and the Tale of the Cat Aug. 13 at Saratoga Race Course, by 8 1/2 combined lengths.
The 4-year-old Munnings gelding has breezed twice since over Laurel's newly reconstructed main track, most recently going a half-mile in :49 Sept. 11. He broke his maiden and won an open allowance last spring to start his career in his previous Laurel races.
"It's a new surface and he's been training right along on it, so hopefully he runs as well as he did before," trainer Brittany Russell said. "I think when a horse like this is doing well, you have to take a shot."
A winner of five of eight starts, Wondrwherecraigis has done much, except win a graded stakes race. In his only prior graded stakes attempt, he ran fourth in the Amsterdam Stakes (G2) at Saratoga last year. Freshened after that race, he has since gone 3-for-4.
"He's a completely different animal now than he was a year ago, and that's due to (the owners) letting me kick him out and do the right thing by him," Russell said.
Wondrwherecraigis was ridden in all four of his local races by Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, who is out indefinitely with a foot injury suffered Sept. 9. Jevian Toledo will be aboard Saturday
Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen's grade 1-placed Jalen Journey will go after his second straight win, eighth overall and first in a stakes for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. He is narrowly favored at 7-5 on the morning line after winning four of eight races in 2020-21. Wondrwherecraigis is 8-5.
Jalen Journey, the son of With Distinction, scored by 8 1/2 lengths in a third-level allowance optional claiming Aug. 6 at Saratoga, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.67.
Asmussen, winner of the 2018 De Francis and Maryland Sprint (G3) with Switzerland, enlisted Feargal Lynch to ride.
Hillside Equestrian Meadows' multiple stakes winner Laki is entered to defend his victory in the 2020 De Francis, held last fall on the undercard of the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico when the stakes schedule was reshuffled amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The 8-year-old Maryland-bred gelding rallied to take last year's De Francis by a nose, the first graded triumph for both him and trainer Damon Dilodovico, who also won the De Francis when it was ungraded with Immortal Eyes in 2013.
Laki is 11-for-37 lifetime, including 8-for-23 at Laurel, with $831,162 in purse earnings.
RyZan Sun Racing's Kalu, Trin-Brook Stables' War Tocsin, Terry Overmier's Whiskey and You complete the field
Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, the 30th running of the De Francis is one four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday at the Maryland track. All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series.
Laurel Park, Saturday, September 18, 2021, Race 8Entries: Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Kalu (KY) Victor R. Carrasco 120 J. Kent Sweezey 9/2 2 2Jalen Journey (FL) Feargal Lynch 120 Steven M. Asmussen 7/5 3 3Whiskey and You (MD) Charlie Marquez 120 Roy M. Peacock, Jr. 30/1 4 4War Tocsin (KY) Alexander Crispin 120 Uriah St. Lewis 12/1 5 5Wondrwherecraigis (KY) Jevian Toledo 120 Brittany T. Russell 8/5 6 6Laki (MD) Horacio Karamanos 122 Damon R. Dilodovico 6/1
