Alwaysmining wins Laurel's John B. Campbell, foreshadows 'great year'

Runnymoore Racing’s Alwaysmining flashed his championship form Saturday at Laurel Park, fighting back tenaciously in deep stretch to capture the $100,000 John B. Campbell.

The 4-year-old son of Stay Thirsty, who was honored as the champion Maryland-bred 3-year-old of 2019, claimed his second consecutive stakes victory of 2020 in the about 1 1/16-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up.

“I think it’s going to be a great year, even better than last year,” trainer Kelly Rubley said of the 2019 Preakness Stakes runner. “He continues to mature and has filled out a lot. He’s got a lot of heart.”

Alwaysmining, the 2-1 third choice ridden by Julian Pimentel, set the pace while pressed by Monongahela, the 6-5 favorite ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., posting fractions of 24.58 and 48.11 seconds for the first half-mile.

The multiple stakes-winning gelding continued to show the way into the stretch, where Monongahela pulled alongside. Alwaysmining, though, would not be denied, fighting back to prevail by a head.

“He certainly had to work for it today and showed that he has a big heart,” Rubley said.  “My horse doesn’t like to get beat.”

Alwaysmining ran the about 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:42.46 to win his ninth race and fifth stakes in 19 career starts.

“He was unbelievable,” Pimentel said. “He’s a pretty nice horse. When I asked him to run, he took off. He never let that other horse go by him.

“The plan was to get to the lead and try to go as easy as I can, but I had that horse next to me the whole time. Nothing you can do about that. He never really let him go by. He always kept his nose in front of him and kept trying the whole time.”

Monongahela, who also lost the 2019 Campbell by a neck, finished 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Someday Jones, the 8-5 second betting choice ridden by Trevor McCarthy.

Rubley said that there isn’t a definite plan for Alwaysmining’s next start.