G1 winner Roadster set for latest comeback at Laurel Park

Speedway Stables’ Grade 1 winner and one-time Triple Crown contender Roadster will be making just his fifth start in the last two years and first on the East Coast as he continues his comeback in Saturday’s $100,000 Polynesian at Laurel Park.

The 17th running of the Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up and the 39th edition of the $100,000 Twixt for fillies and mares 3 and older, both at one mile, are among four stakes worth $500,000 in purses on an 11-race program headlined by the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3).

Also on the card is the $100,000 Weather Vane for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting six furlongs. All four stakes are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

First race post time is 12:40 p.m. EDT.

Roadster, bred by Stone Farm and purchased by Speedway’s Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner for $525,000 as a yearling, won the 2019 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and has placed in four other graded-stakes during a 13-race career that began in California with trainer Bob Baffert.

Far behind first-place finisher Maximum Security following a wide trip around both turns in the Kentucky Derby (G1), Roadster rebounded to run second behind stablemate Mucho Gusto in the Affirmed (G3). He ran three more times at 3, sandwiching a fourth in the Native Diver (G3) between seconds in the Damascus and Malibu (G1).

Roadster ran twice at 4, and went unraced between a runner-up finish in the San Carlos (G2) last March and a fourth – beaten less than a length – in the New Orleans Handicap (G2) March 20 at Fair Grounds, his first start for trainer Michael Stidham. He has been off again since a fourth in the April 30 Alysheba (G2), again for Baffert, before being returned to Stidham at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.

“He had a little bit of a setback after his last race. He’s had foot issues throughout his career, and we got his feet back in good order. Right now he’s doing really well,” Stidham said. “He ran fantastic the first time for us.

“He went back out to Baffert and they brought him back to Churchill and he didn’t run well there so we stopped on him and got him straightened out,” he added. “We hope that we have him where we want him now.”

Overall Roadster has three wins and $888,500 in purse earnings from 13 career starts, running third in the 2018 Del Mar Futurity (G1) in his second career start. He has a total of five breezes since mid-August over the dirt and all-weather surfaces at Fair Hill, where Stidham said he has thrived.

“There’s synthetic and dirt [tracks] and we have turf gallops out back and everything you could ask for. That’s the beauty of it,” he said. “He is a real quality horse [with] a ton of talent, but he’s had lots of stops and starts in his career with throat surgery early on as a 3-year-old and then foot issues. Obviously you don’t want to run a horse like that unless they’re 100 percent and that’s where we think we have him now.”

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith has the call on Roadster from Post 6 in a field of seven. According to Equibase statistics, Smith hasn’t ridden at Laurel since Feb. 17, 2007 when he won the Barbara Fritchie Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2) on Oprah Winney.

Also with graded-stakes credentials in the Polynesian are Cordmaker and Phat Man. Hillwood Stable’s Maryland-bred Cordmaker ran third in the 2018 and 2019 Pimlico Special (G3) and is 10-time career winner with six stakes including the 2019 Polynesian for Laurel-based trainer Rodney Jenkins. In his most recent start, he beat fellow Polynesian entrant McElmore Avenue in the 1 1/16-mile Victory Gallop Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs.

Phat Man has won at least one stakes in four of the last five years led by the 2020 Fred W. Hooper (G3) at Gulfstream Park over 13 rivals including ill-fated runner-up Zenden, who would go on to set a track record in the March 27 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in his final start.

Phat Man, 7, has raced seven times this year with two wins including the Battery Park July 10 at Delaware Park. Last time out he ran third, beaten less than three lengths by Code of Honor in the 1 1/16-mile Iselin (G3) Aug. 21 at Monmouth Park.

“He’s doing really good. He won the stake at Delaware two races back and then he ran into Code of Honor at Monmouth. He was hung out wide the whole way,” trainer Kent Sweezey said. “The pace didn’t set up for him just right so we’re hoping the one-turn mile at Laurel will help him out a little bit and have some pace to run into. And whether it’s one turn or two turns, I think he’s definitely better at a mile.”

Phat Man owns four wins and two seconds in 11 tries at one mile. He has won four stakes and placed in seven others, including seconds in the 2020 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2), 2019 Harlan’s Holiday (G3), 2018 Tenacious and 2017 Super Derby.

“We’ve run him in Grade 1s and taken him all over the country. I kind of said, ‘Why don’t we go back to what was really working, and that was picking up checks for [$]100[,000].’” Sweezey said. “If we can look up at the end of the year and he’s won three or four stakes races for us, wouldn’t that be cool?

“He’s always showed up for us,” he added. “Knock on wood, he’s stayed really sound. He’s just a good boy.”

Completing the field are multiple stakes winners Alwaysmining, back on dirt after three tries on the turf, and Captain Bombastic, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen; Victory Gallop runner-up McElmore Avenue and Tappin Cat, a winner of two straight for trainer Gary Capuano.