Just Howard continues forward progression in Find

After needing six tries to break his maiden, Skeedattle Associates’ Just Howard continued his forward progression by running down Dothat Dance and holding off Ghost Bay to earn a third straight win in the $75,000 Find Saturday at Laurel Park.

 

The 1 1/8-mile Find for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up was one of two turf stakes on the 12-race Maryland Pride Day program, along with the $75,000 All Brandy for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and older.

 

Also on Saturday’s card was the $75,000 Miss Disco for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the main track.

 

Named for his breeder, the late Howard M. Bender, and trained by Graham Motion, Just Howard ($13.20) hit the wire in 1:57.10 over a Dahlia Turf Course layout listed as yielding to win by a neck. The only 3-year-old in the eight-horse field, it was his second win over elders and second straight in a stake following a head victory in the 1 1/16-mile Caveat July 15 at Laurel.

 

“Howard Bender was a very good friend of ours but also a good customer in our regular business and a mentor in this business,” said Skeedattle’s Robert ‘Willie’ White, president of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association. “When this horse was going to be sold in Kentucky, Frank Smith, Ham’s brother, went over to see him and we got lucky enough to buy him. And after he had him for a while he said, ‘I think we’ve done really good here.’ Today couldn’t be any better. My grandkids are here, our families are here. It’s a great day.”

 

English Minister, the 8-5 favorite who ran second by a neck after a tough trip in the 2016 Find and came up a neck shy of Phlash Phelps in the June 24 Mister Diz last time out, was quickest from the gate from his inside post to set fractions of 25.46 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 53.07 for the half.

 

Just Howard and jockey Alex Cintron settled in third as English Minister and Dothat Dance continued to slug it out through six furlongs in 1:18.09 until Dothat Dance took the lead straightening for home. Cintron swung Just Howard to the middle of the track where they steadily gained ground down the late to catch Dothat Dance and keep 13-1 long shot Ghost Bay at bay to his outside.

 

“The last few starts he would break and get a little rank and if you let him be there where he wants to be in the race, he won’t finish. The trainer said no matter how slow the pace was, stay behind horses and let him relax and finish. If you let him be clear, he will be in the bridle the whole way and at the top of the lane he’ll just hang,” Cintron said. “Today the pace was slow, but I had to do my own race. On the backside we were behind the two horses and he dropped the bit and behaved himself, and gave me a good kick at the end.”

 

Ghost Bay stayed up for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Dothat Dance. It was another 1 ¼ lengths back to English Minister followed by Talk Show Man, Daniel Le Deux, No Bull Addiction and Tizzarunner. How’s Your Sugar and Phlash Phelps, the 9-5 program favorite, were scratched.

 

“I had the feeling I was going to get there but the grass is so wet and deep and it was kind of hard for my horse to make up the ground,” Cintron said. “The outside and the middle of the racetrack was the best part because walking to the gate I could see it was a little more dry, but I didn’t want to go all the way outside. When I saw the other horse coming I put him out in the three path and he kept going.”

 

White said the 1 1/8-mile Commonwealth Derby (G3) for 3-year-olds Sept. 30 at Laurel would likely be the next step for Just Howard, a chestnut son of turf champion English Channel they purchased for $37,000 as a yearling.

 

“Today was a big step. He had to move forward some,” White said. “This turf course, you had to like it or hate it. They all ran it. They walked the course, it was a pretty slow time from what I saw and it’s very deep, but he fights. He won’t give up and that’s what you need. Especially in turf racing, there’s got to be a horse that’s willing to take it all the way to the wire, and that’s what he did.”