West Virginia shipper Boppin Rocket wins Friday feature at Laurel

A change in style and scenery proved to be a winning combination for Boppin Rocket, who rallied from off the pace to capture the featured eighth race Friday on Opening Day of Laurel Park’s fall meet.

Making her 10th career start and first outside of her native West Virginia, the 4-year-old Officer Rocket filly gained the lead after turning for home and held off Scip’s Sonata approaching the wire to win the $45,000 optional claiming allowance by a neck. The winning time was 1:11.89 over a fast main track.

It was the third win of the day for jockey Horacio Karamanos, who settled the typically front-running Boppin Rocket ($23.80) in fourth as My Magician took the seven-horse field through a quarter-mile in 23.43 seconds and a half in 47.14. Scip’s Sonata took a half-length lead into the stretch as Boppin Rocket split horses at the eighth pole and surged in the final sixteenth.

“The point was to cover up in the first part of it because she gets to the lead and then she hangs in the stretch. Even at Charles Town with the short stretch, she’ll open up by three or four and the last 50 yards she stops so we had to change the plan,” Karamanos said. “She broke sharp so I took her back to sit behind the speed and she responded well. She tried to hang a little bit when she got to the front, but hit her a couple times and she kept going. I had two horses in front to follow so I sat behind those horses and if my horse would give me some kick I know I would win the race, and that’s what happened.”

Scip’s Sonata held second, a length ahead of late-running Lexington Street, the 2015 Maryland Million Lassie winner and 8-5 favorite making her second start of the year.

In her second try over the Laurel turf, Andalusite ranged up on Dattt Melody in mid-stretch and surged past in the final sixteenth to capture Friday’s co-featured sixth race, a $42,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up on the All Along Turf Course.

It was the second straight victory for Andalusite ($11.40), a 4-year-old El Corredor gelding trained by Kelly Rubley for Frazza Cassimeris Racing who completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.09. Datt Melody, a 6-year-old gelding making his fourth start off a nearly two-year layoff, held second over late-running favorite Hardly Home.

Shimmering Aspen, Feels Like Spring Impress in Maiden Wins
 

Hillwood Stable’s Shimmering Aspen broke running from her rail post, settled on the lead and spurted away from her rivals turning for home to capture Friday’s fifth race, a $40,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies.

Purchased as a yearling last fall for $200,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic sale at Timonium, the juvenile daughter of Malibu Moon won by 5 ½ lengths in 1:12.94 for six furlongs over a fast main track.

Favored at 3-2 in a field of eight, Shimmering Aspen ($5) set fractions of 23.21 seconds, 47.61 and 59.95 tracked by Proud Commander and Natural Notion before pulling clear under brisk urging from jockey Trevor McCarthy. Natural Notion came on late for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Proud Commander.

In Friday’s other maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies, George Krikorian’s Feels Like Spring ($37.60) surged past pacesetting Perfect Party Girl in deep stretch while holding off a furious drive from first-time starter Discreet Deceit on the outside to win the fourth race.

Ridden by Alex Cintron for trainer Michael Matz, Feels Like Spring ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:03.38 over a firm Fort Marcy Turf Course. The bay daughter of 2008 Donn Handicap (G1) winner Spring At Last bounced back after a last-place finish in her debut Aug. 5 on the dirt at Laurel.

Source: Maryland Jockey Club