Saturday was a one-in-a-million day at Laurel Park. The 21st Maryland Million Day took over at the Anne Arundel County track, and 22,262 turned out for a day full of Maryland thoroughbred racing. The total attendance for the race (24,836 between Laurel and Pimlico) and the live handle ($4,897,708) were both the second-best totals in the history of the event.
Jockey Anna “Rosie” Napravnik took the lead on Million Day ? as she has the entire fall meet at Laurel. Napravnik, 18, captured the largest purse of the day with a win in the $250,000 Maryland Million Classic. Napravnik won, riding Due, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Rob Ry Farm and Jayne Marie Slysz and trained by Dale Capuano.
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“I knew he had a good chance, and he gave me everything he had,” she said of her mount, taking her from last to first in the race. Napravnik and jockey Jeremy Rose each ended the day with three first-place finishes, while Napravnik also added two second-place and third-place finishes.
Napravnik and Due did not come into the race as the favorite. Travis Dunkelberger riding Cherokee?s Boy had 3-10 odds at post in the horse?s final race before retiring to stud.
“I know that Cherokee?s Boy didn?t run his race today, and that really helped us,” Capuano said. “We were pointing for this race, so I?m not sure where we?ll go from here.” Cherokee?s Boy finished the Classic fifth out of the seven horses.
“It was just a rough trip,” Dunkelberger said of Cherokee?s Boy?s last race. “It is hard to win a race when six other horses are gunning for you.”
Cherokee?s Boy, owned by Baltimoreans Foard Wilgis and Dave Picarello, ends a 48-race career with 19 first-place finishes and a total earning of $1,177,946, making him 12th best among Maryland-bred horses.
“It is tough to go out this way,” Picarello said. “It wasn?t his day, and this wasn?t his typical race. They did not give us a break anywhere around the track today. He is going on to better things.”
Cherokee?s Boy will head into retirement at the Maryland Stallion Station in Baltimore County and will get $2,500 per live foal.
