Happy Go Lucky Stable’s Ournationonparade race for his new relationships for the first time, paying instant dividends with a popular and decisive 5 3/4 length win in the $150,000 Maryland Million Classic on Oct. Laurel Park.
The Classic 1 1/8 mile for kids ages 3 and up is the title of the 37th Jim McKay Maryland Million Day program featuring 12 races with 8 stakes and four stakes starting on ‘Maryland Day at the racing’, celebrating the generation of stallions standing in the state.
It was the second win of the day for coach Jamie Ness and track athlete Jaime Rodriguez, who also teamed up for the $100,000 Lassie with the chubby 2-year-old. Chicken bred and co-owned by Ness’ Jagger Inc. It is also Maryland Million’s second win for Ournationonparade, coming three years after his win in the 2019 Incubator.
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Ournationonparade ($6) was taken off the field as a 2-1 favorite in the 11-man field including two former Classic winners, Prendimi and Monday Morning Qb along with the Double Crown multi-stakes winner and Tappin Cat. Raised in Maryland by John Williamson III, Ournationonparade was a 5-year-old Cal Nation gelding out of mare Parade of colors whom Ness also trained.
“She’s slow. She really is,” Ness said. “(Williamson) came up to me and said, ‘What about that old mare? When you finish racing her, can I bring her? ” He said, ‘I don’t know what it is about her, but I just like her.’ She is winner after winner after winner.
“Good for him. He was quite choked up after the race, and that made me choke a little.”
As he did in his pre-2020 victory, Monday Morning Qb take the initiative with: 24.65 and: 49.74, chase Prendimi and Scholar Vance .
Rodriguez had Ournationonparade in fifth place with the attention of Predimi who, like Monday Morning Qb, has managed to become the sixth-most winner in the Classic and the first since Admiral War Chest in the year 2015-16.
Our handicap swings at Prendimi in the middle of the first leg, matching runs close to the ramp and overtaking when going straight home, going a mile in 1:38.71 and continuing to win the split with rope, finishing in 1:51.78 on a fast main track. Scholar Vance came in second, half-length more than The Poser, with Double Crown another top in fourth.
“By the time I got to the fourth milestone, he blew up. I didn’t even ask him. I was just sitting on top of him and he was flying,” said the winning driver.
Ness has claimed Ournationonparade for $50,000 from his September 28 victory at the Churchill Downs seven-time sprint. He had never covered 1 1/8 mile before but won the claimant the 1/16 mile option by 9 3/4 of the length. August 2 at Horseshoe Indianapolis one start before he was declared.
“I think he’s just a good horse. He’s just a little bit better than these horses, and he proved it today,” Ness said.
Other winners of the Maryland Million Day Stakes include:
- Maryland Million Turf Sprint: R. Larry Johnson and RDM Racing Stable’s The sky doesn’t fall
- Maryland Million Nursery: Charles Reed’s Johnnyz from Albany
- Maryland Million Ladies: NRS Stable, James Chambers and Tim Keefe’s Coconut cake
- Maryland Million Distaff: CJI Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm’s Fille d’Espirt
- Maryland Million Turf: Samuel Davis’ Wicked Prankster
- Maryland Million Sprint: Smart Angle’s Fortheluvofbourbon
Video: Maryland Million Classic S. (BT)
This press release has been edited for content and style by the BloodHorse Staff.
