Laurel Park: Saddle Up Jessie gets the nod to defend Carousel S. crown

Defending champ #9 Saddle Up Jessie will break from the widest post in Saturday’s $100,000 Carousel S. at Laurel Park on Saturday. The nine-furlong affair on the main strip attracted a well-matched field of nine and I will give top billing to the mare on the outside as she makes her first run for conditioner Graham Motion. 

Carousel Stakes Wagers 

$1 superfecta key 9 with 1,3,4,6 ($24)
$.50-cent superfecta 1,3,4,6 with 9 with 1,3,4,6 ($12)

Carousel Stakes Betting Analysis 2024

Purchased for $500,000 in November, the More Than Ready five-year-old boasts a strong 4-2-2-0 mark on the surface and will be racing with blinkers off for the initial time. The Kentucky-bred has been in useful form this campaign, with a stakes triumph and a second in the Delaware H. (G2) among her top showings, and she gets a pass for her unplaced effort at Del Mar most recently when running into some serious foes in the Bayakoa S. (G3). 

Saddle Up Jessie posted a pair of solid works at Fair Hill since the barn change, and she owns the early speed to track the early tempo from second or third to the top of the lane, prior to being asked for her best in the stretch. She figures to be of good value at post time under Jevian Toledo. 

I feel that a quartet of runners deserves inclusion with my top pick. Trainer Linda Rice has #6 Movie Moxy going well currently and the Go For Wand S. (G3) third makes a lot of sense if she improves even a small amount. The Street Sense seven-year-old exits a trio of very good runs at Aqueduct in succession, and the bay mare has the versatility in her running style to give options to Jose Lezcano in the early stages. 

Multiple stakes heroine #4 Malibu Beauty will be the one to catch as the pacesetter in the affair, and the six-year-old has endured plenty of local success with 13 top-three results on the oval in her career. The Gary Capuano trainee is a good fit at this level and will be stubborn late if she is allowed to dictate the action through moderate early splits. 

#3 Evidencias has picked up stakes trophies in two consecutive outings leading up to Saturday and has arguably never been better for Christophe Clement. The Brazilian-bred five-year-old was third in her lone prior run on the strip but could easily improve off of that beneath Jaime Rodriguez. 

Twixt S. queen #1 Miss New York comes in fresh and stretches out to 1 1/8 miles from the rail for Jorge Delgado. The Good Magic four-year-old shows a 3-2-1-0 mark at Laurel in her career and figures to receive an excellent voyage while saving ground on the fence to the top of the lane with David Egan inheriting the ride.