LRL: Just Gia scores in Laurel feature * The Racing Biz

LRL: Just Gia scores in Laurel feature

Now 2-for-3 and headed to stakes company

Frank Vespe
November 15, 2026

In a race that could have significant implications for next month’s Maryland Juvenile Filly Stakes, Just Gia fended off a spirited challenge from Floreana to win Sunday’s allowance feature for two-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.

Just Gia, a Butch Reid-trained daughter of Army Mule, is now 2-for-3 in her career. Floreana, trained by Brittany Russell for Susan Naylor, is 1-for-2.

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The Dec. 26 $125,000 Juvenile Filly is restricted to Maryland-bred or -sired, or Virginia-bred or -sired, two-year-old fillies. Just Gia is a Maryland-bred, and Floreana, an Essential Quality filly, is Virginia-bred. Two other runners in the field, Silver Strings and Sweet Bourbon Tea, also are Maryland-bred.

“We were going to wait for the [Nov. 27] Gin Talking, but we decided on this spot because this gives us… six weeks coming into that race,” Reid explained. “And she’s already shipped twice in a row, and I don’t like to ship them that many times in a row if I can avoid it.”

*Just Gia won a Laurel allowance. Photo by Jim McCue.*

Just Gia was a $210,000 yearling purchase for owner LC Racing LLC. She is out of the Tiznow mare Hello Now and is a half-sister to trainer Brittany Russell’s first big horse, the multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful. Hello Beautiful is one of seven horses to have won three Maryland Million races.

“We had to outbid Brittany Russell. It was her and me,” Reid said of the bidding for Just Gia with a chuckle. “I think it was the two of us from about $50,000 on.”

For all the barn’s high hopes, however, Just Gia’s career bow was a disappointment. Sent off at 3-1 in a Parx Racing maiden race, she was up close to the pace early before fading to fourth, beaten by 10 lengths.

“She always trained very well. The surprising race was her first one,” Reid said. “Really, she kind of was looking around and not sure exactly what she wanted to do. But she’s been a nice horse since the beginning.”

She showed that second time out when she posted a 5 ¾-length victory at Delaware Park, earning a Beyer speed figure of 70 that was the second-highest last-out fig in today’s field, trailing only Silver Strings’s 76 Oct. 23 when she thrashed similar.

In today’s contest, Just Gia took a thump from Katz On Fire leaving the starting gate but quickly righted herself to have a head in front after a quarter-mile in 22.68 seconds, with Katz On Fire keeping the heat on to her inside and Floreana poised just outside the top pair.

Rounding the turn, Just Gia got the best of Katz On Fire but was confronted by Floreana as the field turned for home, a half-mile gone in 46.25 seconds.

But in the lane, Just Gia and jockey Abner Adorno inched away from that rival to best her by one length, with Katz On Fire holding third, another two lengths farther back in third and well clear of the rest. Running time for six furlongs on a fast main track was 1:11.40.

“I was a little concerned turning for home,” Reid acknowledged. “You never quite know how they’re going to respond after she whipped them so easily the first time there, but she really responded well and drew off on that filly.”

Just Gia paid $4.60 to win. The exacta returned $4.90 for a one-dollar wager.

NOTES In a two-turn allowance for two-year-olds earlier on the card, New York-bred shipper Cartridge proved best, winning by 3 ½ lengths under jockey Mychel Sanchez. Cartridge is trained by Jeremian Englehart… In other Sunday allowances, Love Yourself, with Jeiron Barbosa up, prevailed by a nose in a roughly run one-mile contest, and favored Skyrayleigh, with Sanchez up, won a turf allowance easily… Like Sanchez, Barbosa also won a pair…

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Frank Vespe

Frank Vespe, the founder and publisher of The Racing Biz, has owned, bought, sold, claimed, written, and talked about horses, in varying combinations, for a decade. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on twitter @TheRacingBiz.

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