LRL: Onetime claimer Spencerian aims at Geisha
Press Release
January 16, 2026
Spencerian has come a long way since being claimed by trainer Hugh McMahon for owner Larry Rabold for $16,000 on September 1, 2023. The Irish War Cry mare won the restricted Politely Stakes the following year and has placed in two other stakes races.
Now six, she is 10-1 on the morning line in Saturday’s $100,000 Geisha Stakes at Laurel Park. The one-mile contest is for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and older, bred or sired in Maryland or Virginia, and it joins the Jenning Stakes and two overnight handicaps on the weekend card.
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“We didn’t know [when we claimed her], but she was compromised behind,” McMahon said in the winner’s circle after the Politely. “We sent her away to rest, and she got better. We didn’t do any real diagnostics, but we thought it was a fractured hip.”
It appeared to do her a world of good. In 2024 Spencerian won four of six starts and finished third in the other two, compiling more than $144,000 in earnings. In addition to her win in the Politely, she also finished third in that year’s Maryland Million Distaff.
Last year was not quite so kind to her, as she went winless in five starts coming early in the year when third in What A Summer and fourth in the Conniver.
Spencerian makes her third start of the form cycle on Saturday. She finished fifth of six in a second-level allowance race on November 28 after having finished fifth in the ’25 Maryland Million Distaff.
The even-money favorite is Takethemoneyhoney. The Michael Moore-trained Golden Lad mare is five-for-seven in her career and just a head and a nose away from being undefeated.
She enters off a one-length win as the 4-5 favorite in the Dec. 20 Politely at Laurel.
“It’s a good spot,” Moore said of the Geishha. “She certainly fits well with the Maryland-breds. She’s been able to stretch out in the past. You’d think that coming off the sprint should place her pretty well in the race, somewhere near the front, obviously.”
Trainer Brittany Russell entered two mares off lengthy layoffs. Oncourtcommentator hasn’t started since finishing second in last year’s Geisha. A 5-year-old homebred owned by The Elkstone Group, Oncourtcommentator made three of her first four starts on turf before finding her niche on the main track. Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds’ Northern Glow raced only three times last year because foot issues forced Russell to give her time off. The 2024 Geisha runner-up returns to the races for the first time since her second-level allowance victory at Pimlico on May 11.
GEISHA STAKES ENTRIES
| Post | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 1 | Navani | 10-1 | Chuan M | Allen A Ferris III | Virginia Breeze Racing |
| 2 | Northern Glow | 12-1 | Toledo J | Russell Brittany T | Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds, LLC |
| 3 | Oncourtcommentator | 5-2 | Russell S | Russell Brittany T | The Elkstone Group LLC |
| 4 | Spencerian | 10-1 | Hazlewood Y | McMahon Hugh I | Larry E. Rabold |
| 5 | Late Nite Call | 15-1 | Perez X | Saville Niall | Richard E. Harris |
| 6 | Ecliptical Gina | 30-1 | Chiappe R | Stites Flint W | Maria Montez Haire |
| 7 | Takethemoneyhoney | 1-1 | Ruiz E | Moore Michael M | Kasey K Racing Stable LLC, Michael R. Da |
| 8 | Concrete Faze | 8-1 | Sanchez M J | Kirby John T | D and D Stables LLC |
| 9 | Kissedbyanangel | 30-1 | Lyapustina T | Shankle Joanne | Joanne Shankle |
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