Smash and Grab and Xavier Perez made every step a winning one in an allowance score Saturday at Laurel Park. Photo by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.
From a Maryland Jockey Club release
When nominations close on Thursday for the $250,000 General George (G3) Handicap, don’t be surprised to see the name Smash and Grab after he cruised to victory in today’s seventh race at Laurel Park.
Six runners contested the seven furlong allowance test, which is the same distance as the Feb. 16 General George, and several had stakes credentials. Smash and Grab went to the front and skipped off to a comfortable lead under Xavier Perez. He wasn’t threatened the rest of the way to the win the $50,000 race by 5 ½ lengths. The winning time for the 5-year-old son of Sharp Honor was 1:23.10. Damon Dilodovico trains Smash and Grab, who came into his barn late last summer.
“I was confident heading in but the three horses we have run before him this week didn’t run well,” Dilodovico said. “He seemed to love the added distance and Xavier did a great job. You always get scared with him because it is not uncommon for him to wait on horses but that didn’t happen today. The General George is a short turnaround, a little quick for my liking but the owner (Ronald Cuneo) wants to go. It will all depend how he comes out of the race.”
Smash and Grab, who paid $7.40, improved to seven-of-nine at Laurel, which includes a second place finish in the Fire Plug Stakes earlier this month. He finished sixth in last year’s General George.
