Congratulations to Linda Albert!

[Kasept]

AMAZIN SUN AMAZING IN MARYLAND MILLION STARTER HANDICAP

Apprentice Joshua Navarro won the first added-money race of his budding career when Amazin Sun drove to a hard fought victory in the $50,000 Maryland Million Starter Handicap.

Sent to post at 11-1, the 3-year-old son of 1996 Preakness winner Louis Quatorze took it to race favorite Gammy’s A Winner right from the start, pressing him down the backstretch, then moving to the fore at the top of the stretch and fighting a three-horse battle the rest of the way to win by a neck. Ham And Ernie rallied to take second. The favorite tired to third.

The winning time for the 1-1/8 mile distance was 1:52.49.

“He broke sharp so I just sat behind the speed horse and saved to the stretch,” said Navarro, who leads the jockey standings at Laurel during the current fall meeting. “I asked my horse to respond and he really dug in.” Amazin Sun is trained by Linda Albert, who was scoring her sixth Maryland Million victory. He paid $25.20. The exacta returned $108.60 and the triple paid $217.60.

“I did think they were a little bit softer and there wasn’t much speed except for ‘Gammy’,” Albert said. “I was counting on that eleven pounds (that Navarro saves as an apprentice) and I was glad that he could do it. He’s been riding so well. I hope we can get back here next year.”

Amazin Sun was bred by his owner, E. Allen Murray, Jr. at Murmur Farm in Darlington.