Golden Years gets season underway in Miracle Wood Stakes

Laurel, MD (SportsNetwork.com) – Golden Years, winner of the Marylander Stakes, will begin his 3-year-old season in Monday’s $100,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park.

The one-mile Miracle Wood has attracted eight 3-year-olds and has an approximate post time of 3:57 p.m. ET.

Trained by Rodney Jenkins, Golden Years will break from post 2 with jockey Victor Carrasco reunited with the colt. Carrasco has been the only rider the 3-year-old has known and the pair have teamed up to win three of four starts.

Golden Years, owned by Hillwood Stable, broke his maiden first time out last September at Laurel and followed by winning the Maryland Million Nursery in October. After a fourth in Laurel’s James F. Lewis Stakes on Nov. 15, Golden Years won the Marylander on Dec. 6 over a sloppy track. The colt has banked $146,760.

Measured, second in last month’s Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes, has drawn post 5 with Horacio Karamanos riding. The chestnut colt is owned by Stoneway Farm and trained by Michael Salvaggio Jr.

Measured got second as a 27-1 longshot on Jan. 29 in Laurel’s Whiteley Stakes behind 1-5 favorite Majestic Affair. The colt won his debut race in November at Penn National and was third in an allowance race at Laurel in early January. Measured has earned $41,720 in his three starts.

Jerome Stakes runner-up Nasa gets back into the starting gate on President’s Day and will start the Miracle Wood from post 4 with Kendrick Carmouche back in the saddle.

Nasa, a son of 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, is trained and owned by his sire’s connections, John Servis and Someday Farm. The colt got second in his debut effort on Sept. 6 at Parx Racing and won three weeks later at Laurel. He finished third in a stakes at Parx in November and won the Pennsylvania Nursery at the track on Dec. 6 to become the first offspring of Smarty Jones to capture the same stakes as his father.

In his 2015 return effort, Nasa finished 4 3/4 lengths behind El Kabeir in the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 3. The Pennsylvania bred colt has earned $139,050 from five starts.

Here is the field for the Miracle Wood in post position order: Combat Diver, Sheldon Russell; Golden Years, Victor Carrasco; Savvy Street, Forest Boyce; Nasa, Kendrick Carmouche; Measured, Horacio Karamanos; Bodhisattva, J. D. Acosta; Governmentshutdown, Julian Pimentel and On Tap, Jose Ortiz.

Categorized in: Horses