Miss Charm City's Trainer Dedicates Win to Breeder

Breeder Jim Glenn of Monkton, Md., died of cancer this past spring at age 79, and recently his ashes were spread at the finish line at Laurel Park at a memorial service. Glenn's name, however, was alive in the track's paddock yesterday after a 2-year-old filly he bred, Miss Charm City, showed the look of a rising star.

After intimidating two other fillies in a pace battle through the first quarter-mile of the $50,000 Gin Talking Stakes, Miss Charm City opened up entering the stretch and galloped home under jockey Horacio Karamanos to win by 6¾ lengths.

The filly, by the late stallion Bowman's Band, who also died this year, ran the 5½-furlong race for Maryland-bred 2-year-old fillies in 1 minute 6.87 seconds over a sloppy track, finishing well ahead of stakes-winning Charles Town shipper Letmeaskuaquestion and favored Graceful Ginger.

The Gin Talking, originally scheduled for the turf, was moved to the dirt course because of heavy rain produced by Tropical Storm Hanna. Rain and wind lashed Laurel Park for much of the afternoon but had stopped by the time Miss Charm City stepped onto the course.

Nevertheless, as a precaution, track management moved the winner's circle ceremony into the covered paddock, where trainer Carlos Garcia dedicated the victory to Glenn and Maryland trainer Bill Donovan, who died Wednesday at 75. Donovan was best known for guiding Lost Code, a racing star in the 1980s.

"He had to help me from upstairs," Garcia said of Glenn.

Glenn didn't have a lot of horses, but he bred a fast one named Jorgie Stover in partnership with Country Life Farm that wound up winning the 2001 Maryland Million Sprint. Garcia said Glenn always wanted a filly to give him Maryland Million bookends, and Miss Charm City might just be that horse.

"Hopefully, our next race will be the Maryland Million" on Oct. 4, Garcia said. "I really want to win it for him. I don't like to push babies, but she won impressively first time out [on Aug. 13], where she beat a lot of decent horses, and now she's won this one. We are really looking forward to her next race."

Miss Charm City has a pedigree to succeed. Her sire, Bowman's Band, won more than $1.3 million in his racing career and was off to a promising start as a stallion before dying in August following complications from surgery for colic. Miss Charm City also is a half-sister to Celestial Legend, a very fast horse who won the first four starts of her career for trainer Dale Capuano.

The Gin Talking was the 131st stakes victory for Garcia, who has had numerous star 2-year-olds including Count on Numbers and Brilliant Brass.

"It's too soon to evaluate her," Garcia said of Miss Charm City. "She's got talent, good lungs. She's still a little hyper right now."

Racing Notes: Considering the conditions, with the entrance into the clubhouse parking lot flooded, the dirt course appeared in remarkably good condition. Track superintendent David Whitman, who has worked at Laurel for 24 years, rolled the course Friday night with 10,000-pound rollers to pack down the dirt and then "floated" it between races with trucks that tow flat pieces of steel to smooth the surface and draw water up. The slight bank in the track allows the water to run down to the drainage system on the inside.

Wagering on the nine-race card, however, was exceedingly light. The Gin Talking, for example, had only $14,346 bet into the win, place and show pools from all sources in state and around the country.