West Point Thoroughbreds and Marvin Delfiner's TDN Rising Star Jaxon Traveler (Munnings) holds the hot hand coming into Saturday's GIII Chick Lang S. at Pimlico. A front-running winner in his first two starts at six panels last fall, the dark bay rounded out the season with a narrow score in Laurel's Maryland Juvenile Futurity over seven furlongs Dec. 5. Off thereafter, he found Sir Wellington (Palace) only a head too tough in Oaklawn's Gazebo S. Mar. 20. Favored in his latest, he bounced back at the Hot Springs oval to score at by 2 3/4 lengths in the Bachelor S. Apr. 24.
Riding a winning skein is William and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Mighty Mischief (Into Mischief). A close-up second in the mud at Oaklawn Feb. 7, the Steve Asmussen trainee went wire-to-wire there Mar. 19. Well-supported while stepping up to optional claiming company last time, the bay once again wired his competition, scoring by 4 1/2 lengths. In his latest work, Mighty Mischief fired a bullet four furlongs in :47.80 (1/29) at Churchill Downs May 4.
Hoping the speed falls apart in front of him, Narrow Leaf Farm's Hemp (Super Ninety Nine) won second time out at Laurel in February before finishing third going 5 1/2 panels in the slop against optional claiming company Feb. 28. Stretched to seven furlongs last time, he came from just off the pace in the muddy test to score with ease Apr. 10.
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