Published August 23, 2024

Over the last few months, a trio of Mid-Atlantic-bred fillies and mares have established something of a rivalry, often entered in the same turf sprints and trading wins and placings.

Most recently, Dontlookbackatall (PA), Roses for Debra (PA), and Future Is Now (MD) were entered in the Caress Stakes (G3) at Saratoga on July 25. Winner of the race last year, Roses for Debra scratched the day of the race, and Dontlookbackatall got her first graded stakes win, with Future Is Now a head and two necks behind in third. 

Back in June, during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, it was Future Is Now getting the head win over Roses for Debra in the Intercontinental Stakes (G2).

And all three were entered at Saratoga in Friday’s $150,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes. 

On Wednesday morning, speaking from his home in Virginia, Larry Johnson, owner and breeder of Future Is Now, celebrated the burgeoning rivalry.

“It’s a bit unusual to have a good race like this with the first three choices being bred in Pennsylvania and Maryland,” he said. “That doesn’t happen very much.”

“Still,” he joked, “I wish one of them was a Kentucky-bred going to Kentucky Downs instead.”

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