LAUREL, Md. – For a horse with so little experience, Pascaline has been through a great deal. Bred in West Virginia, the Upstart colt was offered for sale twice at public auction in Kentucky. After being purchased for $40,000, he was exported to Europe, where he went through the sales ring earlier this year at Tattersalls in England. Bought by prominent North American-based owner West Point Thoroughbreds for approximately $85,000, Pascaline returned to the United States and was transferred to trainer Arnaud Delacour. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. After winning Saturday’s $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds at one mile, Pascaline is now unbeaten from two starts. “Monster,” jockey Victor Carrasco said as he guided Pascaline into the winner’s circle. Pascaline, entered for the main track only and fourth choice in the nine-horse field, traveled sweetly throughout. Carrasco perched the colt three wide just behind pacesetters Notmyfirstrodeo and Kitty’s Son as they sparred through splits of 23.72 and 47.68 over the good track. Carrasco pushed the button after six furlongs in 1:13.71, and Pascaline immediately responded. He burst to the front in the opening stages of the long Laurel Park stretch, then held firm to defeat Grade 3-placed stakes-winner Studlydoright by two lengths in 1:38.87. Just a Fair Shake placed another head behind. Reggie Runs Rogue, Surfside Moon, Kitty’s Son, Hard Circle, Notmyfirstrodeo, and Gotta Have a Guy completed the order of finish. Stormy Flight, Soleil Volant, Academy, Just Too Fly, and Lazlo scratched. Pascaline paid $10 to win. A half-brother to multiple stakes-winner Social Chic, Pascaline showed professionalism by rallying from off the pace and splitting horses to win his debut, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special at Colonial on Aug. 24. “I told Victor I quite liked him. No matter what, make sure you teach him something,” Delacour said about the first start. “I didn’t want him to get him out of there, and be in front, and start looking around. Get him in the kickback, and he did it great. It’s so nice when they can learn something.” Pascaline handled the Laurel Futurity’s extra distance with aplomb. “I was pretty confident we could stretch to the mile,” Delacour continued. “It’s a testing mile here because it’s one turn, but he did everything right. He moved a little early and started looking around a bit. It was the first time he’s exposed to that. All things considering, he did everything right.” Bred by James Franklin Miller, Pascaline is owned by West Point, Jimmy Kahig Racing, CJ Stables, and Edwin Barker, and joins an impressive list of prior Laurel Futurity winners that include Count Fleet, Citation, Secretariat, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, and Barbaro. All three of Laurel’s scheduled stakes races on Saturday were transferred from turf to dirt after heavy rains earlier in the week rendered the grass course unusable. The Laurel Futurity was originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf. Selima Stakes Pure Majestic successfully transferred her good turf form to the main track with a gate-to-wire victory in the $150,000 Selima Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Originally scheduled for 1 1/16-miles on turf, the Selima was contested around a one-turn mile over a muddy and sealed dirt track. Trained by John “Jerry” Robb, Pure Majestic bounced right to the front under jockey Jevian Toledo, carved out fractions of 23.26 and 46.73 seconds, opened a clear lead while ridden confidently after a six-furlong clocking of 1:12.61, then never faced a serious threat. Under the second-wire finish at Laurel, Pure Majestic was 1 1/4 lengths better than My Charm with favored Sail Theseven Seas another 2 1/2 lengths back in third. Then came Strong Like Sara, Burner Account, and a slow-starting Swan House. As Catch Can, Sweet Treasure, Correto, Social Love, Bembridge Ledge, Good Long Cry, Dear Louise, Winning Street, Bonne Fille, and Serene Spirit declined to participate after the race was washed off the turf. Pure Majestic covered the distance in 1:40.50 and returned $17.40 as the fifth choice in the betting. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.   Robb and his wife, Gina, campaign Pure Majestic for their No Guts No Glory Stable. They purchased the gray daughter of Tapit for $100,000 last year at Fasig-Tipton October. “We picked this one out together,” Gina Robb said in the winner’s circle. Jerry Robb stated that Pure Majestic’s “pedigree and the price” were determining factors in the purchase. Not only is Pure Majestic by one of the legendary stallions of the American turf, but she is also a half-sister to Grade 2-winning dirt miler Tonalist’s Shape out of stakes-winning dirt miler Hitechnoweenie, by Harlan’s Holiday. Jerry Robb was pleased that Toledo went to the front with Pure Majestic after he rated her from off the pace two starts back, a race where Pure Majestic finished second on the turf. Pure Majestic hit the board in three of her first four starts, all sprints on the dirt before Robb switched her to the turf for that runner-up effort at Colonial. In her final prep before the Selima, she wired eight others in a turf maiden special weight going a two-turn mile at Colonial. Jerry Robb felt that it wasn’t necessarily the surface switch that led to Pure Majestic’s initial victory. “We thought all along that it was the distance,” Robb said. “We weren’t sure until now.” Bred in Kentucky by Tapit Syndicate and Sabana Farm, Pure Majestic is the 166th blacktype winner sired by Tapit, who led all North American stallions by progeny earnings for four consecutive seasons beginning in 2014. Japan Turf Cup Make it two for Toledo. One race after he guided Pure Majestic to her Selima score, the jockey utilized carbon-copy tactics aboard Dean Martini in the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup, a race transferred from 12 furlongs on the turf to 1 1/4 miles on a main track upgraded to good. Shipping in from Southern California following four losses on turf when entered for an $80,000 claiming option, Dean Martini took charge immediately, out-hoofing 2021 Japan Turf Cup winner Tide of the Sea for early command. Dean Martini settled into a nice rhythm, dropping down fractions of 24.44, 49.40 and 1:14.65. Yamato, making his first start since winning last year’s Japan Turf Cup, loomed briefly from the outside turning into the stretch, but the veteran likely needed the race and flattened out a bit in the final furlong. With no other challengers rallying, Dean Martini stayed solid to the wire, winning by 6 1/2 lengths in 2:04.94. Hay Chief rallied from last to finish second, a length ahead of Yamato. Favored Irish Cork, entered for the main track only, finished fourth. Max Swagger and Tide of the Sea were well-beaten. California Frolic, Dataman, Lord Flintshire, and Dripping Gold withdrew. Dean Martini paid $12.60 as the betting public’s fourth choice. Trained by Peter Eurton for owner David Bernsen, Dean Martini bedded down in trainer Lacey Gaudet’s shedrow for his time in Maryland. “It was the only thing they told me,” Toledo said about race strategy. “Lacey, I think she trains for the owner, and she gave me instructions. She told me that she wanted me on the lead no matter what. The horse has a big heart. When they came close to him, he picked it up right away, and when I asked him in the stretch, he just kept going and going.” Although Dean Martini made 14 of 15 starts on grass since being transferred to Eurton, he made a name for himself on the main track earlier in his career. Two starts after being claimed by trainer Tom Amoss for $50,000 out of a winning effort on Churchill Downs dirt in 2020, Dean Martini upset the Grade 3 Ohio Derby. Overall, he has prevailed in 5 of 37 starts with four of the victories coming on dirt. A 7-year-old gelding by Cairo Prince out of stakes-winner Soundwav, by Friends Lake, Dean Martini was bred in Kentucky by Brereton C Jones and Bret Jones and sold for $220,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling auction. Dean Martini has earned $636,930. As for Toledo, a perennial leading rider over this circuit, the Selima and Japan Turf Cup were his first two stakes victories since suffering a dislocated collarbone in a spill on April 21. That injury forced Toledo to miss almost three months of action. “This is my house,” Toledo said. “This is home. I love the people here. People have always been helping me since I got here, so I really appreciate all the owners and trainers to keep me here and help me.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.