Hawthorne: Class Break prevails in three-horse photo in Illinois Debutante

Four-Footed Fotos

Class Break (7) gets up by a nose over two of her rivals in the Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante.

The 2-year-old filly Class Break’s first two-turn start looked a lot like her last one-turn start, a last-minute stretch rally leading to victory in a rich race for Illinois-breds.

Still four lengths behind at the stretch call, Class Break surged outside in the final half-furlong to win the $89,100 Pat Whitworth Illinois Debutante on Saturday at Hawthorne. A nose back came Diva’s Diamond and Our Domain, who dead-heated for second in a three-horse blanket finish.

Bred by Renee and Wayne Catalano, owned by their daughter, Shelbi Catalano, and trained by Wayne Catalano, Class Break had rallied late to win the $112,000 Showtime Deb Stakes over six furlongs in her most recent race. Catalano predicted Class Break, a daughter of Sunday Break, would make a successful tradition to route racing Saturday, and he was right.

Seventh in the early going as longshot Can’taffordanother set a decent pace of 48.01 seconds for the opening half-mile, Class Break started moving on the far turn but still had plenty to do at the top of the stretch. With jockey Florent Geroux offering vigorous encouragement, the filly found her best stride about a furlong out, getting up just in time.

Class Break was timed in 1:48.12 for 1 1/16 miles, and paid $6 to win.