Bet She Wins rewards backers in Arlington-Washington Lassie
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Chris Block had just watched the Bob Lothenbach-owned colt Captivating Moon grind home second in the Arlington-Washington Futurity moving from a turf route to a sprint race on Polytrack. Captivating Moon struggled on Arlington’s synthetic track, but Bet She Wins loved it. The Lothenbach-owned, Block-trained filly, also going from a grass route to a main-track sprint, slipped through a hole along the fence at the three-sixteenths pole and won the $75,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie by 9 1/2 lengths.
Racing twice around two turns on turf, Bet She Wins finished third in her debut, then crossed the wire second but was placed first via disqualification in her second start.
“She was working good on the Poly, and she’s been here all summer,” Block said of the decision to try the Lassie.
Under Jose Lopez, Bet She Wins broke from post 12, but had worked her way to the no. 2 path midway down the backstretch of the seven-furlong race. Up front, Richie’slilwildcat had dueled with 2-1 favorite Red Dread through splits of 22.92 and 46.11, a decent pace on a slow-playing surface. Southampton Way, the 5-2 second choice, was in hand and going well behind the leaders at the half-mile pole, but Lopez steered inside her at the three-eighths and passed Southampton Way with disdain. The two leaders still blocked his path, but Lopez stuck to the fence, got through after having to steady slightly past the quarter-pole, and felt the powder keg below him go boom.
“I was just waiting, waiting, waiting for the hole,” Lopez said. “When I worked her on the Poly the other day she worked beautiful, so I had a lot of confidence.”
Bet She Wins got out a bit twice in the lane, but that didn’t matter in the least as she rolled across the line far in front of a clumped group of futile chasers. Southampton Way wound up plugging along for second, with Espressa third and Lemon Drop Twist fourth. Bet She Wins hardly ran like a 13-1 shot who paid $28.80 to win, and her time of 1:24.43 was .84 faster than the winning time in the Futurity.
“I thought she’d run pretty good, but I didn’t think she’d run like that,” said Block.
Bet She Wins is by First Samurai and out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Spring Eclipse, and she must have looked pretty good as a yearling because Lothenbach paid $230,00 for her during the summer of 2016. The filly ran like she was well worth the price Saturday.
◗ Moms Choice galloped along on an easy lead, then sprinted away from her pursuers to win the $66,900 Avers Wexler overnight stakes by four lengths Saturday. Trained by Larry Rivelli for Vince Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope LLC. Moms Choice ran 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack in 1:45.38 and paid $5.20 as the close second choice to favored Princess Erindelle, who finished second. Moms Choice is a 4-year-old by Kitten’s Joy out of Tazarine, by Cat Thief.
