Breeze Rider pulls away in Wintergreen Stakes

Breeze Rider continued a solid campaign with another stakes victory, drawing clear to a 5 3/4-length score in the $100,000 Wintergreen Stakes for fillies and mares on Saturday night at Turfway Park.

Breeze Rider ($3.80), a 5-year-old Paynter mare, was sent away favored under E.T. Baird. After briefly pressing longshot Lady Lawyer through the opening stages, she took command through a moderate first half in 48.22 seconds. She had an uncomplicated time from there, drawing clear through the lane with only mild urging. She finished the mile on Tapeta in 1:36.60.

Alydiva was a clear second, 2 1/4 lengths clear of Wait for Nairobi.

Breeze Rider won for the fourth time in her last five starts, all in stakes company, for trainer Steve Manley and Mike Piazza Racing. The mare has been a productive claim for those connections since they picked her up for $15,000 out of a victory at Fair Grounds on New Year's Day 2021. She earned more than $250,000 last year while starting her current streak of stakes success late in the season. Breeze Rider won the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial Stakes on Nov. 25 on the turf at Fair Grounds, followed by her first trip to Turfway for a victory in the My Charmer on Dec. 11.

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Breeze Rider finished fourth in the Pippin Stakes on dirt, not her preferred surface, on Jan. 8 at Oaklawn. She rebounded to win the Jersey Lilly Turf Stakes on Jan. 30 at Sam Houston and has now added the Wintergreen.