Cash Control prevails by head in Daisy Devine

NEW ORLEANS – The battle was joined as soon as the field broke from the gate in the Daisy Devine Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, with Mizz Money going to the front and Cash Control stalking from the outside.

They raced in that order almost all the way around the turf course before Cash Control surged in the final strides to win by a head. Late-running Street of Gold finished third in a field of seven fillies and mares..

Ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan for trainer Brad Cox and owners Richard and Bertram Klein, Cash Control ran about 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.12 and paid $7.20.

"She ran hard,'' Bridgmohan said. "She's a fighter. The main thing is to just get her to settle early.''

That's what Bridgmohan did, as Mizz Money, ridden by Jesus Castanon, set a comfortable pace. She ran the first quarter-mile in 24.12 seconds, the half in 49.49, and six furlongs in 1:14.13.

"We slowed down the pace as much as we could,'' Castanon said.

Cash Control, a 5-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile and the Mt. Livermore mare Hidden Assets, won for the seventh time in 12 starts. She scored her second stakes win; she won the Tiffany Lass on the Fair Grounds dirt in December.

"That's big, a stakes winner on turf and dirt,'' Cox said. "She loves the Fair Grounds.''

About an hour later, Cash Back, her 3-year-old half-sister by Congrats, won the Melody of Colors Stakes at Gulfstream Park.