Cathy's Crunches handles colts in Golden Nugget

Cathy’s Crunches ($5), the lone filly in the field, turned in an impressive performance to score a 2 1/4-length victory in the $51,200 Golden Nugget Stakes for 2-year-olds at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.

A daughter of West Acre, Cathy’s Crunches scored a wire-to-wire 5 1/2-length victory two weeks ago against her own sex in the Golden Gate Debutante.

In the Golden Nugget, she stalked favored McKenzies Way, ridden by Russell Baze, through a 44.57-second half-mile, put him away off a spirited challenge by longshot Jerry’s Fever, and pulled clear late.

Jerry’s Fever was second, two lengths in front of Hollywood Fierce. Mckenzies Way faded to last.

“This was a good test for her,” said winning rider Chad Schvaneveldt. “There were a couple of nice colts in there. I just let her break and run away from there. When Jerry’s Fever didn’t go with McKenzies Way I knew I had to make sure Russell didn’t get too easy of a lead. She went by McKenzies Way pretty easy and when Jerry’s Fever came up to her, she dug right in. I asked her for more and she gave it to me. She showed big-time improvement from her last race.”

Privately purchased by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and Mark DeDomenico after winning her debut in a maiden claiming race at Calder, Cathy’s Crunches improved her record to 4 wins, a second, and a third in 6 starts. She earned $30,000 to increase her lifetime total to $108,520.