Charlie's Penny pulls the upset in Silverbulletday Stakes

Charlie’s Penny gleamed bright in the New Orleans evening Saturday as Sun Path faded through the final furlong of the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Making her first start around two turns, Charlie’s Penny looked like a million bucks busting past odds-on favorite Sun Path in upper stretch and going on to a 3 1/4-length victory. Souper Sensational, who raced too far behind a slow pace in the early and middle stages, finished solidly to gain second as Moon Stage was third. Sun Path, the 3-5 favorite, could do nothing with a perfect pressing trip, failing to respond when hooked by the winner at the three-sixteenths pole and fading to fourth.

There was no fade from Charlie’s Penny ($20.40), who stalked the pace under Brian Hernandez Jr., perched three wide while full of run coming around the turn, and quickly took the measure of Sun Path, going on to a decisive score.

A Bob Lothenbach homebred trained by Chris Block, Charlie’s Penny is by Race Day out of the Warrior’s Reward mare Sweet Lorraine, the second foal to race from the mare, whose first was stakes winner Mom’s Red Lipstick. Charlie’s Penny sharply won her career debut over Arlington’s Polytrack, ran fourth behind victorious Souper Sensational in the Glorious Song at Woodbine, won a first-level dirt-sprint allowance race at Churchill, and was third in the six-furlong Letellier last month at Fair Grounds.

“We weren’t sure,” Block said, asked about his filly’s route potential. “We thought she might be a sprinter. In the middle of the [far] turn I could see [Hernandez] had a ton of horse. I’ve seen her level off really well going short, and today I saw her do it going long.”

Souper Sensational tried to get involved once Declan Carroll extricated her from a pocket before the quarter pole and wheeled wide for a stretch run, but Charlie’s Penny was long gone by then. Off slow fractions of 25.66 seconds and 49.66, the winner stopped the timer in 1:43.80 for one mile 70 yards on a fast dirt track. Souper Sensational had three-quarters of a length on Moon Swag, who nipped a disappointing Sun Path for fourth. Littlestitious, who set the pace, was fifth as Barista brought up the rear. Divine Comedy, Minute Waltz, and Princess Theorem were scratched to run in a Monday allowance race.

Block praised Hernandez for getting Charlie’s Penny to relax in the early stages.

“She just traveled with her ears up the whole way and finished it off really, really nicely,” said Hernandez, who won his second stakes on the card. The slow pace and sprint home might have worked in favor of a filly not especially long on stamina, but now it is on to the Rachel Alexandra Stakes next month at Fair Grounds, Block said. The top four finishers earned, respectively, 10, 4, 2, and 1 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks. That race lies some 3 1/2 months in the future, but Fair Grounds has proven fertile ground for 3-year-old fillies through the years, and on Saturday, Charlie’s Penny was the best of the local group.