Clovisconnection, Aloha Breeze deliver as favorites in Emerald stakes

Sunday's $50,000 Irish Day Stakes at Emerald Downs turned into a great contest between the two favorites with 3-5 choice Clovisconnection prevailing by a neck under a vigorous ride by Kevin Radke.

Runner-up Lloyds Logic, making just his second start of 2023 for Tom Wenzel, darted clear from the opening bell and led the field through a soft opening quarter-mile of 22.11 seconds. Clovisconnection soon cruised up on the outside to take command just inside the three-eighths marker while appearing then as if he would make short work of his rivals.

From that point on, Lloyds Logic battled fiercely from the inside while Radke selected a path toward the middle of the track that afforded plenty of room in which to urge his charge.

Clovisconnection races for William Hendrick and is trained by Blaine Wright. The 3-year-old son of Vronsky covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.73. He paid $3.40 for the win, and the winner's share of the purse boosted Clovisconnection's career earnings to $161,380.

Co-featured on Sunday was the $50,000 Kent Stakes, which was won by the 1-5 favorite Aloha Breeze in comfortable wire-to-wire fashion under Carlos Montalvo.

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Aloha Breeze, a 3-year-old filly by The Factor, is trained by Tom Wenzel for owner George Todaro, and she completed the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.77, which was a stakes record.

Stepup, a daughter of Upstart trained by Jose Navarro, improved upon her fifth-place finish behind Aloha Breeze in the Auburn Stakes on June 18 to finish second on Sunday.

The winner paid $2.40 and earned $27,500 for her victory while raising her career earnings to $136,710.

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