Del Mar: Heleonor Rugby gives Reyes first stakes win since March

DEL MAR, Calif. - Christian Santiago Reyes, the champion apprentice jockey of 2009, won his first stakes since March aboard Heleonor Rugby in Friday’s $98,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes at Del Mar.

Reyes, 20, expects to win more aboard Heleonor Rugby, who is owned by Luiz Fernando Dannemann and trained by A.C. Avila.

"She sat back and made a move,” Reyes said. “She can go for better races.”

Facing just three rivals, Heleonor Rugby ($7.80) was fourth early and took the lead at the sixteenth pole, winning by three-quarters of a length over Willa B Awesome. She ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.25.
Roar Baby Roar, the even-money favorite, finished third in the field of four after leading early, with the maiden claimer Evelyn Trouble tailing off in the stretch.

By Tribal Rule, Heleonor Rugby has won 2 of 4 starts and $110,900. She was Reyes’s first stakes win since Twice the Appeal won the Sunland Park Derby in March.