Evangeline: Sadie's Soldier easily repeats in John Henry

Sadie’s Soldier, under patient handling by Diego Saenz, rallied out of the final turn and drew steadily clear the final furlong to successfully defend his title in the $50,000 John Henry Stakes on Saturday night at Evangeline Downs.

Bauers Got Hours also turned in a late run to finish second, 5 1/4 lengths back and a neck in front of Its Mr Slew to You, who was a head better than 7-5 favorite Quality Control.

Content to sit well off Redhotrush through a lively pace of 23.37 seconds for the quarter and 47.04 for the half, Saenz had Sadie’s Soldier ($10) on the move after three-quarters in 1:11.18 and they took command approaching the furlong grounds. The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:42.91 over a firm turf course.

Trained by Brett Brinkman, Sadie’s Soldier won for the eighth time in 24 starts and for the first time in four tries this year. A 6-year-old son of Lost Soldier, Sadie’s Soldier has now won more than $305,000.