Fair Grounds: Delaunay wins Kenner to complete sweep of sprints
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
NEW ORLEANS – Delaunay completed a sweep of the sprint stakes at the 2012-13 Fair Grounds meet with yet another easy victory Saturday in swift time in the $150,000 Duncan F. Kenner Stakes.
With jockey Rosie Napravnik having no problems whatsoever after her mount broke sharply from the outside post, Delaunay won for the fifth straight time after securing the lead down the backstretch and rolling on to finish 4 1/2 lengths clear of Gantry.
The winner returned $2.60 after finishing the six-furlong distance over a fast track in 1:08.36, easily the fastest at the meet and just 0.33 seconds off the 2002 track mark.
Ghost Is Clear was third, followed by Amanacer de Oro, Su Casa G Casa, and Hero of Order.
Delaunay, a 6-year-old, Maryland-bred gelding by Smoke Glacken, now has won 6 of 7 starts since trainer Tom Amoss claimed him for $40,000 for Maggi Moss last May. Before the Kenner, he won the other two sprint stakes at the meet, the Thanksgiving Handicap and the Gaudin Memorial in January.
“This horse is such a great athlete,” Amoss said. “He just does his job every day. I think maybe his next start will be the time to step out with him. We’ve had a lot of people asking how good he is or isn’t, and I think maybe it’s time for us to show our hand.”
“He was very impressive,” said Napravnik, who just an hour earlier enjoyed a similarly easy victory in the New Orleans Ladies with Believe You Can.
Gantry, who swept the same races at the 2011-12 meet, was the runner-up behind Delaunay in each of those races at this meet.
The $2 exacta (6-3) paid a mere $6, the $1 trifecta (6-3-2) returned $7.90, and the 10-cent superfecta (6-3-2-1) was worth $3.62.