Fair Grounds: Letellier win shows dirt is Finding More's best surface
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Finding More ran a slow race when she finished third in her career debut at Presque Isle Downs, and only beat $62,500 maiden-claimers when she won her second career start at Woodbine. The link between those two venues? A synthetic racing surface.
Switched to dirt this fall, Finding More found a home. She won an allowance-race at odds of 44-1 in October at Churchill, and backed up that performance with a 2 1/4-length victory on Saturday at Fair Grounds in the $49,000 Letellier Memorial Stakes.
Finding More got a perfect trip under John Jacinto, who won his second straight stakes on the card, having guided longshot China to victory in the Bonapaw one race earlier. Finding More broke on top, but Jacinto gently eased her off the pace as Coastal Sunrise and My Daughter’s Song battled through an opening quarter-mile in a swift 21.88 seconds. Finding More raced relaxed and in the bridle, Jacinto just biding his time, not wanting to move too early with the long Fair Grounds homestretch still ahead of him.
“The race set up just perfect for us,” he said. “They started coming back to me turning for home, and I said, ‘I’m going to wait a little longer.’
Finding More responded decisively once Jacinto asked. She overhauled the tiring speed and comfortably held clear Irish Lute, who did her best running in the final furlong. Brotherhood Singer, the even-money favorite, got a highly favorable stalking trip but had little stretch punch and checked in third. The winner was timed in 1:11.80 for six furlongs on a fast track and paid $19 to win.
Finding More, trained by Kellyn Gorder for owner Daniel Kenny, is a Washington-bred daughter of Trickey Trevor who was purchased for just $4,500 at auction.
Bind looks sharp in comeback
Bind, a brilliant debut in Feb, 2011 at Fair Grounds, returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since that victory when he won a first-level allowance in race 10 Saturday. Bind was making his first start since he sustained a leg injury following a second-place allowance finish in May 2011. Al Stall trains Bind, a grand-looking 4-year-old son of Pulpit, for owners and breeders Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farms.