Gas Station Sushi returns with solid Beaumont win

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It turns out Gas Station Sushi kept well - and traveled well. The filly, sent away as the favorite in her first start since an eye-catching debut last August in California, rallied to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaumont Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths Sunday at Keeneland.

Gas Station Sushi was a 3 1/2-length winner of her career debut Aug. 6 at Del Mar, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 85, which, to that point, was one of the top figures of the year for a 2-year-old filly and finished the year in the top 20 for that division. She was expected to be one of the top choices in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, but was forced to scratch after running a high temperature the week of the race, and wound up not starting the rest of her juvenile season.

Gas Station Sushi has been in a steady training pattern preparing for her comeback, under the tutelage of regular exercise rider Anna Meah. Corey Nakatani, who has ridden her in both her starts, climbs aboard for works.

"She's a very easy horse to train, she takes it easy on herself,” said David Meah, assistant to trainer Richard Baltas. “She does everything very easily. [We've been] staying out of her way, letting her get her fitness work by work. Corey's been aboard her every work, and we really appreciate that, because he's gotten to know her really well, and she's gotten to know him really well. It's just a great combination.”

Gas Station Sushi had shipped-in in time to have her most recent breeze, April 3, at Keeneland to get acclimated to the track.

“I think [having a work at Keeneland] was key,” Meah said. “It helped that she got a good feel of it and she (was) quite confident having a go over it.”

Bothered slightly at the start, Gas Station Sushi ($6.20) was sixth leaving the backstretch as Uppercut led the field through an opening half of 45.41 seconds. With Nakatani looking for room, the filly fanned out into the five path to make her run, and rallied to drive clear in the final stages, hitting the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front. The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:26.77.

“[Sitting off the pace] wasn’t the plan,” Nakatani said of his filly, who pressed the pace in her only other start. “She didn’t get away great. I was trying to sit in and be patient with her. I have such high [regard for] her.”

Kelly's Humor, who was last early, rallied to edge Uppercut by three-quarters of a length for second, with Happy Like a Fool another neck back in fourth.

The Beaumont awarded Gas Station Sushi, a daughter of Into Mischief, 10 points toward a berth in the Kentucky Oaks, but is, realistically, unlikely to affect the field for the filly classic, as the cutoff to make the 14-horse field looks to be hovering around 20 points. Pending conversations between Baltas and the ownership group of Riley Racing Stables, Jason Tackitt, Megan Tackitt, and Mike Hensen, Meah indicated that a race such as the Grade 2, $200,000 Eight Belles on the Oaks undercard would be the likely target.