Hillerito may be quickest in Poinsettia

Hillerito may be the dominant speed Sunday when the up-and-coming female sprinter seeks to win her fifth race of the year in the $150,000 Poinsettia at Oaklawn Park.

“I’ve got very high hopes for her,” said owner and trainer David Jacobson.

The Poinsettia matches fillies and mares over 5 1/2 furlongs. It drew a field of six, including stakes winners Benedetta and Jersey Pearl, and the stakes-placed runners Tapit Quick, Gray Lightning, and Kant Believe It.

Hillerito became a stakes winner in her last start, when she came from just off the pace to capture the Dream Supreme on Nov. 8 at Churchill Downs. Prior to that, she wired her rivals in allowance wins at Mountaineer, Ellis Park, and Churchill to build a 4 for 5 record in 2025.

The Poinsettia will be her first start at Oaklawn. She has worked over the surface.

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“She just gets better with every race,” he said. “I’m looking forward to running her this weekend. She’s just tearing the walls down. She’s doing great.”

Hillerito is a daughter of Army Mule whom Jacobson purchased privately following an April win at Mountaineer.

“She’s never finished worse than second in eight starts,” he said.

For the Poinsettia, Hillerito will start from post 2 under Ricardo Santana Jr.

“I love the five and a half,” Jacobson said. “We’re going to take advantage of that for sure with her speed, and the small field. We couldn’t ask for a better race on a better day at a better track. I think we’ve got some nice weather coming up.”

Gray Lightning, who starts from post 3, has shown speed in her races, as has Kant Believe It and Jersey Pearl. Benedetta comes off a runner-up finish in the Mahoning Distaff at Mahoning Valley on Nov. 24. She set the pace to the later stages of the six-furlong race, but also has been effective from just off the leaders in tactics she employed winning last meet’s American Beauty at Oaklawn.

“It’s obviously a very competitive race, but she has won at Oaklawn previously,” said trainer Steve Asmussen.

The only other runner in the field with established Oaklawn form is Kant Believe It, who is a two-time winner here. She is moving back to dirt off a turf-sprint allowance in which she finished second by a neck on Oct. 30 at Hawthorne.

Jersey Pearl starts from post 6, and the outside draw might give jockey Francisco Arrieta options. She is a past winner of the Cheryl S. White Memorial at Mahoning Valley, as is Benedetta.

Benedetta leads the field in earnings with $573,875, while Jersey Pearl is second with $541,242.

Tapit Quick, who has shown speed in the past, breaks from the rail under Luis Saez.

The Poinsettia is slotted as the eighth race on a 10-race card forecast to be run under sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s. Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said some of the features race this meet are being run earlier on the card rather than in the penultimate slot in order to draw attention to the new late $3 pick three that has a reduced takeout of 15 percent.

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