Hirsch Jacobs: Abbondanza squeezes through

Abbondanza found room along the rail in midstretch and was able to hold off a hard-charging Bwana Charlie to win the $100,000 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes by a head. It was three-quarters of a length back to Penn Pacific in third.

Teton Forest, the 8-5 favorite, finished fourth.

Penn Pacific set the early pace, pressed early from the inside by Move to Strike. Redskin Warrior appeared to be getting the perfect trip and made a bid for the lead in upper stretch. But he soon tired and Ramon Dominguez shot Abbondanza through on the inside while Shane Sellers was forced to go five wide aboard Bwana Charlie in the stretch.

"Turning for home I was trying to figure out where I was going," Dominguez said. "I found the only shot I had was trying to get through on the rail. He had settled very nicely early on and that made him finish up really good."

Abbondanza, a son of Alphabet Soup, covered the six furlongs in 1:10.72 and returned $12.20.

"Any time you're on the inside you're worried about it, but he's very game and he's very brave, and Ramon knows this racetrack as good as anybody," trainer Tim Tullock said. "He knows he's got a lot of stretch to deal with."

Tullock said he would likely point Abbondanza to the $200,000 Riva Ridge Breeders' Cup Stakes at Belmont on June 5.