Holy Helena proves versatility on turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Queen’s Plate winner Holy Helena proved she’s just as good on turf as on dirt and synthetic surfaces when making her grass bow a winning one in Sunday’s $53,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. Holy Helena rallied wide under Jose Ortiz before running down the pacesetting Kylla Instinct and outfinishing the highly regarded Shaan to register a hard-fought neck decision in her first start since running second in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby nearly four months ago.

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“There were a lot of question marks, but she was doing good and we just wanted to get her going somewhere,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “We thought it was a good time to try the turf to get a race into her and see if she liked it. Who knows, we might try something later [on turf], but it also sets her up nicely if we want to run her back on the dirt.”

The win was one of two on the day for Jerkens, who also sent out the well-bred Sweet Sting, a daughter of Perfect Sting, to earn her diploma in the afternoon’s seventh race.