Ickymasho holds on to take Bewitch
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jose Ortiz could wait no longer.
Sensing a slow pace down the stretch the first time when riding Ickymasho, Ortiz allowed the 7-year-old mare to lengthen stride and take command in a decisive move that ultimately paid off with a victory as Keeneland closed another highly eventful spring meet Friday with the Grade 3, $150,000 Bewitch Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on the turf.
“After he turned into the stretch and he made that decision, I thought, thank goodness,” said Roger Attfield, the Hall of Famer who trains Ickymasho for the Triton Stable of Lincoln Collins. “I was delighted with what he did, actually. It was a really good ride.”
A late run by Gaining, the 2-1 favorite in a field of eight fillies and mares, came up a length shy of catching Ickymasho, who returned $6.80 as second choice after finishing in 2:31.26 over a yielding course. Coachwhip was third, another 5 3/4 lengths behind Gaining.
Ickymasho, a British-bred gray mare coming off narrow defeats in back-to-back graded turf races at Gulfstream Park this winter, gave Attfield his fourth win in the Bewitch (following 2002, 2006, 2010), which dates to 1962. Ickymasho now has nine wins and 11 seconds from 39 starts and has earned $283,403.
Ortiz, the Eclipse Award-winning rider of 2017, is based primarily on the East Coast except for Keeneland meets in the spring and fall.
“She was a little keen about the eight pole the first time around, so I let her go,” he said. After opening a sizable lead on the last of three turns, the mare started to tire in the final furlong. “I squeezed the lemon pretty good. I knew somebody was coming at the end, but we had enough left.”
A win by Gaining, a Juddmonte Farms homebred making her North American debut, would have allowed Brad Cox to salvage a tie for leading trainer at a 16-day meet that began April 4. Instead, Wesley Ward topped the standings with 11 wins, one more than Cox.
Ontrack attendance on a cool, breezy, partly sunny day was 17,229.
The $2 exacta (4-8) paid $20.60, the $1 trifecta (4-8-9) returned $128, and the 10-cent superfecta (4-8-9-5) was worth $72.08.
Live action on the Kentucky circuit shifts Saturday to Churchill Downs, where the 38-day spring meet gets under way with a Downs After Dark card.
