Jibboom takes Raven Run in Poly debut

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland, trainer Bobby Frankel continued a successful angle - winning a lucrative stakes race over the track's Polytrack surface with a filly that had raced exclusively on turf in prior starts.

Just as Country Star had won the Alcibiades in her first Polytrack race on opening day of the Keeneland meet, Jibboom similarly won the Raven Run before a crowd of 16,352 at Keeneland. Rated in midpack under jockey Robby Albarado, she began to advance along the inside on the second turn, and once finding room at the top of the stretch, she quickly drew away to win by 4 1/2 lengths.

A moderate but contested pace of 22.61 seconds and 45.69 in the seven-furlong race set things up for the winner, but there was no disputing who was best. Blocked in traffic along the inside, Jibboom exploded once clear leaving the turn.

"I was hoping to get through at some point, and she did," Albarado said.

She took the lead with six furlongs in 1:10.08, and covered her final eighth of a mile in 11.93 seconds to complete seven furlongs in 1:22.01.

Jibboom beat a deep, quality field. Following the scratch of Super Freaky, who ran in Friday's Valley View Stakes, 12 fillies faced her, but none were able to challenge her in the stretch.

West Coast Swing, the 2-1 favorite after winning her first three starts, rallied from last to finish second, 1 1/2 lengths clear of third-place Mini Sermon.

Garrett O'Rourke, farm manager for Juddmonte Farm, which owns and bred Jibboom, said the filly might not have even raced in the Raven Run had she been able to draw in from the also-eligible list for the Valley View, but she was excluded.

"This was a bit more money," O'Rourke said of the Raven's Run's purse, double that of the Valley View. "That makes it all the more sweet."

Jibboom, a 3-year-old daughter of Mizzen Mast, who stands at Juddmonte Farm, paid $33.60.