Joe Shiesty battles back to take Woodford

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Headed at the furlong grounds, Joe Shiesty reclaimed the lead 100 yards from the finish and won the Woodford Stakes by a half-length on Saturday at Keeneland.

It was a brave performance from a consistently high-level turf sprinter, whose next start comes four weeks from now in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The Grade 2, $400,000 Woodford is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, and Joe Shiesty’s connections have every intention of accepting an automatic fees-paid berth into the race, contested, like the Woodford, over 5 1/2 furlongs on the Keeneland grass course. Joe Shiesty won a high-level allowance race here two falls ago as a 3-year-old, and last fall finished third, beaten just three-quarters of a length, in the Woodford.

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Joe Shiesty was then going through a period of breaking slower than usual, and rallied from a couple lengths off the lead, but he’s since returned to breaking sharply and showing great speed, as he did during his early days.

“He’s done it at 3, he’s done it at 4, and he’s done it at 5,” said Eric Foster, who trains Joe Shiesty for Foster Family Racing, Lonnie Reynolds, Vicki Mills, and Donald Coomes.

In the Shakertown here this past April, Joe Shiesty made the lead from an outside post but went flat in the race’s very late stages and checked in fifth. Not this time. Ridden by Indiana-based Fernando de la Cruz, Joe Shiesty broke on top and got over to the rail before his main pace rival, Doncho, could jump alongside him. Doncho, narrowly favored over Joe Shiesty, tracked the leader around the turn, cruised up to him under Irad Ortiz past the quarter pole, and by the furlong pole had established a head advantage that he could not hold. Joe Shiesty never wavered, regaining the lead as No Nay Hudson came late to get second by a half-length over Doncho.

“I tell you what, when the two best horses in my opinion hooked up, and he had to fight that horse, I thought, this is up to you, Joe,” Foster said. “For him to get up there and fight through and get back there in front after he was headed…”

Wesley Ward, who trains No Nay Hudson, and Michelle Lovell, who trains Doncho, both said they’d like a rematch with Joe Shiesty in the BC Turf Sprint.

Joe Shiesty paid $7.70 to win and ran 1:02.58 over a firm turf course. Purchased for just $16,000 as a short yearling, Joe Shiesty is by Air Force Blue out of Ready to Unleash, by More Than Ready. His bankroll now stands at almost $1.4 million. The $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is next.

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