Joya Real by a neck in Blue Sparkler

Joya Real showed more early speed than usual while chasing the front-running winner, Lady Shipman, in the Klassy Briefcase Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 12, and then lacked her usual strong finish and ended up third.

On Saturday in the $60,000 Blue Sparkler Stakes, jockey Roberto Alvarado Jr. took hold of Joya Real early and saved her best for the stretch run. Alvarado needed everything Joya Real had to get up and defeat Aquinnah by a neck.

Aquinnah, who stalked pacesetter Strikingly Beautiful early in the Blue Sparkler, also bounced back from a subpar seventh-place finish behind Lady Shipman in the Klassy Briefcase. Lady Shipman has since gone on to score a powerful victory in the Coronation Cup at Saratoga.

Strikingly Beautiful almost stole the Blue Sparkler at 12-1. She went right to the lead in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint and led until just before the wire, when Joya Real and Aquinnah inched past. She was beaten a neck and a head.

Kids Tuition finished fourth at 16-1, a neck behind Strikingly Beautiful.

Joya Real, a 7-year-old trained by Parx-based Kate DeMasi, paid $5.40 to win as the favorite in the nine-horse field. She was timed in 1:01.96 after fractions of 21.63 and 43.87 seconds.

Joya Real saved ground on the far turn and then angled outward in upper stretch when an opening developed outside of Aquinnah.

“Kate told me before the race that she was better off the pace and to just let her be comfortable early,” Alvarado said.

DeMasi moved Joya Real to turf last year “by sheer accident, to tell you the truth,” she said.

In her last six starts, Joya Real has won three races, finished second twice and third once. She has won eight of her 23 career starts and $337,349.
It will be interesting to see how other fillies and mares beaten by the extremely talented 3-year-old Lady Shipman in the Klassy Briefcase and Coronation Cup perform in their upcoming starts.