Just Might wins sixth stakes of the year in opening-day Thanksgiving Classic

Just Might’s chances in the Oct. 8 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland ended when he grabbed a quarter while switching leads at the top of the Keeneland homestretch.

Thursday, in the $150,000 Thanksgiving Classic, Just Might gave no quarter, winning the opening day feature at Fair Grounds by 2 1/2 lengths while geared down late by jockey Colby Hernandez.

Away alertly from the outside gate in a field of seven, Just Might ($8.20) quickly made the front and never was challenged.

“He broke in front of the field,” jockey Colby Hernandez explained. “I said, ‘It’s all over from here.’ I called on him at the quarter pole he finished up.”

After the Keeneland mishap, which led to a wounded and sore heel bulb, Just Might wound up sixth in the Phoenix, snapping a four-race winning streak. He started a new one Thursday, giving trainer Michelle Lovell, who runs roughly a 20-horse stable, her ninth stakes win of 2021.

Just Might, co-bred and co-owned by Lovell and Robert Griffon’s Griffon Farms, has provided six of those stake scores. By Justin Phillip out of Dynamite Babe, by Dynameaux, the versatile Just Might now has won five races on dirt and four on turf.

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No fractional times were posted for the Thanksgiving, a six-furlong dirt race. A final time of 1:08.65 was displayed with the posted pari-mutuel payoffs but the race’s official chart that came up late Thursday afternoon included neither fractional nor final times.

Greeley and Ben, a 12-time winner during 2021, was no match for Just Might but held second over closing Pyron, who gained third ahead of favored Necker Island. Necker Island was steadied at about the half-mile pole but was outfinished by Pyron, who rallied from last.

Breeze Rider wires Peluso Memorial

Jockey E.T. Baird rarely rides in New Orleans and Illinois-based trainer Steve Manley never had started a horse at Fair Grounds, but the two teamed up to capture the $75,000 Joseph R. Peluso Memorial Stakes with Breeze Rider.

Breeze Rider ($10.40) held a narrow lead over Dominga through splits of 24.05, 49.20, and 1:13.37 in this two-turn race over firm turf. The pacesetter shrugged off her front-end rival in upper stretch, then held clear a run from Alms to win by a neck. Bellagamba, who raced nearer the back of the field than the front most of her trip and was hurt by the tepid pace, closed with interest on the far outside to finish third, three-quarters of a length behind Alms.

Breeze Rider, claimed this past January for just $15,000 by Manley and the Mike Piazza Racing Stable, won her first stakes race. The 4-year-old filly is by Paynter out of Dancing Raven, by Tomahawk, and she’s now won 10 of 23 career starts. Breeze Rider posted a time of 1:43.52 for 1 1/16 miles.

This was the inaugural edition of the Peluso, named for a longtime Louisiana racing official who unexpectedly passed away last winter.