Lightening Larry gives Sutherland elusive graded win in Chick Lang
BALTIMORE - As Lightening Larry crossed the wire first Saturday in Pimlico's Grade 3, $200,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-olds, jockey Chantal Sutherland pumped her right fist in the air.
She had every right to be exultant as it was her first graded stakes victory since she piloted Purely Hot to win the Grade 3 Whimsical at Woodbine in 2014.
It's been a long dry spell at the upper echelon of the sport for Sutherland, the former regular rider of multiple Grade 1 winner Game On Dude, but she did everything perfectly when guiding Lightening Larry to his first graded stakes victory.
Sutherland had Lightening Larry on the bit from the start of the six-furlong race, and they pushed rail-drawn favorite Cogburn and jockey Joel Rosario from the two path through energetic fractions of 21.87 and 44.14 seconds. Lightening Larry drew even with Cogburn at the top of the stretch and stayed on well to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:09.86 and getting a 91 Beyer Speed Figure.
It was another two lengths back to late-running Chasing Time in third. They were followed home by Alottahope, Old Homestead, Little Vic, Whelen Springs and Doctor Jeff. My Handsome Man, a 50-1 shot on the morning line, scratched Saturday morning.
"He was aggressive," Sutherland said about Lightening Larry, a son of Uncaptured bred in Florida by Michelle Redding. "He's a bit of a pit bull that way, so we wanted him close. The track is fast, and the rail is good, and I didn't want to leave Joel too far away from me.
Rosario had already won two stakes on the card for Cogburn’s trainer, Steve Asmussen.
"He was really game," Rosario said of Cogburn. "He ran too good to get beat, but the other horse ran a big race."
Chasing Time, also trained by Asmussen, raced seventh after the first half-mile and rallied for third.
"The track is playing a little bit more toward speed," said his rider, Tyler Gaffalione. "He put in a good run and galloped out well, so we'll live to fight another day."
Owned by Lea Farms LLC, Lightening Larry was twice stakes-placed as a 2-year-old for trainer Jeff Engler. He earned his first stakes victory on New Year's Day in the Limehouse at Gulfstream.
Transferred to Jorge Delgado following the Limehouse, Lightening Larry finished second in the Sophomore Stakes for Florida-breds at Tampa Bay on March 27.
Lightening Larry is the first graded stakes winner saddled by Delgado, a native of Venezuela who has been training since 2017.
“We’ve been training for this race specifically since February,” said Delgado. “We used the Tampa race as a prep, and he finished second, and after that we shipped to Monmouth targeting this race.”
Lightening Larry has won 4 of 9 starts for earnings of $305,610.