Love and Thunder blazes home to win Athenia Stakes
Love and Thunder was ridden by Jose Ortiz like she couldn’t lose the Grade 3, $175,000 Athenia Stakes, and she didn’t.
Racing last of five, Ortiz sat stock still on his mount despite the Athenia unfolding at a walking pace. Evvie Jets shook loose on the lead into the first turn and went the opening quarter-mile in 24.35 seconds, a very soft half in 51.10, and three-quarters in 1:15.66. Still riding quiet at the quarter pole after trailing the pacesetter by about five lengths through the opening half-mile, Ortiz followed the move into the homestretch from Love and Thunder’s Chad Brown-trained stablemate Kalifornia Queen, who briefly provided a useful target as Love and Thunder gained momentum.
Eric Cancel on Evvie Jets had ridden the leader perfectly, getting his mount to switch off and asking her to open a clear lead in upper stretch, which Evvie Jets dutifully did. But it wasn’t quite enough. Ortiz knew exactly what he had underneath him, timing Love and Thunder’s run to the second, the mare flying through the final furlong to collar Evvie Jets in the final strides and win by a neck.
Kalifornia Queen, making her first start since last fall, was the 6-5 morning-line favorite, but it was Love and Thunder who took all the action, paying $4 to win as the favorite. Love and Thunder ran 1 1/8 miles on firm grass in 1:50.09, and perhaps the biggest Athenia surprise was Evvie Jets holding second and breaking up a Brown-trained exacta, as Kalifornia Queen’s run proved brief as she checked in a soundly beaten third.
Brown trains Love and Thunder for John and Tanya Gunther, and the Athenia was an especially meaningful victory for a 5-year-old mare who hadn’t won a stakes race of any sort, much less one with graded status. Bred in Ireland by Papillon Stables and initially campaigned in England, Love and Thunder, now with a record of 15-4-5-3, is by Siyouni out of Pretty Paper, by Medaglia d’Oro.
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