Nerazurri kicks off year with win in Oaklawn Sports
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Nerazurri broke on top and never looked back to nail down her first win around two turns Thursday in the $135,000 Oaklawn Sports overnight stakes at Oaklawn Park. She won by 3 1/2 lengths over Seraphia, while it was another 3 1/4 lengths back in third to Lemon Zest.
The race was restricted to 4-year-old fillies who had never won a stakes other than statebred. It was run over 1 1/16 miles.
Nerazurri ($7.80) meant business out of the gate, moving to the lead on the stretch-out to two turns and setting uncontested fractions of 24.03 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 48.53 for the half-mile, and 1:13.17 for six furlongs. She continued to maintain the advantage through the stretch while covering the distance on a track rated fast in 1:44.17.
“When I asked her at the quarter pole, she responded,” winning rider Cristian Torres said in a post-race interview conducted by Oaklawn.
Nerazurri is trained by Mark Casse. She had placed in three sprint stakes earlier in her career, including a runner-up finish to Haulin Ice in the Grade 3 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park.
Nerazurri is a daughter of Protonico who races for Michael Eiserman. She has now won 4 of 13 starts for earnings of $251,338.
Racing resumes Friday.
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