No Show Sammy Jo made a graded stakes attempt look like a routine exercise on Friday at Aqueduct, closing with authority to win the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay Stakes by three-quarters of a length. Despite the close margin, she was never in trouble and paid $3.04 to win. Graham Motion was on a plane soon after the race, but the trainer said through a text message that he was “very glad” to see her finally win a graded stakes. He credited jockey Jorge Ruiz for the winning ride. “There wasn’t a lot of speed in the race,” Ruiz said, per the New York Racing Association. “I wanted a good position to close into the speed, and she ran very well. She’s a nice filly. There was only one speed, so I waited to send her for the win.” In her last start Feb. 28, the 6-year-old mare came up a half-length short of her first graded stakes triumph in the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream Park. She had previously finished second in two straight editions of the Grade 3 Long Island at Aqueduct as well, prolonging the streak of near-misses. There was little doubt this time around, however, as Ruiz urged her from fourth around the far turn and had her in high gear late in the 1 3/8-mile turf race. “She’s very competitive against these types and should have won a few more races here over her career,” Ian Wilson, Motion’s assistant, said. “She just never got there in time. It was nice to not have to sweat it out to the wire today as much as we normally have to. They had to come get her for a change.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Dona Clota, the third-place finisher behind No Show Sammy Jo at Gulfstream last time out, scratched in favor of the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill Downs on Friday, leaving the shortened field of five ill-equipped to handle the 1-2 favorite. Storm Miami, the pacesetter who cruised through an opening quarter-mile in 25.71 seconds and a half-mile in 52.04, was stubborn in the stretch under Victor Carrasco and provided the only real challenge to No Show Sammy Jo. Even then, she was powerless when the Motion-trained mare drove past in midstretch. Kiamba, a 4-year-old filly making her North American debut for trainer Miguel Clement, closed from last in the field of five but had to settle for third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Storm Miami. She cleared her stablemate, Unreasonable, by a length. While Storm Miami ran on gamely in second for trainer Amelia Green and held off her remaining challengers, No Show Sammy Jo powered home and completed the 1 3/8-mile distance in 2:19.67. After easily handling a group of seasoned turf runners in Grade 3 company, Wilson said entering No Show Sammy Jo in the Grade 1, $750,000 New York at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival “would make a lot of sense.” If Motion chooses to take that step up, it would be No Show Sammy Jo’s third Grade 1 attempt, though she would enter this one as a graded stakes winner. Phileas Fogg bounces back in allowance Immediately after the stakes action concluded, Phileas Fogg bounced back to win a $92,000 allowance by 5 3/4 lengths. It was a great relief to trainer Gustavo Rodriguez, who was nervous after his prized gelding suffered a 25-length defeat in the $150,000 Stymie in February. “That was good that he went today,” Rodriguez said. “Let’s hope maybe next time he can keep running like before.” In his first start around two turns since finishing second in the Grade 2 Woodward last year, the 6-year-old went straight to the lead and never looked back, cruising through an opening quarter-mile in 25.07 seconds and a half-mile in 48.70. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche was back aboard for the front-running ride. “Two turns is better for him, and the jockey, Kendrick, fits on him like a glove,” Rodriguez said. “He understands the horse very, very good.” Warp Nine closed for second over fellow allowance contender Otello, but no one in the field of five came close to catching the pacesetter. At 3-5 odds in his first allowance start in more than a year, the graded stakes winner completed the 1 1/8-mile distance in 1:49.57. He paid $3.30 to win. Rodriguez isn’t yet sure if this allowance victory will immediately lead to a step back up in class, but for the popular New York-based runner, it was a long-awaited step back in the right direction. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.