Pad the Wallet wins Old South

Bossier City, La. - Pad the Wallet made her first stakes start a winning one Saturday afternoon, rallying strongly down the straight under E. J. Perrodin to win the Old South Stakes at Harrah's Louisiana Downs. Chitchat Chitchat finished a stubborn second followed by Janeian. The evenly matched field of fillies and mares varied only from 3-1 to 9-2 on the tote board with the winner being the most generous price.

Perrodin was content to stalk a pedestrian pace with Pad the Wallet ($11.60) in the early going and could see all five of his rivals turning for home. Splitting foes under firm handling inside the furlong marker, the winner wore down the runner up to prevail by half a length in a time of 1:45.83 over a turf course rated as good.

Trained by Paul Murphy for Allen Peterson and J. T. Pass Family Racing, Pad the Wallet picked up her third straight victory and fourth overall, all since Murphy shifted her to the grass last fall. The 4-year-old daughter of Skip Away has now earned just under $94,000.

"I kind of let my filly do what she had to do," said Perrodin after the race. "At the head of the lane I had a lot of horse but couldn't go anywhere. When she found room, she took off and went about her business."