Perfect trip yields Lightning City triumph for Great Venezuela
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A cutback in distance combined with a perfect trip under Leonel Reyes led to favored Great Venezuela winning the $125,000 Lightning City Stakes by two lengths over the pacesetting longshot Talkin Tipsy.
It was a neck back to Bahamian Moon, who was a head better than Vishy.
Saturday's win was the seventh in 10 starts for Great Venezuela, who had a four-race winning streak snapped when she finished second in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf, a race at Gulfstream Park run at one mile.
In the Lighting City, Great Venezuela was turning back to five furlongs, a distance at which he had been perfect at on both turf and synthetic. Breaking from post 8 in the field of 12, Great Venezuela was sixth early on but mostly in the clear. Talkin Tipsy set fractions of 21.65 seconds for the quarter and 44.26 for the half while being chased by Admiral Hopper and Beauty of the Sea.
Reyes kept Great Venezuela outside and in the clear around the turn and into the stretch. Though she was six-wide turning for home, Great Venezuela blew past Talkin Tipsy and won handily.
Great Venezuela, a 4-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Neolithic owned and bred by Orlyana Farm, covered the five furlongs in 55.75 seconds and returned $6.20.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.