Philadelphia: Turning the tables

The last time Joe's Son Joey and Texas Glitter faced each other, Joe's Son Joey came up a head short.

Six weeks later, they met again in the $100,000 Turf Monster Handicap at Philadelphia Park. This time, Joe's Son Joey got the job done.

Veteran jockey Nick Santagata sent Joe's Son Joey ($7.60) into a narrow opening between 4-5 favorite Texas Glitter and Rudirudy, and his mount responded to get up by three-quarters of a length in the five-furlong turf sprint.

"Any time you win like that on the grass you get lucky," Santagata said. "I was concerned that we'd fallen too far back early. I decided I'd just try to save as much ground as I could and hope to find a hole to run through late in the race."

There were three horses across the track with just over a furlong remaining. Rudirudy, making only his second start of the year, moved into contention ahead of Joe's Son Joey and pinned Santagata in behind the leaders as he gained ground inside.

"I knew [Rudirudy} had just come back to the races and might be a little short," Santagata said. "I figured when he gave way I could get some room. When I did get room, I had a ton of horse."

Joe's Son Joey, trained by Timothy Hills, had the strongest closing kick and was drawing away at the wire, covering the distance in 57.73 seconds. In a photo for second, Texas Glitter held off Rudirudy by a nose.