Prayed For gets first stakes win in Panama City

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Marty Wolfson hasn’t had Prayed For in his barn very long. But he had her long enough to tweak her running style, a change that paid big dividends when the homebred daughter of Dynaformer rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory over fellow longshot Claiming Victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Panama City Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Prayed For had been showing speed and tiring in her recent starts, including her local debut, when she stopped badly over a sloppy main track in the Wasted Tears Stakes. So, Wolfson instructed jockey Jonathan Gonzales to take Prayed For off what turned out to be a wickedly fast pace set by Lemon Point in the one-mile Panama City.

Prayed For was full of run when asked to pick it up leaving the backstretch, circling the tiring leaders to draw well clear once settling into the stretch before holding safe a belated bid from the 27-1 Claiming Victory.

Wolfson’s other entrant in the Panama City, the recently purchased In My Time, finished third.

Prayed For returned a generous $49.20 for her fourth career victory and first stakes win. She is owned by her breeder, Ben Walden Jr.

“She had been going to the lead and tiring in all her recent races, so I called the owner and said, ‘Let’s try making one little change and see how she’d do coming off the pace,’ and it worked out well,” said Wolfson. “She was very happy to be back on the turf. She was very rank when I first got her, but now she’s relaxed, and it might make her a better filly. I thought the other filly [In My Time] ran really good considering she just shipped in Tuesday. She just needed a race.”