Pretty Lady surprises in off-the-turf Pago Hop Stakes

Pretty Lady, a closing grass runner for the first five races of her career, reinvented herself Saturday in winning the off-the-turf Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds.

Fresh for her first start in almost nine months and equipped with blinkers for the first time, Pretty Lady showed a change in style, setting the pace under Adam Beschizza and repelling a pair of challengers down the stretch to post a head victory in a three-horse photo. The win surprised bettors, who dismissed the Joe Sharp-trained filly at 17-1, but the few who had her received a $37.80 payoff.

“My plan – it’s never always Joe’s plan – but I thought the best thing to do was maybe just go forward from that low draw and make every yard a winning one,” said Beschizza.

The strategy worked, but only just. Pretty Lady grew tired after setting fractions of 47.94 seconds and 1:12.77, though she had the fortitude to withstand bids from fellow front-runner Roussalka, the eventual third-place finisher, and then runner-up Cool Beans, who surged late. The winner raced a mile in the mud in 1:39.23.

Favored Remember Daisy, slow into stride to begin, launched a wide bid on the second turn to pull within striking distance, but flattened out thereafter to be fourth.

The Pago Hop, a race for 3-year-old fillies with a $75,000 purse, left Beschizza looking forward to the future, believing Pretty Lady, a daughter of Scat Daddy who is owned by Breeze Easy LLC, will take kindly to a return to grass racing.

The stakes win was the second on the day for the team of Beschizza and Sharp, who earlier won the filly division of the Louisiana Futurity with short-priced Midnight Fantasy.

Sharp, who saddled Pretty Lady for the first time Saturday after taking over her training in the fall, took a moment from his post-race winner’s interview to send his thoughts and prayers to the family of Sammy David, a member of his staff who died Friday at age 24 from unknown causes.

“He would have loved to have been here today,” Sharp said, his voice cracking with emotion.

Noble Commander relishes mud in Woodchopper

An hour before the Pago Hop, Noble Commander also led throughout in another off-the-turf stakes race for year-ending 3-year-olds, the $75,000 Woodchopper.

A son of Forestry who had made all of his starts on dirt, Noble Commander was more in his element than other entrants over the muddy going in the Woodchopper, which showed from start to finish. He was able to beat out the other speed horses in a scramble for the lead, and after carving out splits of 47.50 seconds and 1:12.34 in the mile race, had enough left down the lane to win by 1 3/4 lengths. He finished a mile in 1:39.16, paying $16.80.

Marzo, who chased throughout, held second, a length in front of third-place Ballard High. Favored Reride ran fifth.

The victory aboard Noble Commander was the first at Fair Grounds for jockey Jerome Lermyte, who had been away from riding since the conclusion of the Woodbine meet in mid-December. “It’s awesome,” he said.

The Woodchopper was the second stakes score for Noble Commander, who won the Sophomore Stakes at Tampa in March for owner John Oxley. After that race, he ran third in the Federico Tesio at Laurel before going unplaced in a pair of allowance races in Kentucky in the fall.

David Carroll, the Fair Grounds-based assistant for winning trainer Mark Casse, credited the trainer’s crew in Ocala, Fla., for sending him a sharp runner after the colt received a freshening at Casse’s training center. “He looked terrific and Jerome rode a beautiful race,” he said.

Classy John, Midnight Fantasy split divisions of Louisiana Futurity

Early in the day at Fair Grounds, prohibitive favorites Classy John and Midnight Fantasy scored popular victories in winning divisions of the Louisiana Futurity for statebred runners. Classy John ($2.60) took the division for males, outlasting 15-1 shot Jimi’s a Star by three-quarters of a length, while Midnight Fantasy ($2.10) rolled in the filly counterpart race by 10 lengths. Both races were at six furlongs, a distance that Midnight Fantasy completed in 1:11.62, marginally faster than Classy John’s 1:11.67 clocking.

The male division produced the same exacta as in the Dec. 8 Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile, though Jimi’s a Star made Classy John work more Saturday than he did in their prior meeting when beaten 4 1/4 lengths. Jimi’s a Star finished nine lengths clear of Cafe Du Monde in third.

Miss Bitters was a distant second behind Midnight Fantasy in the filly division, followed by Goodprofit in third. That race carried a somewhat richer purse, $89,100, compared with $85,700 for the male division, in which only five colts and geldings went to post.

Corey Lanerie rode Classy John, a 2-year-old son of Songandaprayer, for trainer Dallas Stewart and owner Valene Farms.

Carl Moore owns Midnight Fantasy, a daughter of Midnight Lute.