R Adios Jersey stays perfect in Charles Town Oaks
R Adios Jersey won her career debut in a maiden claimer this past December, and she has not lost yet. Friday night at Charles Town, the filly became a graded stakes winner with a sharp score under Paco Lopez in the Grade 3, $400,000 Charles Town Oaks.
Freshened for this race by her connections, R Adios Jersey shipped to Charles Town from Gulfstream Park and took the fight to her nine rivals from the start.
Street Lute was sent hard to the lead in this two-turn, seven-furlong contest, but Inject injected more speed a few strides into the race before R Adios Jersey, breaking from post 8, passed them both to grab the lead into the first turn. Going clear down the backstretch, R Adios Jersey, cruising along under a confident Lopez ride, got a brief, mild challenge from odds-on favorite Caramel Swirl into the second turn, sped clear from Caramel Swirl, and had too much left for rail-rallying Pauline’s Pearl, kicking clear for a 3 1/4-length win.
Georgina Baxter trains the winner for Averill Racing and ATM Racing. Averill Racing bought R Adios Jersey, a daughter of Adios Charlie and the Montbrook mare Marion Theater, for just $12,000 at a 2-year-old auction in March 2020. The filly, bred by Ocala Stud and J Michael O’Farrell, won a $35,000 maiden claimer in her debut, beat Florida-bred allowance foes in her second start, won a starter allowance with a claiming option in her third outing, and landed the $110,000 Sophomore Fillies for Florida-breds on March 28 at Tampa Bay Downs. Given a breather and geared back up for Friday’s run, R Adios Jersey has now banked $367,400, quite a haul for a bargain purchase.
Pauline’s Pearl, a massive overlay at 11-1 in the win pool, ran well in defeat over a racing surface that favored speed during the stakes races and returned a healthy $9.60 to place. Allworthy nabbed third from Caramel Swirl, who faded after her mid-race move.
Russell Road
Vertical Threat’s combination of high speed and miler’s stamina proved a perfect fit for Charles Town’s compact six-furlong oval.
Florent Geroux let his mount roll to the lead, out-footing Wind of Change to make the front, and held firm for every step of the Russell Road’s seven furlongs, despite setting a torrid pace.
Vertical Threat went his first quarter-mile in 22.54 seconds and the half in 45.47, blistering fractions for a two-turn, seven-furlong race on a small track. Wind of Change attempted one final challenge in upper stretch, but Vertical Threat was having none of it, turning back the pace-chaser on the way to a 3 1/2-length win.
Wind of Change was a brave second as 43-1 shot Sound Off nabbed third. Winning time for the seven panels over a fast track was 1:24.50 in a race that slowed dramatically through the final furlong.
Vertical Threat’s connections, trainer Richard Baltas and owners MyRacehorse and Slam Dunk Racing, cleverly spotted their 4-year-old colt, shipping cross-country after Vertical Threat had faded to eighth on July 31 at Del Mar making his seasonal debut in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby. Vertical Threat clearly was fast enough to win Friday night if he came close to running back to his 3-year-old finale, a blowout victory over the Mahoning Valley mud last November in the $200,000 Steel Valley Sprint for 3-year-olds.
Vertical Threat, a four-time winner from seven races, is by Tapiture out of Viola Blew By, by Omega Code. He was bred in Kentucky by Albert Davis and Teresa Davis.
Hilton Memorial
Exculpatory ran his rivals off their feet in the seven-furlong Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes.
Improving all year for trainer Mark Reid and owner Grace Merryman, Exculpatory came into the $150,000 Hilton off a good win in a $75,000 handicap last month at Colonial Downs and ran at least as well Friday night. His time of 1:23.49 was far faster than the 1:24.50 posted a race later by older horse Vertical Threat in the Russell Road Stakes.
Under Carol Cedeno, Exculpatory broke well from post 2 and emerged from a five-horse clump to lead into the first of two turns. Hemp, a 30-1 shot, pressured mildly, but Exculpatory got the better of him going into the second turn, held a lead of several lengths into the short homestretch, and cut the corner brilliantly in his first trip around a small oval. Exculpatory opened up, hitting the line 6 1/4 lengths in front of runner-up Awesome Gerry as Helium, eighth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, closed decent ground for fourth. Swill, the 9-5 favorite in a field of nine 3-year-olds, ran into costly trouble into and around the far turn and checked in fourth.
Exculpatory, bred in Maryland by Anchor and Hope’s Form and Finn’s Nickel, is by Mineshaft out of Elusory, by Broken Vow. His brother, Tappin Cat, by Tritap, is a multiple stakes-placed 5-year-old still in training.
Pink Ribbon
Lady Rocket ($3.80) earned a first stakes victory leading from start to finish in the $150,000 Pink Ribbon Stakes for older fillies and mares.
Lady Rocket made the front under Geroux, shrugged off a stretch challenge from 10-1 shot Landing Zone, and pulled away for a 1 3/4-length victory. She ran seven furlongs in 1:24.53 for trainer Brad Cox and owners Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and Ten Strike Racing.
Lady Rocket, a 4-year-old, is by Tale of the Cat out of Allons Dancer, by Eskendereya.
* Favorites ruled three Friday night undercard stakes for West Virginia-breds. Star of the Night won the $76,200 Sadie Hawkins, paying $2.40 to win; Social Chic won the $76,200 Robert G. Leavitt Stakes, paying $4.40 to win; and Door Buster, who paid $3.80, was much the best in the $75,900 Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes.