Rated R Superstar holds off Snapper Sinclair in Essex

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rated R Superstar edged Snapper Sinclair by a head to win the $350,000 Essex Handicap before an estimated Rebel Day crowd of 45,500 on Saturday at Oaklawn.

It was another three-quarters of a length back in third to favorite Giant Expectations, a front-runner who broke next to last Saturday.

The 1 1/16-mile Essex was one of four stakes on the program that featured two $750,000 divisions of the Rebel.

Rated R Superstar ($31.20) trailed early as Dalmore set a pressured pace of 23.27 seconds for the opening quarter, 47.33 for the half-mile and 1:11.82 for six furlongs. Rated R Superstar advanced four wide on the final turn, swung four wide into the stretch, and in the late stages held off a surging Snapper Sinclair.

“We were, 'Fingers crossed - we made it first to the wire,' ” trainer Cipriano Contreras said.

Walter De La Cruz was aboard Rated R Superstar, who was coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap at 79-1 at Oaklawn.

“We took a shot at the time,” Contreras said. “It worked out.”

Rated R Superstar is a multiple Grade 3 winner who had been claimed for $62,500 in November out of a fifth-place finish in an optional-claiming allowance at Churchill Downs. In his first start for Contreras he was fifth in an optional $75,000 claimer at Oaklawn before running in the Razorback.

Rated R Superstar is a son of Kodiak Kowboy who has now won 6 of 33 starts and earned $780,767. He races for Crystal Racing Enterprises and Contreras Stables.

Contreras said Rated R Superstar is a candidate for the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 13.