Really Good catches Tee At One in Kent Stakes

The last move was the best move in Saturday’s $150,000 Kent Stakes for 3-year-olds traveling a testing 1 3/8 miles over the soft Delaware Park turf course.

Really Good made that stretch bid, and he lived up to his name with a rail-skimming half-length triumph over 17-1 longshot Tee At One in 2:17.89.

Favored Freedom Trail finished 4 3/4 lengths back in third after working out a pace-tracking, ground-saving trip. Then came Love Me Not, Regal Kingdom, pacesetter Phileas Fogg and Ocean City.

Phileas Fogg, making his turf debut, set the pace along the fence while pushed by Love Me Not through splits of 24.69, 49.08 and 1:14.03.

Tee At One and jockey Raul Mena made a powerful sweep to take the lead after a one-mile clocking of 1:39.46. Tee At One turned into the stretch with a clear lead, but Really Good was moving really well. The Hard Spun colt saved ground on the third turn, burst through with a sharp rally, and did his best work in the final furlong.

“I tried to save ground and I waited for the end,” winning jockey Ruben Silvera said in a post-race interview broadcast by Delaware Park. “My horse was flying.”

Trainer Michael Maker excels when stretching turf horses out significantly in distance, and that trick worked again with Really Good, who won once from his first seven starts at distances ranging from one mile to nine furlongs.

A Saratoga debut winner last year, Really Good then finished third in both the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sept. 14 and the Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland on Oct. 9.

After finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Really Good returned to the races with three unsuccessful tries to kick off his 2023 campaign. He was second in his final start prior to the Kent, the Hawthorne Derby, on June 25.

Bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stables, Really Good was bought back for $130,000 as a yearling, then was purchased by Maker for $125,000 the following spring. Really Good is owned by Paradise Farms Corporation, David Staudacher and Jason Ash, and has earned $253,373.

*Christiana

Jockey Jeremy Rose made a decisive move at the half-mile pole aboard Thirty Thou Kelvin, and the Bolt d’Oro filly did the rest in the co-featured $150,000 Christiana Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles.

Trained by John Terranova for SJB Stable, Thirty Thou Kelvin raced three wide in third position as Gatita Suave and Miss Riddler sparred through an opening quarter in 25.94 seconds over the soft course.

Gatita Suave was the first to drop back, and Thirty Thou Kelvin poked a head in front of Miss Riddler after a half-mile clocking in 52.57.

Thirty Thou Kelvin grabbed a clear lead and rail position after six furlongs in 1:16.96 and had plenty in the tank to defeat Faccia Bella by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:53.12 seconds.

It was another half-length back to Sabalenka in third. Then came favored Hang the Moon, Miss Riddler and Gatita Suave. Thirty Thou Kelvin returned $7.80 to win as the third betting choice.

“She’s a class act,” Terranova said in a post-race interview broadcast by Delaware Park. “She’s young still. She’s well-seasoned. She’s got a great mind and a great physique.”

A $145,000 buyback as a weanling, Thirty Thou Kelvin was purchased for $110,000 as a yearling. She raced twice for trainer Danny Gargan and four times for Jorge Abreu before being sent to Terranova’s barn earlier this year.

Third in the Bourbonette Oaks over the All-Weather at Turfway on March 25, she then ran fifth in Pimlico’s Hilltop on May 19, and sixth in the Grade 2 Wonder Again at Belmont on June 11. The Christiana was Thirty Thou Kelvin’s first victory on turf.

“She’s shown up every time,” Terranova said. “We’ve run against some top 3-year-old fillies, so she certainly fit well in here today.”

Bred in Kentucky by Horseshoe Racing, Thirty Thou Kelvin is out of stakes-placed turf sprinter Wealthy Shipman. The second dam, Opening Bid, was a stakes-winning miler on turf at Santa Anita.

Thirty Thou Kelvin has won 3 of 10 starts for earnings of $237,640.