Runup scores front-running upset in Sorority Stakes
Runup seized the lead shortly after the start and never came close to being headed thereafter, winning the $200,000 Sorority Stakes on Monday at Monmouth Park by three lengths.
Jumeirah tried to make a race of the Sorority a quarter-mile from the finish of the one-mile contest for 2-year-old fillies, but it was Runup ($31) who put in the stronger finish. Jumeirah just did hold on for second over favored Gimmick, who lacked speed and only really seemed to engage at the head of the homestretch.
Joseph Ramos, mainly based this summer at Indiana Grand, was in to ride for trainer Laura Wohlers and owner-breeder Jim McIngvale. Runup is by Runhappy out of Up the Street, by Street Cry. The filly debuted on turf at Colonial Downs, turning in a modest performance, and then was shipped to Pimlico for her second start.
As a Maryland-bred she was able to run in a maiden race open to $40,000 claimers or horses bred in Maryland and Runup took a major step forward from her debut, winning by more than six lengths on Aug. 13. Off that 5 1/2-furlong sprint, she was able to stretch her speed around two turns, clocking 1:39.32 over a fast track following a half-mile split of 47.69 seconds, the Sorority – unsurprisingly in a dirt route for 2-year-olds in August – shaping up quick early, slow late.
“I really didn’t worry about her trying two turns,” Wohlers said. “She’s one of those fillies that in the morning, in her gallops or at a clip, she’s still in the bridle at the end. So, I really wasn’t worried about the distance. I was more concerned about her stepping up into this company with her still being green. She’s a little hard to gallop.”
Monday, going 2 for 2 on dirt, improving Runup galloped her Sorority rivals right into defeat.