Skelly, Alva Starr dominate King Cotton, American Beauty
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE?q=100)
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Skelly and Alva Starr both put on a show Saturday when winning separate sprint stakes in impressive fashion at Oaklawn Park.
Skelly won his seventh straight race in the $150,000 King Cotton and Alva Starr opened her 4-year-old season with a win in the $150,000 American Beauty.
The races were among four stakes on the Southwest Day card at Oaklawn. It was run under overcast skies, with rains leaving the sealed track sloppy for the opener through the King Cotton. It was upgraded to “muddy” for the American Beauty and Southwest won by Mystik Dan.
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Skelly ($3.60) broke on top from the widest gate in the King Cotton and proceeded to set fractions of 21.88 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.99 for the half-mile. He separated himself from his rivals through the stretch, covering the distance on a sloppy, sealed track in 1:09.38.
“This horse has run six or seven unbelievably fast races in a row,” winning trainer Steve Asmussen said in a post-race interview broadcast by Oaklawn.
Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard for Red Lane Thoroughbreds.
Skelly won by 3 1/4 lengths over Tejano Twist, while it was another length back in third to Excess Magic.
Skelly is a son of Practical Joke who has now won 8 of 12 starts for earnings of $875,163.
Alva Starr ($2.60) was making her first start since running second in the Grade 2 Raven Run in October at Keeneland. She broke on top and set fractions of 22.12 seconds for the opening quarter and 46 for the half-mile before winning on a track upgraded to muddy in 1:10.47.
“She just continues to wow us,” said trainer Brett Brinkman. “We felt good about her coming into it. We felt we’d done all the work we could do with her at Fair Grounds. She caught wet track, which always makes you apprehensive, but she handled it very well.”
Alva Starr won by 3 1/2 lengths over Royal Spa, while it was another 1 3/4 lengths back in third to Condensation.
Cristian Torres was aboard Alva Starr for Dale Ladner, who co-bred the daughter of Lord Nelson with Brinkman. Alva Starr has now won 4 of 7 starts for earnings of $420,400.
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