Somelikeithotbrown looks strong in John Battaglia Memorial win

In his first start since running third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall, Somelikeithotbrown auspiciously began his 3-year-old season Friday night by winning the $75,000 John Battaglia by 3 ½ lengths on Turfway Park’s Polytrack surface.

Rated early under jockey Rafael Hernandez, Somelikeithotbrown always appeared to be traveling comfortably in fourth as Dynamic Racing set the pace under pressure from Maya Solomea with early splits of 24.08 seconds and 48.24 in the 1 1/16-mile race. Somelikeithotbrown moved into third after six furlongs in 1:13.30, and pulled away down the lane with an inside bid.

A brief moment of traffic on the second turn, when Hernandez appeared to want to split the leaders before deciding to angle the colt to the rail, was the only eventful moment for Somelikeithotbrown, the favorite. He raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.86 and paid $4.20 to win.

The Battaglia provided Somelikeithotbrown with the first stakes win of his career following three graded stakes placings at 2. In addition to his close finish in the Juvenile Turf, he had been second in the Grade 3 With Anticipation and the Grade 3 Pilgrim.

A New York-bred son of Big Brown owned by his breeders, Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable, Somelikeithotbrown is expected to return in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby on March 9 at Turfway, a race his trainer, Mike Maker, has won four times since 2006.

Dynamic Racer, an allowance winner at Turfway Jan. 3, stubbornly held second in Friday’s Battaglia, finishing a length in front of late-running Dabo in third.

The race’s second favorite, The Mackem Bullet, ran fourth after becoming overeager entering the first turn and racing inside. A filly matched against males, she finished 6 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

* The second race Friday was delayed as firefighters extinguished an electrical fire on Turfway’s roof. Fans were allowed to re-enter the facility shortly before 7 and racing continued without further incident.