Sosua Summer noses Just Might in Duncan Kenner

Sosua Summer needed every inch of the Fair Grounds stretch to run down pace-setting favorite Just Might to win Saturday’s $100,000 Duncan Kenner Stakes by the slimmest of noses, reversing the order of finish from last month’s Robert Scherer Memorial Stakes, also at Fair Grounds.

It was the first stakes win in five tries in such a race for Sosua Summer, a 5-year-old son of Summer Front owned by Adam Wachtel, Gary Barber and RT Racing and trained by Bill Mott. In the Robert Scherer, under James Graham, Sosua Summer was eight lengths off the pace early and had to settle for second, one length behind front-running winner Just Might.

Saturday, with Luis Saez aboard for the first time, Sosua Summer sat second, never more than two lengths behind the front-running Just Might, who, under Jaime Torres, set fractions of 22.46 seconds for the quarter and 44.90 for the half-mile.

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Just Might, the 8-year-old millionaire making his 50th career start, kept on running through the lane, but Saez and Sosua Summer were able gradually wear him down in the final jump. It was a half-length back to Minnesota Ready, who was followed by Swift As I Am and Evan Sing the same third-through-fifth finishers as in the Scherer Memorial. Pirate Rick and Bad Beat Brian were scratched.

“When I came to the top of the stretch, I thought we were going to win easy,” Saez said. “When we got to [Just Might] he took off again and it was not easy.”

Sosua Summer covered the 5 1-2 furlongs over firm ground in 1:02.29 and returned $6 as the second choice.

The next turf sprint stakes on this circuit is the $100,000 Colonel Power Stakes on Feb. 17.

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