Street Surrender holds off Nickname in Southern Truce

ARCADIA, Calif. - Street Surrender led throughout Sunday’s $79,450 Southern Truce Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita to give apprentice jockey Evin Roman his first career stakes win on a day he won four races for the first time.

Roman, 19, put Street Surrender on the lead shortly after the start and repelled a challenge from even-money favorite Nickname in early stretch before winning by 1 3/4 lengths.

Street Surrender ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.43 to record her sixth win and first in a stakes. Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Street Surrender is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer.

Roman, who speaks limited English, said he was confident Street Surrender had ample energy in reserve when challenged by Nickname.

“I wasn’t worried about anything,” he said in Spanish through translator Nancy Dollase, West Point’s California owner liaison.

“I felt like I had a lot of horse underneath me. She was ready to go.”

Street Surrender set fractions of 23.55 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.84 for a half-mile before drawing off in the last furlong.

That’s a Lady, the 14-1 outsider in a field of five, finished third, followed by Lady Tapit and Desert Madam.

Roman, a native of Puerto Rico, began riding at Santa Anita in February and ranks second in the standings at the current spring-summer meeting through Sunday. Flavien Prat leads all riders with 35 wins, one more than Roman.

Earlier on Sunday’s program, Roman won the 40th race of his career, which reduced his apprentice claim from seven pounds to five. He will have apprentice status until March 11, 2018.

Street Surrender, by Street Boss, has won 6 of 15 starts and earned $198,425. She was purchased for $200,000 as a 2-year-old in-training in February.

Earlier this year, Street Surrender was second in the Golden Poppy Stakes on turf at Golden Gate Fields on May 13 and the Santa Lucia Stakes here on dirt on June 4.