Stretch run propels Uraib

Uraib ($30) unleashed a strong kick in the stretch to fly by the field and score a nose victory in Saturday's $55,800 Hillsborough Handicap at Bay Meadows.

A B Noodle set the pace in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares, while Uraib, under Chance Rollins, was last around the first turn and down the backstretch.

A B Noodle set slower fractions than she had in her comeback in the Autumn Leaves, but seemed to bobble just a bit at the top of the stretch. She held on fairly well as Cat Alert passed her, and Uraib rallied four wide in the lane, catching Cat Alert at the wire to win by a nose in 1:42.33. A B Noodle was third, another three-quarters of a length back.

"Down the backside, I smooched to her, and I knew I had a lot of horse," Rollins said. "At the three-eighths, I got into her, and she started running. Then it was just a matter of if I could get there. At the sixteenth [pole], I knew I had it."