Tiny Temper ($25.60) surprises with Azeri triumph

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tiny Temper’s connections have long believed she was a promising sort and she rewarded them on Saturday when she pulled an 11-1 upset in the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Tiny Temper came into the Apple Blossom prep off a first-level allowance win at her base of Fair Grounds in January. She will leave town a stakes winner and an exciting new prospect in a local division that has been looking for a leader.

Tiny Temper forged past Misty Veil late for a neck win over Misty Veil in the Azeri.

“I was thrilled with her,” winning trainer Dallas Stewart said. “We’ve believed in her a long time. She ran a big race her first race of the year. She ran a very good number and we thought her numbers were on par with these horses and we weren’t afraid to take a chance - not with a horse like that.”

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Tiny Temper is a classy-looking, imposing daughter of Arrogate and the Blame mare Don’t Blame Me. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 for her allowance score in her fourth career start on Jan. 25 and it ranked as the best last-race number in the Azeri. The allowance win came in Tiny Temper’s first start since August. She races for Mark Stanley and Nancy Stanley.

“Mark Stanley names a lot of his horses with the last part temper,” Stewart said. “She’s a big, big filly. He just put tiny on there for fun. She ain’t tiny at all!”

Tiny Temper ($25.60) hopped out at the start Saturday and trailed the field as favorite Hot and Sultry and Bellamore disputed the fractions with Shotgun Hottie in close pursuit. The leaders went an opening quarter in 23.99 seconds on a good track, followed by a half-mile in 48.21 and six furlongs in 1:12.97. Tiny Temper began to close in on the competition on the final turn, split horses in the stretch, and dug in to get past Misty Veil. The winner covered the distance in 1:45.58.

“She’s a quality filly,” winning rider James Graham said in an interview conducted by Oaklawn. “[Dallas] told me that the first day I got on her. He said, ‘We can go places with this one.’”

Stewart said the next stop will be the Apple Blossom. The Grade 1, $1.25 million race will be run April 13.

“She’ll go back to the Fair Grounds, but the plan is to get ready for the Apple Blossom,” Stewart said. “We love Oaklawn. My oldest son was born here. I’ve been here a lot of years.”

Stewart won the Apple Blossom in 2016 with Forever Unbridled.

Bellamore finished third in the Azeri, while Shotgun Hottie was fourth and Hot and Sultry was fifth.

Oaklawn opened the card with a muddy, sealed track, but the surface was upgraded to good for the seventh race and the track was opened up, or harrowed, from that race onward.

Tiny Temper has now won 3 of 5 starts for earnings of $354,240.

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