Turfway Park: La Malaguena leads longshot parade in Wintergreen

La Malaguena and jockey Albin Jimenez led a parade of longshots Saturday when pulling a 34-1 upset in the $56,600 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway Park.

Jimenez, the leading jockey at the recently ended holiday meet at the northern Kentucky track, kept La Malaguena just off the pace before the 5-year-old mare surged to the front approaching the eighth pole, and she held sway to prevail by a half-length over Agressive Elegance, a 69-1 shot.

Moon Philly, at 5-1 the fifth choice in a field of 12 fillies and mares, was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third, while Prize Winner, a 108-1 shot, was fourth.

Owned by Alan Tennenbaum and trained by Brian Michael, La Malaguena returned $71.60 after finishing the one-mile distance in 1:37.34 over Polytrack. A Kentucky-bred mare by English Channel, she now has five wins from 20 career starts. It was her first stakes victory, as she has raced primarily in the mid-claiming ranks.

The $2 exacta (8-3) paid a whopping $2,996.80, and just one winning 50-cent trifecta (8-3-7), worth $29,480.65, was sold on the race. A 10-cent superfecta using an “all” combination (8-3-7-all) in fourth was worth $689.50.

The Wintergreen was the first stakes at the winter-spring meet, which began Wednesday. Jimenez, a 22-year-old native of Panama, won his first-ever riding title at the holiday meet, which ended Tuesday.

Turfway will run stakes every-other Saturday through March 1. The meet highlight, the $550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes, is set for March 22.