Victress necks Snuggles in Monashee

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Victress, last early, got up in the last jump to edge Snuggles by a neck in the $75,000 Monashee at Hastings on Sunday.

She paid $6.20 for her thrilling win in the 1 1/16-miles race for fillies and mares.

Amadeo Perez was content to let Victress settle behind the field while Chianti, a Snuggles stablemate, was posting moderate interior fractions of 23.94 and 48.00 seconds. Snuggles engaged Chianti at the six-furlong mark and opened up a clear lead on the stretch turn. Victress started to get in touch with the field at the quarter-pole, made a three-wide move around the final turn, and got up in the last few strides. Cherokee in Me rallied to finish third, but was never a threat to the top two.

The final time was 1:44.11.

Victress was making her first start since Jan. 1. Trainer Robert Gilker wasn’t concerned about Victress running a big race despite the lengthy layoff.

“Good horses know how to do this job,” he said. “She’s a good horse. The best thing about her is her ability to get to the wire first.”

Gilker, and his wife Victoria, bought the Kentucky-bred daughter of Include for $3,500 out of the Hastings Paddock Sale last year. The win in the Monashee brought her lifetime earnings to $157,595.