Vote No, Crown Imperial take closing-day stakes at Kentucky Downs
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Vote No and Crown Imperial mastered a tricky, lighting-fast, bone-dry Kentucky Downs course to win rich 2-year-old sprint stakes on Wednesday, the final card of this seven-day meet.
Continuing a weekend trend, the Kentucky Downs turf strongly favored inside speed the first portion of the Wednesday program, but more important than being on the lead was staying no more than two or three paths off the rail in the homestretch, and that, almost by accident, is where Crown Imperial ended up in the $499,286 Untapable Stakes for fillies.
Crown Imperial broke from post 10 and raced ninth in the first quarter-mile while several paths off the fence going into the far turn. Staying a little wide on the turn wasn’t a bad thing for horses nearer the back of the field, since inner paths were kicking up a surprising amount of dust and sand. It also wasn’t a bad thing for Crown Imperial that the two dueling leaders, Candy Girl and Song of Norway, went along at a breakneck pace. The opening quarter-mile was timed in 20.79, the half in 44.32, and that would be the undoing of the front-runners.
Crown Imperial came off the turn and into the long, uphill homestretch still many lengths behind but improving her position and traveling smartly. Her jockey, Ricardo Santana Jr., steered right to try and come outside rivals, but a wall of five horses blocked his path. Santana changed course and Crown Imperial darted inside that quintet, accelerating into a gap while rapidly gaining on the horses ahead of her. She made the lead in the final half-furlong and was going away at the wire to score by 1 1/4 lengths.
Copper Em bested Buttercream Babe by a head to earn the place, while Hidden Class, who rallied well from the back of the 12-horse field as the 3-1 favorite, was another neck back in fourth. Crown Imperial was timed in 1:16.33 for an extended 6 1/2 furlongs, a modest clocking given the half-mile split, and paid $29.46.
That was a surprisingly high win price on a filly who fit the race well coming off turf-sprint stakes placings in New York and New Jersey. Crown Imperial had been third at Monmouth in a race won by Amidst Waves and came within a nose of running that filly down Aug. 20 in the Bolton Landing at Saratoga. John Ortiz trains Crown Imperial for her breeder, 4 G Racing. The filly is by Classic Empire out of Mi Fiori, by Congrats.
Vote No somehow paid less, $27.22, winning the $487,500 Juvenile Sprint Stakes despite having a much lighter resume than Crown Imperial’s.
Vote No came into this race, another 6 1/2-furlong contest, with one start behind him, having beaten six maidens over the Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs on Aug. 23, a performance that earned a pedestrian 48 Beyer Speed Figure.
Under Gerardo Corrales, Vote No broke alertly enough Wednesday and sat third as Bledsoe and even-money favorite Hedwig through a quarter-mile in 21.17 and a half in 45.79. Hedwig got the better of Bledsoe in midstretch and at the furlong grounds looked like a winner, but he faltered through the final sixteenth as Vote No closed steadily and got up by three-quarters of a length.
Please Advise finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Hedwig and a neck in front of fourth-place Jimmythetooth. The winner was timed in 1:16.44.
William Morey trains the winner for Joseph P. Morey Jr. Vote No was bred by Mr. And Mrs. John Price. The gelding is from the first crop of the stallion Divisidero, his first and only winner to date, and is out of Sistas Ready, by More than Ready.
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