Starlight Racing’s Artisanal employed a powerful stretch
run to take the $70,000 Little Silver Stakes while Farnsworth Stables LLC’s
Jehan held off stablemate Bronx City Girl to capture the $75,000 Red Cross in
front of 13,522 at Monmouth
Park on Sunday.
Trained
by Todd Pletcher, Artisanal raced well within range of pacesetter Salary Drive
through opening fractions of :23 4/5 and :48 2/5. As the field entered the stretch, jockey
Chris DeCarlo awaited room and guided the 3-year-old daughter of More Than
Ready into the clear. Artisanal paid
$4.80, $3.20 and $2.60 as the 7-5 favorite in the field of eight sophomores.
“We were boxed in around the
far turn, but I wasn’t worried,” DeCarlo said.
“She’s the type of horse that you can wait for an opening rather than
look for one. I finally got out at the
eighth pole and it was all her from there.”
Pacesetter
Salary Drive
finished a length and a half back in second and returned $4.60 and $3.40. It was another head back to Skating in third,
good for a $2.80 show mutuel. The final
time for the one mile over firm turf was 1:35 3/5.
The
Little Silver was the third win a row for Artisanal who increased her record to
3-1-0 from five starts. The winner’s
share of the purse bumps her career earnings to $107,359.
In
the Red Cross, Jehan broke sharply, fended off pace challenges from Landing My
Way and Feel That Fire, and held on to finish 1 ½ lengths in front of Bronx
City Girl.
Half
of the entry from trainer Marty Wolfson, Jehan paid $6.40, $6.20, $3 as the 2-1
second choice. D’Wild Ride paid $3 to
show and completed a $23.20 exacta.
“I
talked with Marty Wolfson this morning,” said winning rider Joe Bravo. “He told me that [Jehan] just got beat by
[Grade 1 winner] Life at Ten last out.
The instructions were to get her close to the lead early. That’s what I did and the Marty Wolfson
training took over from there.”
The
win was the fifth of Jehan’s career and improved her career record to 5-6-5
from 25 lifetime starts. The 5-year-old
by Forest Wildcat has now banked $292,883 in his career.
Live
racing continues at Monmouth
Park on Monday, May
30. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. with first
post set for 12:50 p.m.