Photo: CDI
Brittlyn Stable’s Beanwah’smachine justified his role as the 3-10 choice in the wagering in Saturday’s colts and geldings division of Fair Grounds’
$103,290 Louisiana Futurity
with a length and a half victory after gaining the advantage in upper stretch.
Two races later on Saturday’s 11-event program, Oak Leaf’s
Effie used the same tactics
with the same result – posing in the winner’s circle following a
come-from-behind three quarter-length win in the filly division of the
$100,390 Louisiana Futurity that was also restricted to accredited Louisiana-breds.
Three months from now, both Beanwah’smachine and Effie could return as sophomores – the colt in the
$75,000 Crescent
City Derby
on Louisiana
Derby Day April 1, and the filly in the
$75,000 Crescent
City Oaks
on Fair Grounds Oaks Day March 31.
Or,
if both youngsters continue to improve as they mature in their
sophomore seasons, both could possibly graduate into the highlighted
open
company showcase races for 3-year-olds on those respective afternoons.
In
the meantime, Beanwah’smachine will exit his 2-year-old season
undefeated as of midnight on New Year’s Eve, and Effie can continue to
progress
after a hiccup suffered when she developed a brief sickness that
surfaced following a seventh-place finish in her previous start three
weeks ago.
Beanwah’smachine, trained by
Al Stall Jr. and ridden by Shane Sellers,
paid $2.60, $2.10 and $2.10, got the six-furlong-distance in 1:11.82
and increased his career earnings to $161,742 with his fourth
win in as many starts.
“He
just goes out there and does his job everyday and doesn’t do any more
than you ask him,” said Sellers. “I think he’s going to get better
going longer.”
The Whispering Oaks Farm-owned coupling of
Gar and C. C. Dubai
finished second and third in the colt and gelding sprint, both
returning $3.40 and $4.40 after Gar set early splits of 22.16 and 46.05.
Effie
paid $9.60, $3 and $2.20 in the filly end of the Louisiana Futurity
after getting the three-quarters in 1:12.60 and increased her career
earnings to $117,884 with her second win in eight lifetime starts.
“She tries real hard and she had to try hard today to get there but we got the job done,” said Effie’s jockey
Rosie Napravnik of the Tony Richey-trained filly’s performance.
Favored
Izzie’s Gold, who made the
pace with early splits of 22:06 and 46.21 in the filly division before
weakening in the late stages, held the place to pay $2.10 and $2.10,
while Charles Begnaud’s
Miss Helen Jay finished third to return $3.80 while four lengths behind Izzie’s Gold.