Gary
Aiken’s Florida-bred 3-year-old filly Callmethesqueeze defeated five rivals to
win the $74,400 Judy’s Red Shoes Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on turf at Calder
Casino & Race Course on Saturday. She is trained by veteran horseman
Manny Azpurua and was ridden to victory by jockey Jose Alvarez.
Callmethesqueeze
covered the distance over a firm turf course in 1.43.99, finishing one length
ahead of Blue Angel Express. It was another two lengths back to Prize
Informant in third place. It marked the fourth win from nine starts for
Callmethesqueeze, a daughter of Awesome Again.
Sent
off as the post time favorite, Callmethesqueeze paid $3.20, $2.60, and $2.10.
Blue Angel Express returned $8.60 and $4.60, while Prize Informant paid
$5.00.
Azpurua
sent out two previous winners of the Judy’s Red Shoes Stakes: Miss Medallion
(1998) and Mop Squeezer (1999) – the latter is the dam of Callmethesqueeze,
also owned by Gary Aiken.
Winning
trainer’s quotes:
Manny
Azpurua – “I had a lot of
confidence going into this race; really, I felt there was no way she could get
beat. I think she’s very good, perhaps better on the grass, but I believe
she can run on both (dirt and turf). I don’t know about her next race yet,
I’ll talk with the owner. She didn’t run as a 2-year-old, not because of
any physical issues, but mental and behavioral ones. She was like the
devil and we had to send her back to the farm twice.”
Winning
jockey’s quotes:
Jose
Alvarez – “This filly runs very good on dirt
or turf, but she’s much better on the turf course, she’s three for three on the
grass now. She really had them outclassed today. She came from a
long way off the slow pace and had to circle the field on the turn and she was
still full of run at the wire.”