The penultimate race Jan. 20 at Fair Grounds, a maiden sprint, had
been rained off the turf. Robby Albarado was hurt, Jamie Theriot was on
one main-track-only entrant, and Miguel Mena was on another, so the
mount on Close Ally, a Neil Howard-trained first-time starter, fell to
Rosie Napravnik.
Bred like a grass horse, Close Ally escaped notice from bettors,
going off at 30-1. As he lost some position around the far turn, falling
back to seventh, the long price looked justified. But Napravnik was not
giving up. As Close Ally gained momentum, the pace-setters began
wilting, and suddenly, Close Ally, his jockey moving in perfect rhythm
with lengthening strides, was gaining fast up the fence. Napravnik
steered right as Close Ally whistled past a couple of horses, then
deftly straightened out her inexperienced mount as he clipped by to win
going away. Sure, the horse, it turned out, was ready and capable. The
rider had made it look easy.
“She don’t take any prisoners, this girl,” Howard said the next
morning. “She looks like a female Calvin Borel out there. She’s very,
very heady.”
That’s a strong endorsement from a respected, veteran horseman who
has trained a Horse of the Year and to whom Hall of Famer Pat Day was
extremely loyal at the height of his powers. Consider also that
Napravnik is far from a go-to jockey for Howard and has ridden only a
handful of horses for him.
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