Sacristy Much the Best in Old Hat

1/1/2012 9:42 PM  | horseracingnation.com
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Sacristy(4) with Kent Desormeaux up getting by Say A Novena(2) on her way to winning the Old Hat Stakes(G3) at Gulfstream Park. Hallandale Beach, Florida. 01-01-2012 Sacristy may have given the bettors who sent her to the starting gate as their 6-5 favorite a few uneasy moments during the early running of Sunday’s $100,000 Old Hat Stakes (G3), but the 3-year-old filly looked much the best in the Gulfstream Park stretch while edging clear by 1 ¾ lengths.

“She was just spot on today,” jockey Kent Desormeaux said. “Her eyes were bugging out of the bridle. You could tell she wanted to be a racehorse when she was warming up.”

Trained by Wayne Catalano, Sacristy collected her second straight win on conventional dirt after launching her career with a pair of runner-up finishes on synthetic tracks to Bet to Win, who finished 2 ¼ lengths behind the winner in third Sunday. Say a Novena finished second under Elvis Trujillo, a half-length ahead of Bet to Win.

“This is what it’s all about: moving these young horses forwardly. She was taking a step forward and we thought she might make it. She was training like she would,” Catalano said.

Sacristy, who earned $60,000 for the Peachtree Stable, ran six-furlongs in 1:10.91 while closing from sixth to first under jockey Kent Desormeaux.

“She was only three lengths out of it (early). I told Kent, ‘Let her break sharp and see what happens.’ Let the race unfold for him. He knows what to do, that’s why I got him up there. We all know what kind of rider he is.”

Catalano said Sacristy will likely run next in the $200,000 Forward Gal (G2) at Gulfstream on Jan. 29.

 

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