Responding to a well-judged ride by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, Thoroughbred Futures Racing II’s
Switching Gears took
command briefly in the run down the backstretch, relinquished it before
entering the second turn but then came again inside the furlong grounds
to wear down rivals and capture Sunday’s $51,000
allowance optional claiming feature for sophomore fillies at Fair
Grounds by a neck.
Trained by
Steve Margolis, Switching
Gears returned mutuels of $15.80, $7.60 and $4.40, increased her career
earnings to $88,351 with her second career win from seven lifetime
starts and accomplished the mile and 70 yard-distance
in 1:43.41 after alternating for the recorded early splits of 25.20 and
48.88.
Dede McGehee’s
St. John’s River showed
early foot before dropping back, regained the lead briefly at the eighth
pole, could not withstand the winner late but was clearly second best,
paying $5.20 and $3.40 to place while finishing
2 1/2-lengths to the good of Philip Maas’s Wahoo Babe, who returned $3.40 to show and also had the lead much of the way before weakening.