Pond wins, generates big splash HOT SPRINGS — This Grade I performance left her trainer almost speechless.
Unleashing a devastating turn of foot in midstretch, Round Pond launched her 4-year-old campaign with a 1 2 / 2-length victory over Miss Elsie in the $ 40, 000 allowance feature for older fillies and mares Thursday afternoon at Oaklawn Park.
Round Pond ran the fastest 6 furlongs of the meeting (1 : 09. 93 ), yet was never asked for her best by regular rider Stewart Elliott.
“You can’t say anything after that,” trainer John Servis said. “You know what I’ll say ? I’ll say the same thing Stew said after the last time he worked her : Wow !” It was a scorching Feb. 5 workout — 6 furlongs in 1 : 13. 09 — that prompted Servis to start Round Pond’s campaign Thursday, rather than wait for the $ 175, 000 Grade III Azeri Breeders’ Cup on March 11.
A finalist for 3-year-old filly champion, Round Pond hadn’t raced since finishing second in the $ 500, 000 Grade II Delaware Oaks on July 16 at Delaware Park.
After the race, she underwent surgery to remove a bone chip from a knee.
With Round Pond returning from a seven-month layoff, Servis said he told owner Rick Porter that his prized daughter of Awesome Again would be vulnerable Thursday, but that she would be running late.
Round Pond followed the script perfectly, easily overhauling front-running True Tails with a final eighth of a mile in a lively 12 seconds.
“She’s so classy,” Servis said. “She’s got a ton of talent.” As the 1-2 favorite, Round Pond paid $ 3 and also carried almost 93 percent of the show pool ($ 185, 352 ).
Round Pond increased her earnings to $ 491, 300 after her fifth victory in seven lifetime starts.
After breaking her maiden last February at Oaklawn, Round Pond won the Honeybee Stakes, Grade II Fantasy Stakes and Grade I Acorn Stakes. Well said, Well Said Thursday’s highly anticipated entry-level allowance race for 3-year-olds was won by a horse who broke his maiden in his last start.
But it wasn’t Brilliant, Jolted and Jostled, Stalwartly or Meshwaar. It was Well Said, who rallied from third in the upper 1 stretch to post a 1 / 2-length victory over Brilliant at a mile. In his last start, Well Said broke his maiden by a halflength over Brilliant on Jan. 8 at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. Brilliant, the 4-5 favorite off an easy opening-day maiden 1 victory, finished 2 / 2 lengths ahead of Nothing Like It. Jolted and Jostled, another opening-day maiden winner, came up empty in the drive and finished a well-beaten fifth.
Trainer John Servis said Jolted and Jostled’s performance might have been impacted by a breathing problem known as a displaced palate.
Ridden by James Graham, Well Said ($ 24. 20 ) covered the mile in 1 : 38. 98, just off the meet-best 1 : 38. 97 recorded by Lemons Forever on Feb. 9.
Well Said could make his next start in the $ 300, 000 Grade III Rebel Stakes on March 18, trainer Walter Bindner said. Holthus’ horsepower Lawyer Ron, the likely heavy favorite for Monday’s $ 250, 000 Southwest Stakes, breezed five-eighths of a mile in 1 : 00. 10 on Tuesday morning under regular rider John McKee.
It was the second-fastest of 48 works recorded at the distance.
Lawyer Ron recorded splits of : 12. 06 for his first eighth of a mile, : 23. 62 for a quarter-mile and : 48. 05 for a half-mile. He galloped out three-quarters of a mile in 1 : 12. 86 and 7 furlongs in 1 : 26. 29.
“He went a little faster than we hoped, but he just moves on the ground pretty easy and kind of got away from John,” trainer Bob Holthus said. “But he looked like he came out of it good. Walked good [Wednesday morning ].” Holthus said he was “very pleased” with stablemate Red Raymond’s 5-furlong work in 1 : 01. 60 on Tuesday morning. Red Raymond, who will be making his 3-year-old debut in the Southwest, got his final quarter in : 24. 02 and galloped out three-quarters in 1 : 16. 01. Another expected Southwest starter, Steppenwolfer, breezed a halfmile in : 48. 80 on Wednesday morning. Final furlong Tamara Norman, wife of five-time defending Oaklawn training champion Cole Norman, gave birth to the couple’s second child Thursday morning in Bossier City, La., a 7-pound, 7-ounce boy named Presley Cole. “Everything went well,” Cole Norman said. “He’s a dandy.” … Whoever took down the entire superfecta pool in Thursday’s fourth race ($ 24, 039 for the dime minimum ) was an off-track bettor, according to Bobby Geiger, Oaklawn’s director of wagering and simulcast. … No problems this time for Ermine, who easily broke her maiden by 3 lengths Thursday for trainer Ronny Werner. In her last start, Ermine was headed for an easy Jan. 22 maiden victory, but unseated jockey Francisco Torres after ducking in near the finish when struck right-handed. Jockey Robby Albarado didn’t have to use the whip Thursday. Torres fractured his neck in the accident.
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