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Istanford beats the boys in Arlington Classic

Istanford made all the running in a history-making win (Four Footed Fotos) Istanford, the only filly in the field of eight three-year-olds in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington Classic, joined an illustrious group with a wire-to-wire victory over the boys in the 1 1/16-mile turf fixture at Arlington. Left alone on an uncontested lead through splits of :24 1/5, :49 1/5 and 1:14, Istanford gamely held off a mild stretch bid from Long On Value to score by a length in a time of 1:43 3/5 on good ground. The 5-1 fourth choice, she paid $12.20. "She's great; absolutely beautiful," said jockey James Graham. "She showed today that if they give her a breather, they ain't catching her. I've wanted to ride her all along but sometimes I couldn't get off another horse I was supposed to ride. We were going to lay off if (Solitary Ranger) wanted the lead, but evidently he didn't. So, she just bounced around here happy as (can be) and came on home."

Istanford is the fourth filly to win the Arlington Classic, but the first since the race was moved to the turf in 1994. The previous filly winners were Tosmah (1964), But Why Not (1947) and Twilight Tear (1944), all of whom were named divisional champion. Tosmah and Twilight Tear are both Hall of Fame inductees.

Istanford races for the partnership of Ike and Dawn Thrash, and Sam and Janet Alley. She's trained by Michael Stidham.

"We didn't have a lot of options for a filly race, so we thought 'let's just keep her here and run out of her own stall'," Stidham explained. "I've run in this race a few times and I feel it's the easiest of the three races (in the Mid-America Triple). Our filly had been running good and had been beaten by some pretty good fillies in her last two losses (the Ashland and Edgewood). We felt fairly confident that we had a chance in the race. Mr. Thrash and I talked about it and we decided to go for it."

Long On Value bested 9-5 favorite Afortable by three parts of a length for second, with Chief Barker another half-length back in fourth. The order of finish was completed by Tiger Bourbon, Rankshasprivileges, Solitary Ranger, and Ry's the Man.

The Arlington Classic was the first stakes win for the daughter of Istan, who captured two of three starts as a juvenile including a five-length debut score over the Arlington turf. Fifth in the Arlington-Washington Lassie in her next start, she concluded her campaign with a 2 3/4-length allowance win over the turf at Fair Grounds.

A distant trailer in the Silverbulletday on dirt at Fair Grounds, Istanford next ran second in the Florida Oaks on turf at Tampa Bay Downs before finishing 11th in the Ashland at Keeneland on Polytrack. She entered the Classic off a second-place finish in the Edgewood on the Churchill Downs turf. Her record now stands at 8-3-2-0, $207,246.

Bred in Florida by Hardacre Farm, Istanford was a $25,000 OBS August yearling. She was reared by Aerocat, a daughter of Tale of the Cat. This female family has also produced the multiple Grade 3-winning sprinter Semaphore Man.

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