Fox Hill Farms’ ROUND POND (Awesome Again) raced in behind Rugula (Bernstein)
for the first six furlongs of Friday’s $250,000
Fantasy S. (G2) at Oaklawn Park,
before moving outside of that rival and going on to take the 8 1/2-furlong
affair by 4 1/2 lengths.
Jockey Stewart Elliott settled Round Pond on the rail, just behind splits of
:24, :47 3/5 and 1:12 1/5. The pacesetting Rugula started to look like an upset
winner as the 49-1 longshot led the seven-horse field into the far turn, but
suddenly found Round Pond and R Lady Joy (Vicar) moving up to her outside. It
was Round Pond, though, who eventually got past the long-time leader, going a
mile in 1:37 before completing the fast-track feature in 1:43 2/5.
Trained by John Servis, Round Pond was worth $5.80, $4 and $3.20 as the 8-5
second pick. Rugula held well for second, returning $19.60 and $7.20 while
ending the $122 exacta. R Lady Joy finished another length back in third at 7-1
and gave back $5.60. The 4-3-8 trifecta paid a nice $806.60. Sharp Lisa
(Dixieland Band), sent off the even-money favorite, never fired and came in
another 1 1/4 lengths back in fourth. She was followed by Cape Hope (Cape Town),
Jill Robin L (Precocity) and The Beter Man Can (Lord Avie) after She Sings
(Petionville) and Yankee Penny (Quiet American) were scratched.
Round Pond had dropped only one start from her four-race career now, that
coming in her debut in February. Next out, the bay miss broke her maiden by
eight lengths and followed that up with a win in the Honeybee S. last out. She
has accumulated $217,300 in earnings.
Bred in Kentucky by Trudy McCaffery & John Toffan, the three-year-old filly
is out of Gift of Dance (Trempolino) and has an unnamed yearling half-sister by
Tale of the Cat. Round Pond brought $105,000 from her current connections at the
2003 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.