Prayer for Relief romps in Tenacious on Santa Super
Saturday
Following subpar efforts in his last pair of stakes, Zayat Stable’s Prayer for Relief
answered the prayers of jockey David Flores and trainer Steve Asmussen
with a 6 1/4-length tally in the $74,250
Tenacious Handicap at Fair Grounds, the main event at the New Orleans oval’s six-stakes race Santa
Super Saturday program.
“He put me in a spot where I wanted to be,” Flores said.
“It’s never too early when you have the horse to make that kind of run.”
Prayer for Relief toured 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1.43 3/5 after
tracking in third through the early splits of :24 1/5 and :48. The five-year-old
son of Jump Start took command entering the far turn and drew off from there to increase his career earnings to
$1,580,913. Now 8-5-4 from 25 starts, the dark bay now boasts six stakes
victories, including a pair of Grade 2 wins, and nine black-type placings.
“He’s a really nice horse,” Asmussen said. “He ran
his race today. His last two are not up to par for him, whether it be
the course or weather or how things just unfolded. Just very glad to see him
back in the winner’s circle where he belongs.”
Grand Contender, the 8-5 favorite who was exiting an easy win in the Delta
Mile, finished fourth.
Cathy and Bob Zollars’ Daddy Nose Best also got back on the winning track under
a patient ride from Flores to win the $75,000
“Buddy” Diliberto Memorial Handicap at about 1 1/16 miles over the
firm Stall-Wilson turf
course by 3 1/2 lengths.
Giving the tandem of Flores and Asmussen their second
straight win on Santa Super Saturday, Daddy
Nose Best bumped with a rival at the start before saving ground in the rear of
the field. The Scat Daddy four-year-old went four wide on the final turn and put
in a strong rally to run down pacesetter and 29-1 shot Adios Nardo. Daddy Nose
Best stopped the clock in 1:44 2/5.
“He had great acceleration from the half-mile pole to the
quarter-pole and that’s when I went around the group,” Flores explained. “When you
have the best horse it is best that way.”
Daddy Nose Best improved his career mark to read 23-8-3-2, $867,303, with
this, his fifth stakes victory. The Grade 3-winning bay colt captured the Edward
J. DeBartolo Memorial and Remington Green before a last-out fifth in the River
City Handicap.
Brittlyn Stable’s Class Included was away fastest and pressed the early leader
before drawing clear in the stretch of the $73,500
Blushing K. D. Handicap by a 1
3/4 lengths. Shaun Bridgmohan had the call on the Include mare, who completed
about 1 1/16 miles on the green in 1:45 4/5.
“This is a very smart filly,” Bridgmohan said. “She’s a real straight shooter. All I had to do was to keep her out
of trouble and let her run her race.”
Trained by Ron Faucheux, Class Included boosted her career earnings to $552,146
with the payday from her 10th stakes score. A Canadian Grade 3 winner from last
season, the five-year-old bay’s scorecard now reads 23-12-7-0 for earning her
second straight stakes victory after a six-length decision in Delta Downs’
Treasure Chest.
“She’s a very
classy filly. Hence the name,” Faucheux said. “I mean turf, dirt. She’s
going to give her best effort every time and we saw that in the numbers.”
“Beautiful mare. I mean…absolutely beautiful,” owner Evelyn Benoit
added. “I have to say, I have to give all the credit to (Faucheux) because he took his time
and figured her out and has made her look like a million bucks.”
Klaravich
Stables and William Lawrence’s Sum of the Parts broke in full stride to make the
pace in fractions of :21 4/5 and :46 1/5 before coming home in 1:04 1/5 for
about 5 1/2 grassy furlongs in the $75,000
Bonapaw.
The Speightstown four-year-old was 2 2/3 lengths the best on the wire under
rider Rosie Napravnik.
“(Trainer) Tom (Amoss) told me he does his best work on the lead so that
was the plan,” Napravnik stated. “We were
out there pretty quick so he’s all heart coming down the lane and all class as
well.”
“You know
he is by Speightstown and he is a very versatile sire and this horse, Sum of the
Parts, can run on any surface,” Amoss said. “He wins his races by using his speed early and
hanging on at the end. That’s what he really did today. He won the race
probably the first half-mile of the race. He got an advantage on the group and
was able to sustain it.”
Sum of the Parts defended his title in the Grade 3 Phoenix at Keeneland in
early October, but was unable to duplicate his fourth-placing in the 2012
Breeders’ Cup Sprint when tiring to 12th and last in the 2013 running of the
championship event last out. Saturday’s return to the winner’s circle saw his
lifetime mark improve to 17-7-2-0, $761,543.
Owner Brereton Jones and trainer Larry Jones completed a sweep of
Saturday’s two-year-old stakes when Albano, ridden by Kerwin Clark, took
command in midstretch and went on to win the $48,300
Sugar Bowl by 1
1/4 lengths. The bay son of Istan traveled six furlongs on the fast main track in 1:11
2/5 to increase
his career earnings to $58,100 with his second victory in three lifetime starts.
“He finished up strong,” Clark remarked. “He was kind of goofing around when he got out by
himself. I still had a lot of gas in the tank.”
“I feel this one is better to get around (two turns) than
Mark Valeski did,” Larry Jones said of Albano, who is a half-brother to
Grade 2 winner and Louisiana Derby runner-up Mark Valeski. “We felt that ‘Mark’
was a little speedier and had more acceleration than this horse but we are high
on him. We hope he does what Mark Valeski did and maybe one better.”
“We are very high on this colt,” Brereton Jones agreed. “Quite frankly he was named for a wonderful man
at the Seaview Hotel in Florida who’s name happens to be Albano. I know Albano
is watching. I know he is yelling and screaming. I know he is one of the
quality guys that you’d like to be able to have something that places him. He
is a very, very good guy.”
Brereton Jones’
Divine Beauty, also trained by Larry Jones and ridden by Napravnik, won the
$48,600
Letellier Memorial for juvenile fillies by 6
1/2 lengths, touring
the main-track six furlongs in 1:10 3/5. The Divine Park bay miss is now perfect
in two starts and has banked $57,600 in career earnings.
“We are very excited about her. No question about it,” Brereton Jones
declared. “When you get a good filly and put it
in the hands of Larry Jones, you start thinking about having great fillies. Then, when Rosie gets on, it all kind of works together and we are very excited
about every one of them.”
“She’s trained like she would,” Larry Jones added. “She finished running today like she is going to and
should. We are looking forward to stretching her out and way on to the Oaks
again.”
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