It Happened Again captures Razorback

It Happened Again held stablemate Thiskyhasnolimit at bay in deep stretch of the Razorback (Oaklawn Park/Coady Photography) Maggi Moss’ IT HAPPENED AGAIN (Proud Citizen) tracked the pace in second until upper stretch and went on to post a half-length victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Razorback H. (G3) at Oaklawn Park. The five-year-old gelding registered his first graded stakes win and keyed a Steve Asmussen exacta with Thiskyhasnolimit (Sky Mesa), who made a late run at his stablemate but could never draw on even terms. Jockey Michael Baze put It Happened Again in a perfect spot during the early stages, about a length behind Kate’s Main Man (Bernstein), who established set slow fractions of :23 4/5, :48 and 1:12 1/5 over the fast Hot Springs, Arkansas, oval. The pacesetter began to weaken turning for home, allowing It Happened Again to seize the advantage. Thiskyhasnolimit, who was stalking about a length behind the eventual winner in third down the backstretch, moved up as well in upper stretch and easily held the place over Win Willy (Monarchos), who finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in third following a belated rally down the middle of the track.

It Happened Again completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:43 2/5, and paid $9.40, $5.20
and $3.60 as the 7-2 fourth choice among seven rivals.

Double Threat (Smarty Jones), Kate’s Main Man, 9-5 favorite Winslow Homer
(Unbridled’s Song) and Golden Yank (Yankee Gentleman) rounded out the order of
finish.

Bred in Kentucky by Dede McGehee, It Happened Again captured the Triple Sec
S. at Delta Downs and recorded a second in the Barbaro S. (G3) at Delaware Park
in 2009. He also placed in the Canadian Derby (Can-G3) and Spend a Buck S. that
season, but the chestnut dropped into the claiming ranks in 2010. He was
acquired by his current connections for a $20,000 tag at Woodbine last October,
and his form began to turn around this year at Oaklawn, with a pair of
convincing wins over allowance/optional claiming rivals. With Saturday’s third
straight victory, It Happened Again has now earned $333,078 from a 23-7-3-3
ledger.

He’s out of the winning Quiet Lucky (Quiet American), who is also the dam of
stakes victor Lucky Sam (Pembroke). His second dam is the stakes-winning Lucky
Lydia (Lydian [Fr]), and this is also the female family of Grade 3 queen Cellars
Shiraz (Kissin Kris).