It Happened Again shines in Claiming Crown Jewel

by Brisnet.com

Maggi Moss' It Happened Again won the showcase race during Fair

Grounds' initial hosting of the 13th annual Claiming Crown Saturday, capturing

the $138,000

Jewel with a late surge under a well-judged

ride by jockey Shane Sellers in the richest race run so far during the

young New Orleans Thoroughbred racing season.

Conditioned by Fair Grounds' defending champion trainer Steve

Asmussen, It Happened Again commenced his rally when set down for the

drive and caught the pacesetting Isthmus well inside the furlong grounds

on his way to a 1 1/4-length score.

"It was a typical Steve Asmussen ride," Sellers said immediately

after his ground-saving trip. "That's the kind he wants -- stay inside

and let 'em go when they want to. For a moment there I thought I waited

too long, but when I asked him he gave me what I wanted."

It Happened Again was sent off the 5-2 second choice in the

wagering in part due to a five-month layoff. He paid $7.40, $3 and $2.80

for touring nine furlongs on the fast track in 1:51 2/5.

One race earlier, Compliance Officer got back on the winning track in the

$93,000 Emerald under jockey Alex Solis. Winning has actually come easy for

the son of Officer since being claimed for $25,000 by owner

Thomas La Marca and trainer Bruce Brown on May 14 at Belmont Park.

"I originally claimed him as a sprinter," La Marca said. "Then we began to

stretch him out."

The five-year-old gelding proceeded to take his next five races,

including the 1 1/16-mile West Point, nine-furlong Ashley T. Cole and 8

1/2-furlong Mohawk Stakes. However, Compliance Officer was no match in

the Breeders' Cup Mile last out, running 11th on that day, but returned

against much easier company to claim the about 1 1/16-mile Emerald in

1:44 2/5 on the firm turf.

"The post really hurt him in the Breeders' Cup," Brown asserted.

"When he's tucked

behind horses he relaxes. In the Breeders' Cup he got hung wide. Today he was

able to tuck in and that's the secret."

Solis, on his only mount of the day, took Compliance Officer off

the pace, settling into fourth in the early going.

"He is really very easy to ride," Solis said. "He tucked in behind horses

then I just had to be patient. I got him out at the three-eighths pole and he

did his thing."

Napravnik won her second

straight race Saturday when piloting Rattlin Gyspy to a three-length score in the $71,250

Glass Slipper.

Campaigned by Steven Howard, Ron Pauley and Stephen Reiker, Rattlin Gyspy ran

six furlongs on the main track in 1:11 2/5 for trainer John

Wainwright.

"I was told to just set back and try to work her to the outside," Napravnik

explained. "I put her where she likes to be and she came flying home."

Rattlin Gyspy, a four-year-old daughter of Quest, paid $14.80, $6.20 and

$5.20 at 6-1 odds. The chestnut lass was trying her ninth different race track

this season. She finished fourth in the Flashy Lady Stakes at Remington Park in

her last start, and now boasts a 24-6-7-2, $163,765, career mark.

Jackie Thacker's Atthebuzzer, overlooked in the wagering at 46-1 for the

$47,000 Express, answered the challenge when asked by apprentice

jockey C. J. McMahon and drew clear late to score by 1 1/2 lengths in the

six-furlong dash.

"I guess he didn't know he wasn't supposed to win," owner-trainer Thacker

mused after Atthebuzzer lit up the toteboard with payouts of $95.40, $34.80

and $13.20.

Always well placed, the Arkansas-bred Atthebuzzer gained the advantage in midstretch and proved clearly best at the

wire, finishing in 1:10 1/5. The five-year-old gelded son of Even the Score

improved his resume to now read 39-11-4-3, $123,387.

John Wade's Pedrolino and jockey Robby Albarado ran away with the first race

of the Claiming Crown, taking the $46,500

Iron Horse by 7 3/4 lengths. The five-year-old gelding, trained by Doug

Matthews, had been racing on synthetic surfaces in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and

Illinois, most recently finishing third in a $50,000 claiming route at

Keeneland.

Albarado waited patiently behind the pacesetters in the early stages before

asking for run on the far turn. Pedrolino drew off in the stretch to finish the

1 1/16-mile contest in 1:45, providing Matthews and Wade with their first

Claiming Crown victory.

"I've been running horses in the Claiming Crown for three or four years but

this is the first win," Matthews said. "It feels good."

Matthews instructed Albarado to get the headstrong horse as relaxed as

possible.

"Doug said to keep him quiet but at the same time keep him forward and it

worked out well," Albarado explained.