Word spread quickly that the William Morey trained son of Ghostzapper in race 4 could run– he opened up as the heavy odds-on favorite, but would ultimately drift up and go off as the 7/5 2nd choice. As the gates opened, first-timer Visitant bumped with the rail horse and got away pretty slowly. He would sit patiently in 4th on the inside under jockey William Antongeorgi. It looked like he was going to be boxed in, but a path on the rail suddenly opened and he exploded through to score by an easy 4 lengths– it was done so effortlessly. He has such a long beautiful stride, and being by Ghostzapper, he should love any added distance. William Morey has had some nice debut winners this meet– Visitant joins the likes of stablemates In Cahoots and Desert Myst. He stopped the clock for the 5.5f in 1:04.51. Roman Rush sustained a decent bid on the outside to claim 2nd, and the other first-time starter Dub Town rallied well for 3rd.
The 6th race on the card was the feature, and it was won in an upset by the 6/1 shot Killarney Lass. It was a 1m Allowance/ Optional Claimer for 3yo fillies. She was sent to the lead under Frank Alavarado and never looked back, as she went on to win by 1 3/4 lengths. The 3yo daughter of Eskendereya has been steadily improving for trainer Frank Lucarelli. She broke her maiden by double digits in the slop at Emerald Downs, then came back to take a 5f off the turf Starter Allowance, and then ran a nice 3rd off a wide trip at today’s level last time out. Lucarelli has a neat filly on his hands as she has shown the ability to run well on dirt, tapeta, sprinting, and going long. Also she should have no issues handling turf since she is out of a More Than Ready mare. Oh My Oh finished well to complete the exacta, and Hollywood Hills’ 4-race win-streak came to an end as she could only manage 3rd in her route debut. The final time for race 6 was 1:38.75.
Jockeys: Juan Hernandez and William Antongeorgi both scored doubles on the 7-race card.
- Cedillo *64* 2. Hernandez *49* 3. Martinez *33*
Trainers: William Morey bagged 2 winners on the day. He won with Uber Star in Race 2 and Visitant in Race 4.
- Wong *44* 2. Hollendorfer *16* 3. Rivelli *15*
Live racing continues tomorrow with an 8-race card. First post is at 12:45pm. In the feature (Race 7), we see a rematch from last year’s California Derby– the 1-2 runners Choo Choo and Mugaritz square off again.
Full results/charts from today’s card http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/GG030719USA.pdf
NorCal Horse Racing News 