Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ SpeedShopper made a bold three-wide move on the far turn and dug in late to get past favored Ayra Stark (ARG) in deep stretch to win Saturday’s inaugural running of the $119,168 Florence Stakes at Turfway Park Racing & Gaming.
Trained by Will Walden and ridden by Danny Sheehy, Speed Shopper completed the classic 1 ¼-mile distance in 2:03.39. It was the first stakes victory for Speed Shopper and first North American stakes victory for Sheehy.
Starter Caleb Hays caught the field of 11 in a perfect line as 23-1 longshot Noir set the early place into the first turn while traveling an opening quarter-mile in :24.09. As Noir entered the backstretch, she was tracked by 5-2 favorite Ayra Stark, who was traveling about two lengths behind in second. Following a half-mile in :49.04 and three-quarters of a mile in 1:14.29, jockey VictorCorrasco began asking Ayra Stark to engage Noir but had to hold off a late bid of Speed Shopper, who was rallying three wide. In mid-stretch, Speed Shopper was able to put her head in front of Ayra Stark and finished well to the wire for a half-length victory.
Adrasteia, under jockey Edgar Morales, completed the trifecta. She was followed by Boss Lady Bailey, Duvet Day (IRE), Settling Storm, Cozee Rags, Peak Popularity, Sabalenka, Noir and Dazzlin’ Dictator.
The Florence Stakes was the second victory in Speed Shopper’s eight-race campaign. She improved her earnings to $210,398.
Speed Shopper is a 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road out of the Malibu Moon mare Fast Retailing. She was bred in Kentucky by AR Enterprises and Edward Easton.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Turfway Park for the rescheduled $1 million Synthetic Championships. The 10-race program has a special first post of 3 p.m. ET. For more information, visit www.turfway.com.
Unedited Press Release Turfway Park
Photo: Coady Media
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