What she could not quite get done last season at Fair Grounds, Big Trouble decisively accomplished Saturday.
A close second and a close third in two Fair Grounds turf sprint stakes late this winter, Big Trouble finished first by 2 3/4 lengths in the $100,000 Pan Zareta Stakes. And, really, it wasn’t even that close.
Rallying into a strong pace under a well-timed, patient ride from Declan Cannon, Big Trouble went from ninth at the quarter pole to first at the furlong grounds, cruising home from there. Second choice Cart Girl Sam managed second, three-quarters of a length ahead of third-place Serving Time. Accomplished Girl, wanly favored at 5-2 to repeat in the Pan Zareta, attended that quick pace – 21.30 and 44.71 -- and paid the price, fading to eighth.
Big Trouble ran about 5 1/2 furlongs over a firm course (the temporary rail was set at 7 feet) in 1:02.71 and paid $10.40 to win.
Greg Foley trains Big Trouble for the 4-year-old filly’s breeder, Donamire Farm. Big Trouble is by Kantharos out of Into Trouble, by Into Mischief, and has made a minor career out of close defeats. She returned in September from a five-month layoff just a one-time winner from 13 starts, but now has won two of three this form cycle, and is a horse learning to close the deal.
She’s in the right spot this winter. No section of the Fair Grounds stakes schedule is thicker than the filly-and-mare turf sprint division, and if this horse runs through the winter like she did Saturday, they’re all in Big Trouble.
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