It was a baby double for Dino Condilenios on Saturday, as the trainer's two 2-year-olds emerged from a pair of four-horse fields to win the $75,000 Sadie and Jack Diamond Futurities at Hastings.
Karensnotimpressed, a 2-year-old filly named for owner Jordan Froelich's mother and her initial displeasure with his decision to become a racehorse owner, went off at odds of 7-2 in the Sadie Diamond, making her the second favorite behind Sunny Wishes, a Barbara Heads trainee. That 1-5 shot made the lead shortly after the start and cruised through a quarter-mile in 22.16 seconds and the half in 45.91.
Heading into the stretch, Sunny Wishes led and seemed to be moving effortlessly. She looked primed to repeat her debut win over Karensnotimpressed in the CTHS Sales Stakes on Aug. 25, but "Karen" found another gear in mid-stretch, passed her rival, and pulled away to win by 1 3/4 lengths. It was another 4 1/4 lengths back to Charlotte's Wild in third, with What a Force rounding out the order of finish.
Ridden by Silvino Morales, Karensnotimpressed covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:18.36 and paid $9.90 to win.
Morales also had the mount in the Jack Diamond aboard the Condilenios trainee Debrusk, who went off as the 4-5 favorite. He broke cleanly from post 2, but two of his rivals did not.
To Debrusk's inside was Stormy Lent, who ducked left after the gate opened and trailed the field for most of the race before rallying late to get up for third. In post 5, Ole's Surprise stumbled badly out of the gate but recovered to race in second most of the way.
That's exactly where Ole's Surprise would finish, because Debrusk proved much the best, going from gate to wire to win by 2 1/4 lengths. He covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.67 and paid $3.60 to win.
"It still hasn't sunk in," Condilenios said a little over an hour after the conclusion of the Jack Diamond. "I've won quite a few stakes in my career, but winning futurities back to back is something else. I'm proud of everybody, my whole crew. To the owners, I'm grateful for them giving me such good horses to train. And Silvino, he gave them both an awesome ride."
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