OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There are no sure things in horse racing.
Lucille Ball, the 1-9 favorite in a field of four in Friday’s $122,500 Interborough Stakes, broke poorly, was done after a half-mile and finished last behind Just Katherine, who nosed out Stonewall Star in Friday’s in the sprint stakes for females at Aqueduct.
Lucille Ball was made such a heavy favorite based on her monstrous comeback win on Jan. 2, her first start off a 14-month layoff. Jockey Manny Franco said he had a bad feeling in the post parade.
“’She was different out there in the post parade, she was anxious, she was too keyed up, I don’t think it was her day today,” Franco said.
Meanwhile it was Just Katherine’s day. Under Sahin Civaci, Just Katherine, who bumped with Lucille Ball out of the gate, was last of four, but only three lengths off the pace. In the stretch, Civaci moved her out into the three path and she was able to catch Stonewall Star, in the final jump. It was four lengths back to Ourdaydreaminggirl in third. Officially, Lucille Ball was beaten 26 lengths.
Civaci said when Lucille Ball didn’t get involved, he was following Stonewall Star, who, under Jaime Rodriguez, seemed to open up under Jaime Rodriguez turning for home.
“I had some horse, I wasn’t sure I was going to get past [Stonewall Star] before the wire, but surely as she dug in and gave a lot more, [Stonewall Star] fell back a little bit and that’s when I got the bob,” Civaci said.
Just Katherine, a 5-year-old daughter of Justify, covered the seven furlongs in 1:24.28. She returned $16.76 to win and $15.82 to place. Stonewall Star returned $21.02 to place. There was $44,523 bet to place on Lucille Ball out of $51,468 in the pool.
Just Katherine is owned by Ramon Tallaj and trained by Jose Jimenez. Though he won multiple Group 1 races in Puerto Rico, this was Jimenez’s first stakes victory in the United States.
“It’s been a dream come true,” said Al Jimenez, the son of and assistant to Jose. “This is like going from the Double-A to the big leagues.”
Just Katherine had previously been entered in the Ladies Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. Tallaj said this race was chose over the Ladies because he didn’t want to run against Weigh the Risks at this time. Weigh the Risks was going to be favored in the Ladies, run later on Friday’s card.
“I prefer another day to match them together,” Tallaj said.
Be You wins Toboggan
Be You, sitting a sweet trip on the inside behind dueling leaders, tipped three wide turning for home and ran by the pacesetters inside the eighth pole en route to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $150,000 Toboggan Stakes.
Doc Sullivan, last early under Ricardo Santana Jr., rallied to finish second by three-quarters of a length over Victory Way.
It was the fourth win, but first in a stakes, from 12 career starts for Be You, a son of 5-year-old son of Curlin out of the graded stakes winning mare Jacaranda. Be You is owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher.
Kendrick Carmouche rode Be You. Carmouche felt the inside part of the track is the best part so he kept Be You along the inside while Victory Way and Light the Way dueled through a half-mile in 45.73 seconds. When Carmouche was able to get into the clear turning for home, he plenty of horse to run by the embattled leaders.
“I wanted to break him real sharp and put him into the race a little bit instead of having him out the backdoor,” Carmouche said. “With that being said, he broke really good, I wanted to get inside – the rail is the best place to be. Once I tipped him out of at the quarter pole, after that he did it all from there.”
Be You covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.50 and returned $7.16 as the second choice.
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