White Rocks ran the field off their feet in the $175,000 Cincinnati Trophy on Friday night at Turfway Park, setting the pace and opening an insurmountable lead and then holding off Admit by 1 1/4 lengths in the feature for 3-year-old fillies.
The one-mile race on Tapeta awarded its top finishers points toward the Kentucky Oaks on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. The race serves as the local prep toward the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks on March 22 at Turfway, which awards points on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis.
White Rocks ($13.30), a Frosted filly trained by Arnaud Delacour for Jastar Capital, Polivka Equine Holdings, and Timothy Madden, was making just her third career start in the Cincinnati Trophy. She ran creditably in her debut on Dec. 12 at Turfway, crossing the line third after being impeded late, and moved up to second on the disqualification of the runner-up. The winner that night was Admit, who brought in an experience edge at the time. White Rocks then went on to a front-running six-length win going a mile Jan. 16 at Turfway, setting her up for a similar trip Friday night.
Under regular rider Victor Carrasco, White Rocks broke sharply from post 4 in the field of 11 starters. She made the lead in a few jumps and, in the short run into the first turn, angled over to save ground into the first turn. Just Ruthless, breaking from post 2, was content to relax back as White Rocks assumed a clear lead through the opening quarter of 24.38 seconds.
"The turn is pretty quick, so I feel like you have to be very alert and try your best at least to send a little bit to get good position," Carrasco said. "But she has good speed, so I didn't have to do too much to get her there."
White Rocks continued to open up down the backstretch, extending her lead to seven lengths through the half-mile in 47.79 seconds. Just Ruthless continued to maintain her tempo in second, with Bracelet in a nice stalking spot, clear and on the outside in third. But despite those fillies moving easily, White Rocks continued to pour it on around the far turn. She came to the quarter-pole with a eight-length lead, and flicked her ears in interest as Carrasco got busy with his right-handed stick.
Admit, who has faced good competition, and who was coming off back-to-back mile wins at Turfway, mounted a strong bid from fourth at the midway point. She cut into the leader's margin steadily late but ran out of ground, crossing the wire 1 1/4 lengths behind White Rocks.
The time for the mile was 1:39.69.
After Admit, it was 1 1/4 lengths to Somethinabouther, as the winner of the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes last November rallied on to edge an even-running Braclet by a neck for third. After Bracelet came favored Girl Math, Salt, Tiger Division, Just ruthless, Pure Majestic, She's All Charm, and Wondrous.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.