Nursery Rhyme wins Churchill feature. October 30th, 2008
Nursery Rhyme wins Churchill feature. Nursery Rhyme worked her way out of a trap at the head of the stretch to win by a head in the $48,000 The Lords Kitchen allowance feature Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
Ridden by Jaime Theriot, the 3-year-old filly covered the six furlongs in 1:11.97 for her second victory in 10 starts.
The daughter of Tale of the Cat out of the Sunnys Halo mare Our Suzette raced just behind the leaders near the inside fence early but found herself trapped behind a wall of six horses on the final turn. Theriot and Nursery Rhyme found a clearing on the outside and took the lead with about 50 yards to go.
Nursery Rhyme, the 9-5 favorite in the field of 10 fillies and mares, paid $5.60, $3.80 and $2.60, while Kaiwahs Magic returned $11 and $7. Pump Up finished third and paid $5.40
Owned by Janis R. Whitham, Nursery Rhyme earned $30,024 to increase her career total to $95,187.
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Queen Ofthe Catsle wins at Hollywood Park.
Queen Ofthe Catsle, the 9-10 favorite, overtook 10-1 long shot Kalookan Dancer in the final sixteenth of a mile to win the $75,165 Dance In The Mood Stakes by a half-length Wednesday on opening day of Hollywood Parks Autumn Meet.
Queen Ofthe Catsle, ridden by Victor Espinoza and carrying 124 pounds, covered six furlongs on Hollywood Parks turf course in 1:08.35. She paid $3.80, $2.60 and $2.20 in the inaugural running of the race named for the Japanese-bred winner of the 2007 CashCall Mile.
It was the fourth straight win and sixth in 13 lifetime starts for Queen Ofthe Catsle and was worth $41,725, raising the career earnings of the 4-year-old daughter of Tale of the Cat to $300,509. She has won five of seven starts this year, the last three in stakes races.
Shes awfully good, Espinoza said. The first time I rode her, it was a little bit hard to control her because she wants to go as fast as she can. It took me a couple of races to teach her to relax and use her energy down the lane. Now, she makes my job easy. I know that shes going to respond any time I want to use her. I just took her back, waited for everyone to clear and just let her go.
Kalookan Dancer returned $7.40 and $4.60. Americas Friend, third in the race for fillies and mares, paid $3.20 to show.
The 40-day meeting runs through Dec. 21.