Play On Outlasts Hotshot Anna By a Head in Mardi Gras
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
Play On (right) holds on for a head victory over Hotshot Anna in the Mardi Gras Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course
Owner Klein Racing and trainer Brad Cox entered two stakes-winning fillies, Break Even and Play On, in the $75,000 Mardi Gras Stakes Feb. 25 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, though they elected to run just one: the aptly named Play On.
One was all they needed, though just barely so. Play On, after stalking the pace in third, pounced coming into the lane to take a midstretch lead and lasted for a head victory over dual grade 2 winner Hotshot Anna in a special afternoon of racing on Fat Tuesday.
"She is so tactical; she makes my job easy," said winning rider Shaun Bridgmohan, who picked up the mount when Break Even was scratched. "When they did hook up, I was able to get the trip that I wanted."
Racing a couple of lengths off the pace of :21.68 and :45.91 set by 16-1 longshot A Thousand Reasons, Play On accelerated down to the stretch to complete about 5 1/2 furlongs on a firm turf course in 1:03.99. She paid $10 as part of a contentious field of 10.
Eyeinthesky ran third, 1 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up and a half-length in front of 5-2 favorite and fourth-place finisher Unbridled Class, who, after pressing the pace in second, raced in traffic down the stretch.
Bell's the One, the race's other graded winner along with Hotshot Anna, ran seventh.
The outcome of the Mardis Gras reversed an earlier finish at the meet from Nov. 30 at Fair Grounds when Hotshot Anna caught Play On in the closing strides to nip that rival by a head in the Richard R. Scherer Memorial Stakes.
Bridgmohan acknowledged he knew his filly would have to fight.
"She's close to a million dollars," he said of Hotshot Anna, whose bankroll now stands at $972,190. "Obviously she tries very hard. She always puts a run in and you have to respect her for that. I am just happy we came out on the winning end today.
The Mardi Gras was the third stakes victory for 4-year-old Play On, a homebred for Klein Racing. The Klein family raced both her sire, Country Day, and her dam, the More Than Ready mare Vote Early—both of whom were stakes-winning sprinters. Vote Early's six foals to race are all winners, including Will Call, a full brother who scored in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Presented by Twinspires.com (G3T) in 2018 at Churchill Downs.
Play On made $45,000 in winning the Mardi Gras to improve her record to 5-for-10 with earnings of $212,883.
Cox assistant Ricky Giannini said Play On is a candidate for a grass sprint stake in Kentucky this spring, mentioning the $150,000 Giant's Causeway Stakes April 11 at Keeneland or the Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill, which last year was contested in early May during the week of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
Churchill Downs has not yet released its full spring stakes schedule.