Never Enough Time Wires Skipat Stakes
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Photo: Jim Duley/Maryland Jockey Club
Never Enough Time wins the Skipat Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
R. Larry Johnson's homebred Never Enough Time picked up her second stakes victory following her breakthrough last out and led at every point of call in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes Presented by Runhappy Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course.
Julian Pimentel guided the 4-year-old Munnings filly through fractions of :23.46 and :46.03 for the first half-mile with a half-length advantage. Never Enough Time opened up by two lengths in the stretch of the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares, then held off a bid from Bronx Beauty to win by three-quarters of a length. Bye Bye J was third.
"I knew we were going to have the speed on the inside," winning trainer Mike Trombetta said. "I told Julian, 'Assuming she breaks well, if anyone tries to take the lead from you, make them earn it. I think the rail's really going to help her.' She's got some natural speed. It takes her a step to get going, but once she got on her way, the advantage shifted in favor."
The final time on the fast track was 1:10.42. Never Enough Time paid $7 to win.
"She's really nice. She does everything you ask her. She's pretty forward," Pimentel said. "She came out of there running and she's just about business. We got the rail and we had to take advantage of that. I didn't get a whole lot of pressure on the turn so I was able to give her a little breather. When I asked her to run, she gave it to me."
Never Enough Time, also the winner of the Sept. 5 Alma North Stakes at Laurel Park, has a 5-1-0 record from nine starts and earnings of $237,393.
Johnson bred Never Enough Time in Maryland out of the Partner's Hero mare What Time It Is, who placed in multiple Mid-Atlantic stakes when trained by Trombetta for Johnson.
Video: Skipat S. Presented by RUNHAPPY (BT)
Fluffy Socks Rides Rail to Selima Victory
Jockey Trevor McCarthy rode the rail to perfection Oct. 3 in the $150,000 Selima Stakes, pushing Head of Plains Partners' homebred Fluffy Socks past the favored Invincible Gal in mid-stretch and drawing off to a 2 1/4-length victory to kick off the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) Day card at Pimlico Race Course.
McCarthy broke from the one post in the first of 12 stakes at Pimlico Saturday, then kept the Chad Brown-trained daughter of Slumber in reserve in sixth on the backstretch of the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for seven 2-year-old fillies before she unleashed her winning rally in the stretch.
Fluffy Socks wins the Selima Stakes at Pimlico Race Course
"I saved all the ground I could and when I came to the top of the stretch, I started to angle out but then the rail opened up and I said that was perfect. It was great to stay on that fresh ground every step of the way," McCarthy said.
Fluffy Socks ($14.40), a daughter of the Kitten's Joy mare Breakfast Time who was coming off a maiden win at Kentucky Downs, was timed in 1:50.74 over a course labeled yielding.
Michael Ryan, Jeff Drown and Team Hanley's Invincible Gal, an Invincible Spirit filly trained by Graham Motion who was the 8-5 favorite, held on for second by a neck over Timory Ridall's Tic Tic Tic Boom, a daughter of Hit It a Bomb trained by Alan Bedard who rallied widest turning for home.
The victory was a great start to the day for Sol Kumin and his partners in Head of Plains Partners, who also own a share of Preakness morning-line favorite and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Authentic through their Madaket Stables group.
Kumin said it was the first homebred stakes winner for his group. Fluffy Socks also represented the first black-type winner for her sire, and she was Slumber's first winner Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs.