Include Betty Goes Last to First in Fantasy

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Longshot Include Betty punched her ticket to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) with a gutsy neck score in the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (gr. III) April 4 at Oaklawn Park .
 
Rallying from last in the field of 11 under Rosemary Homeister Jr., Include Betty edged out Oceanwave and fellow longshot Achiever's Legacy to post the biggest win of her career, ensuring her a spot in the field for $1 million Kentucky Oaks May 1 at Churchill Downs, as the race was worth 100 qualifying points.
 
Super Saks set the pace through a half-mile in :47.91 while being pressed by Lady Tapit and Sweet Opportunity, as Include Betty raced far back in the pack.
 
Entering the far turn, Include Betty was full of run under Homeister, picking off horses one by one, but was forced to go eight wide, hooking up with Achiever's Legacy through the stretch before holding off the late run from Oceanwave.
 
Include Betty's owners, Brereton C. Jones and Timothy C. Thornton, had to wait out a claim of foul from Ramon Vazquez, rider of runner-up Oceanwave.
 
The two brushed each other in deep stretch before Include Betty prevailed by a neck with Achiever's Legacy another neck back in third.
 
 
The final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:44.16 on fast track, with  Include Betty returning $39.60, $14, and $8.80. Oceanwave paid $4.80 and $4, while Achiever's Legacy returned $7 to show.
 
Include Betty was bred in Kentucky by Jones and Lavin Bloodstock and was purchased at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale for $42,000. She is by Include   out of Betty's Solutions, by Eltish.
 
Winless in three starts last year, Include Betty broke her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 3 in her season debut for trainer Tom Proctor. She became a stakes winner in her next start, when she got up to take the Suncoast Stakes Jan. 31 by a neck before finishing fifth in the Florida Oaks (gr. IIIT) March 7, both at Tampa.
 
Seven prior Fantasy Stakes winners have gone on to capture the Kentucky Oaks with Blind Luck in 2010 the most recent to do it.
 
Include Betty has won three of seven career starts, pushing her earnings up to $303,030.
 
Pangburn got up to finish fourth and was followed out by Sarah Sis, Super Saks, post-time favorite Feathered, Purr, Sweet Opportunity, Lady Tapit, and Harlans Belle.