Frosted Grace Continues Banner 2023 With Sexton Win

Flying P Stable's Frosted Grace  continued his hot start to the year, winning the $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3) at Lone Star Park May 29. 

This year the Brereton Jones-bred 7-year-old is 3-2-0 from five starts in 2023 with $374,900 in earnings for trainer Robertino Diodoro. 

Frosted Grace fell behind early under Cristian Torres, settling in seventh. Frosted Grace then steadily closed the gap between him and those ahead of him. Among those was Touchuponastar , who led for most of the race. The latter, who had a six-race win streak snapped in the Steve Sexton Mile, held off challenges from Holden the Lute  and Logical Myth  but did not have enough left to fend off one last rival. 

Going four-wide at the top of the lane, Frosted Grace roared to the front and won by 1 1/2 lengths with a mile on a fast track in 1:37.99.

Touchuponastar was second, followed by longshot Kokokomo . Favored Endorsed  ran ninth.

Frosted Grace ($11.80), is a 7-year-old by Mark Valeski  out of the Thunder Gulch mare Class .

"He is a nice horse that keeps getting better and better," Diodoro said. 

Video: Steve Sexton Mile S. (G3)

Juncture Takes Ouija Board

Juncture  won in her first North American start, taking the $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff Stakes for older turf mares by 1 3/4 lengths. The Juddmonte Farms homebred daughter of Dark Angel  rallied from eighth before drawing clear under Tyler Gaffalione. The Brad Cox trainee ran a mile on firm turf in 1:34.82 and paid $4.20 to win.

"Around the far turn I had a lot of horse," Gaffalione said. "I had quite a bit of confidence and Brad always does a great job, so when you are with him, you've got a shot." 

Iko Iko  and Colors of the Wind  finished second and third, respectively. 

Video: Ouija Board Distaff S. (BT)

Hayes Strike Defeats Harlocap in Texas Derby Photo 

Dixiana Farms' homebred Hayes Strike  went five wide in the stretch and rallied to edge Harlocap  by a nose in the $300,000 Texas Derby.

Trailing by as many as 7 1/4 lengths, Hayes Strike, with Torres in the irons, closed the gap to three as they hit the stretch. The Kenny McPeek-trained son of Connect   crossed the wire with 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.32. Hayes Strike paid $16.40 on a $2 win ticket.

"I saw he broke slow and I just gave him some time and stayed after him," Torres said. "When I asked, he exploded for me."

Eyeing Clover  was third. 

Video: Texas Derby (BT)

Skelly Goes Gate-to-Wire in Speightstown Sprint to Continue Streak

Red Lane Thoroughbreds' talented 4-year-old gelding Skelly  kept rolling with a gate-to-wire victory in the $100,000 Speightstown Sprint Stakes.

In his fifth straight trip to the winner's circle, the son of Practical Joke   posted fractions of :22.70, :45.42 and :57.25 before finishing the six-furlong dirt event in 1:09.63 with 1 1/2 lengths to spare. Ricardo Santana Jr. was aboard

Albizu  was second and Jackman  was third.

Skelly ($2.80), trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, improved his record to 6-3-0 from 10 starts and increased his earnings to $701,613. 

Video: Speightstown Sprint S. (BT)