I'm Already Sexy in Eatontown Upset Win
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Hit The Board Stables' I'm Already Sexy held off favored Kenzadargent after a stretch duel for a half-length triumph in the June 27 Eatontown Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Monmouth Park.
The fifth winner on the card for jockey Paco Lopez, I'm Already Sexy was never far back as longshots Speed Seeker and Old Harbor led the field through a moderate pace until the rest of the field quickened on the leaders rounding the second turn.
As the field of fillies and mares entered the stretch in the 1 1/16-mile turf test, I'm Already Sexy emerged on top while racing on the outside, with Kenzadargent and jockey Abel Castellano Jr. giving chase but unable to catch the front-runner.
A 5-year-old daughter of Ready's Image trained by Wayne Catalano sent off at 7-1 odds, I'm Already Sexy stopped the timer in 1:41.29 and paid $16.80, $5.60, and $4.20. Kenzadargent, a stakes winner in her native France and the U.S. who was sent off as the 8-5 favorite for trainer Chad Brown, returned $3.60 and $3.00. Stellar Path, another French import who was a stakes winner in her U.S. debut in April for trainer Christophe Clement, finished third, paying $3.80. The top two combined for a $55.60 exacta payoff.
"She is a really nice mare," Catalano said. "Paco (Lopez) put her in a great position early on and she had a perfect trip. She likes to sit just off the pace and with age, she has learned to settle. She always seems to know where the wire is and just continues to battle."
"I had a perfect trip," Lopez said. "I was sitting perfectly with her and when we hit the top of the stretch she grabbed the lead. I knew I had the 5 (Kenzadargent) to my inside, but I thought I had her. Getting close to the wire I tapped my filly a couple times and that was it."
The victory was ninth in 23 starts for I'm Already Sexy, who has earned $633,700. The mare, whose six stakes wins include the Modesty Handicap (gr. IIIT) and Kentucky Downs Lady Turf Stakes last year, was coming off a second-place finish in the Old Forester Mint Julep Handicap (gr. III)T) at Churchill Downs. Bred in Kentucky by Equus Farm, the Eatontown winner was consigned to the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale where she was purchased by Bob Feld Bloodstock for $20,000.