Island Town Crushes Smarty Jones Field
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Island Town sat just off the pace and pounced at the quarter pole to claim his second graded stakes score in the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes (gr. III) Aug. 29 at Parx Racing.
After sitting a half length off early leader Souper Colossal through most of the mile and 70 yard dirt test, the 3-year-old son of Hard Spun opened up in the stretch and drew off to win by 6 3/4 lengths under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Longshot Battle Midway was 3 3/4 lengths back in third.
Souper Colossal set fractions of :23.63, :47.76, and 1:12.93 through six furlongs, but did not have an answer as the winner blew past. Island Town hit the wire in 1:44.10. Two races prior, he broke through with his first graded win in the Matt Winn Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs June 13 for trainer Ian Wilkes.
Off at 5-1, the winner paid $12.60, $4.40, and $7.20 across the board. Souper Colossal paid $3 and $7.80, and Battle Midway brought $31.20 to show.
Bred in Kentucky by Randy Bloch, et al, out of the Distorted Humor mare Humorous Gal, Island Town now has a 4-1-0 record from eight starts and $328,223 in earnings for the ownership group including Bloch, Six Column Stables, John Seiler, and David Hall.
Thirtysilverpieces came in fourth, followed by 4-5 favorite Divining Rod and Bluegrass Singer, to complete the order of finish. King of New York was scratched to take a shot in the Travers Stakes (gr. I)