Little Lion Girl Pounces to Be Imagining's First Winner
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Photo: Jim McCue / Maryland Jockey Club
Little Lion Girl breaks her maiden at Laurel Park in her second start
Anchor & Hope Farm's grade 1-winning freshman sire Imagining was represented by his first winner June 28 at Laurel Park when his daughter Little Lion Girl won in her second start.
Bred in Maryland by Tom Bowman and Higgins Stable out of the winning Indian Charlie mare Chickasaw Gal, the bay filly is her dam's second winner from three to race. Little Lion Girl, now owned by Lady Olivia Northcliff and Michael Morgan, was acquired by her trainer, Carla Morgan, as a weanling for $1,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale.
Little Lion Girl came into the $40,000 maiden special weight on the turf at Laurel off a runner-up finish June 5 in a five-furlong maiden claiming race at Delaware Park. At Laurel, jockey Forest Boyce gave Little Lion Girl a patient, ground-saving trip and tracked the pacesetters until midstretch, where Boyce swung Little Lion Girl out three paths from the rail and launched a ferocious rally. The filly erased a 2 1/2-length gap behind favorite and leader Jenn's the Boss and won driving by 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Hello Beautiful, who got up for second by a neck. The final time for the 5 1/2 furlongs was 1:03.22.
Imagining is an 11-year-old son of Giant's Causeway out of the A.P. Indy mare Daydreaming. Raced from 3 to 7, he won the 2014 Man o' War Stakes (G1T) and placed in four other grade 1 turf tests. His other victories included the Red Smith Handicap (G3T) and the Pan American Stakes (G3T). He retired with $1,177,394 in earnings.
Imagining entered stud at Heritage Stallions in Maryland and was moved to Anchor & Hope Farm for the 2017 season. In 2019, he stands for $7,500.