W W Fitzy Wins Easy in Sharon N. Kirby Memorial

William Stiritz's homebred W W Fitzy opened up and won by an easy 7 1/2 lengths in Saturday's Sharon N. Kirby Memorial Stakes at Arlington International Racecourse. A field of eight 3-year-old fillies was sent to post for the Saturday feature run at one-mile over the Arlington main track.

Ridden by Chris Emigh, W W Fitzy broke well from post 7 and stalked the early leader while being four wide on the backstretch. Pace setting and race favorite Sister Ruler set early fractions of :23.91 and :47.45. Entering the turn, W W Fitzy drew alongside Sister Ruler easily, and after a brief battle, W W Fitzy asserted herself and put Sister Ruler away. The final time for the mile was 1:37.34.

"I was just trying to get her relax, take my time with her," Emight said. "I thought the mile would be tough for most of these horses, so I knew having something late would be important. Her last few races were tough races, I knew we would be tough today if she didn't get tired. I just tried to hold her together early and she had plenty left in the tank."

The Sharon Kirby Memorial Stakes was the first stakes win for W W Fitzy, who is now 6-3-1-1 in her career. This was her first win over the Arlington synthetic after two other tries.

W W Fitzy paid $5.60 to win, $3.00 to place, and $2.40 to show. Second was #2 Sister Ruler who paid $2.60 to place and $2.20 to show. Third was #8 Stopshoppingamy who paid $3.60 to show.