Charmed Victory surged to a six-length win against allowance foes at Laurel Park. Photo by The Racing Biz.
Charmed Victory closed sharply to win at six furlongs at first asking on December 19,
That earned him The Racing Biz Big Move of the Week plaudits, but Laurel Park bettors weren’t quite sold on the son of Flatter.
They made him the 3.40-1 second choice in a field of eight three-year-olds going a mile today at Laurel Park in a first level allowance.
Trainer Rodney Jenkins, however, was confident on the stretch out.
“I trained his mother, and he’s by a horse called Flatter, so it’s distance breeding,” the veteran conditioner said.
And he certainly looked the part today. Under top jockey Victor Carrasco, Charmed Victory bounded away from the field in the last quarter mile, scooting to a six-length win in 1:40.21 for the flat mile. Wychmere finished second, a length ahead of Grecian Prince; favored Mo Money was a well-beaten fourth.
“He knew what he was doing; he could stay up closer,” said Jenkins. “He’s not a speed horse. He’s got a stride; he’s gonna hurt someone going a mile and an eighth.”
It’s the result that Jenkins and owner Ellen Charles, of Hillwood Stable, might have expected when they paid a sale-topping $260,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Eastern Fall Yearling Sale. But when the ridgling (a male horse with an undescended testicle) came into Jenkins’ barn, it’s a result that seemed a bit of a longshot.
“So we get him up here and we worked him a few times and I wasn’t real happy with him,” Jenkins explained with a laugh. “So we sent him up to New Bolton and they took his testicle out. Ever since then,… different horse.”
Charmed Victory, out of the stakes-winning Victory Gallop mare American Victory, was bred in Maryland by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds and is owned by Hillwood and Richard Golden. Jenkins, the trainer, also trained American Victory, winner of 2010 Shine Again Stakes at Pimlico, for Golden.
Jenkins indicated that Charmed Victory is likely to try his hand at stakes company next out, possibly in the February 15 Miracle Wood at Laurel Park or perhaps in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct at the end of the month.
