Stakes recaps: A Casey clean sweep
Prince Lucky won the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes. Photo by Bill Denver, Equi-Photo.
by Frank Vespe
It wasn’t much of a surprise that the James W. Casey-trained Bound to Windsor was too good for her rivals in Saturday’s Eleanor Casey Memorial Stakes for two-year-old West Virginia-bred fillies. After all, the two-year-old Windsor Castle filly went off at 3-10 odds.
But bettors didn’t think much of his other runner in the event, B’s Wild Cork, making her 32-1. Nor were they enthralled with John Casey’s entrant, Imagoodchatterbug. She was, at 40-1, the longest shot in the eight-horse field.
Yet it was those three runners that filled out the trifecta, giving father James and son John a clean sweep in the race named for their late wife and mother Eleanor.
Bound to Windsor, with Christian Hiraldo in the irons, made short work of her foes here, taking the lead out of the gate and never looking back. She was just a head in front after a half-mile in 48.26 seconds and then drew away from there, finishing with a five-length advantage in 1:27.63 for seven furlongs.
Meanwhile, B’s Wild Cork and Imachatterbug were swapping positions in seventh and eighth in the early going, the former a head in front of the latter, though both in the rear of the field, after a half-mile had been run. They ended up just a neck apart, B’s Wild Cork again in front of Imachatterbug, with the latter almost three lengths clear of fourth-place finisher Flashy Dragon Girl.
Bound to Windsor, a Casey homebred owned by his Taylor Mountain Farm operation, now has four wins from five starts — three in stakes company — and earnings of $118,601.
PRINCE LUCKY TAKES PENNSYLVANIA NURSERY
Add another two-year-old stakes winner to trainer Larry Jones’s resume.
Prince Lucky powered to a nearly-three length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes for two-year-old PA-breds at Parx Racing. It gave the son of Corinthian his third win, first in stakes company, from four starts. He’s now earned $132,690 in his short career.
With Ricardo Santana, Jr. up, Prince Lucky, the 4-5 favorite, rallied from sixth in the eight-horse field to win going away. Santana, interestingly, did not carry a whip. Running time on the slow-playing course was 1:27.62 for seven furlongs.
Tudox Expectations was second, four lengths clear of Jw’strickymischief in third.
