Lewisfield logs first stake win in Not for Love
HOW IT HAPPENED
Four-year-old Lewisfield simply denied all challengers, fighting off bids early and late to secure a one-length victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Not for Love Stakes for Maryland-bred or -sired runners three-years-old and up. It was the first stakes win for Lewisfield, who now has five wins from seven career starts.
Lewisfield, beaten four lengths by Struth in his stakes bow in December, zipped to the early lead under jockey Arnaldo Bocachica and held a head advantage over Struth after a half-mile in 45.06 seconds. But that rival put his head in front at the furlong marker, while It’s the Journey was revving up a late run.
But Lewisfield, trained by Jeff Runco, turned Struth aside and held off the late rally of It’s the Journey to earn the victory. It’s the Journey finished second, and Struth was third. Sonny Inspired, 91-1 at post time, rallied for fourth.
Running time for the six furlongs was 1:09.13.
Photo by Laurie Asseo.
QUOTABLE
“He’s pretty good. He’s really coming into himself right now. We had to kind of bounce him out of there a little bit today being down on the inside, so I told Arnaldo (Bocachica) in the paddock to let him bounce out of there and put him up there close or put him on the lead. He’s game, he’s always going to give it his all.
“We’re going to see how he comes out of the race and give him a little break after this one. We’re going to look for something, see what there is Maryland-bred and then maybe an open stake somewhere.”
— Trainer Jeff Runco
FACTS AND FIGURES
- Winner paid: $5.00 – $3.60 – $2.60
- Winning time: 1:09.13
- Margins: 1 length from Lewisfield to It’s the Journey, 1 length from It’s the Journey to Struth
- Winner’s record: 7-5-1-1, purse earnings of $160,967
CONNECTIONS
- Owner: Linda Zang
- Breeder: Linda Zang, bred in Maryland
- Pedigree: Great Notion-Smart Crowd, by Crowd Pleaser
- Jockey: Arnaldo Bocachica
