T Rex Express dominates in My Sister Pearl

T Rex Express won the $50,000 My Sister Pearl Stakes for state-bred fillies and mares at Charles Town Races. Photo by Coady Photography.

by Frank Vespe

Opportunity knocked, and T Rex Express answered.

Saturday’s My Sister Pearl Stakes at Charles Town Races looked likely to come down to a test between that runner and Moonlit Song, the Tim Grams trainee who was slated to try, for the first time, the three-turn, 1 1/8 mile distance of the My Sister Pearl.

When Moonlit Song was a scratch, however, that left T Rex Express the solid, 7-10 post time favorite in the $50,000 test for West Virginia-bred fillies and mares. It also left her the prevailing pace player in the race.

Given the boost, T Rex Express did not disappoint. With Gerald Almodovar in the irons, T Rex Express sped to the early lead and kept her seven rivals at arm’s length throughout. No rival was closer to her than two lengths at any point of call until the finish, when 9-1 third choice Frozen Tundra closed to within 1 3/4 lengths. Frozen Tundra was a neck clear of Starlight Flight in third.

Running time for the nine furlongs was 1:55.57. T Rex Express paid $3.40 to win and topped an exacta worth $10.80 for a buck.

T Rex Express, trained by Jeff Runco for David Raim, ran her record to 12 wins from 28 career starts. She has now earned $324,081, roughly a third of it this year. The five-year-old Warrior’s Reward mare sports a perfect three-for-three ledger at the 1 1/8 mile distance, her other triumphs having come in this event a year ago and last month in the West Virginia Breeders Classic Distaff.

T Rex Express was bred in West Virginia by Mr. and Mrs. John Link, who sold her to Runco for $20,000 at the 2014 Keeneland January mixed sale.