Jaxon Traveler runs away with Maryland Sprint
Jennifer Kelly- May 21, 2022
On one of the state’s biggest racing days, the Maryland bred Jaxon Traveler made the $150,000, Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes a show of speed over a fast Pimlico track. The Steve Asmussen trainee sprinted to the front out of the gate and made his first graded stakes win look like an easy one.
Breaking from the outside of the six-horse field, jockey Joel Rosario hustled the Munnings colt to the front in the race’s opening strides. War Tocsin and Threes Over Deuces sat second and third down the backstretch behind Jaxon Traveler as he set down the first quarter in 22.95 seconds and the half in 45.55.
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By then, Jaxon Traveler had opened a 1 1/2-length lead, but entering the turn, jockey Maclovio Enriquez and Threes Over Deuces mounted a strong challenge.
In the stretch, Threes Over Deuces closed on Jaxon Traveler, briefly dueling with the leader. The Munnings colt was too much for his challenger, however, pulling away to win by two lengths at the wire. The time for the six furlongs over a fast track was a blazing 1:09.70.
He was going along pretty easy, and I was just going along for the ride,” Rosario said of the trip on Jaxon Traveler. “He showed speed from the start, so I let him go.”
“I think Jaxon Traveler has run extremely well here at PImlico. That’s his third stakes win here [in Maryland]. So, we’ve been looking forward to this race for some time,” Asmussen said after the race, “This was a major target for him, a very good victory for him, his first graded-stakes win.”
Jaxon Traveler went off as the post-time favorite and paid $4.40, $3.00, and $2.60. Threes Over Deuces paid $11.60 and $5.60. War Tocsin paid $5.80 to show. The $1 Exacta paid $20.70.
Jaxon Traveler is out of the After Market mare Listen Boy. He was bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Leonard Pineau.
Jaxon Traveler has now won six of 16 career races with earnings beyond $571,000. He previously has won the Star de Naskra over the strip, as well as the Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel in 2020.
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