Hypothesis guts out It's Only Money win * The Racing Biz

Hypothesis guts out It’s Only Money win

Frank Vespe
June 12, 2022

In his first start since December, five-year-old Hypothesis ran his win streak to four with a determined half-length victory in the It’s Only Money Stakes June 11 at Charles Town Races.

It was his 12^th win from 24 career starts and enlarged his lifetime bankroll to $378,525. It was also his second consecutive win in this event.

Hypothesis was the state-bred sprint champion at Charles Town last year, and owner Jill Daniel and trainer Crystal Pickett gave the son of Algorithms the winter off at Pickett’s Florida farm.

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“He’s filled out and muscled up and looks like a genuine five-year-old,” Pickett said prior to Saturday’s heat. “I’m fortunate to have an owner that will give him time off. He made 10 starts last year and needed a little rest and there were no races around here for him until this one.“

When the gates opened in the It’s Only Money, Hypothesis was widest of a quartet of runners within a length of the lead, with post-time favorite Penguin Power and Golden Key heads apart and Bull Meechum between runners. Penguin Power threw down a hotly contested 21.51-second opening quarter.

Rounding the turn, Golden Key and Bull Meechum retreated, while Hypothesis went to the attack. He had put his head in front by the eighth pole and inched away to defeat Penguin Power by a half-length. Youthinkthatsfunny rallied belatedly into third, another 1 ½ lengths farther back.

Running time for the 4 ½ furlongs over a fast main track was 51.22 seconds. Hypothesis paid a generous $8.80 to win and topped an exacta that returned $13.60 for a one-dollar wager.

Jockey Jose Montano, the 2012 Eclipse Award winner as top apprentice rider, continued a fruitful partnership with Hypothesis. He has ridden the gelding in his last seven local starts, collecting six wins, four of them in stakes company.

Out of the Not for Love mare Ideal Thoughts, Hypothesis was bred in West Virginia by Francis Daniel, III.