Aireofdistinction has Spring Fever

Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. is making quite a habit out of winning stakes races this meet at Oaklawn and did not disappoint the backers that made his mount, Aireofdistinction, the 2-1 favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 Spring Fever Stakes. After looking well beaten in the stretch, the filly came back to beat Chortle by a slim nose for her first career stakes victory and it was the fifth stakes win of the season for Santana Jr.

Aireofdistinction and Chortle raced head and head from the start with the winner holding the advantage by a head after an opening quarter mile in 21 4/5 and the runner-up taking control after a half mile in 45 2/5. Chortle began to widen the margin in early stretch, but could not hold off the late surge of the favorite, who completed the 5 ½-furlong race in 1:04 2/5 over a fast track. Boss Barney’s Babe closed from last in the field of nine to get third.

“She broke good and I got her in a good position,” said Santana Jr. “She’s a nice filly. She really tried hard.”

Trainer Brian Williamson was equally pleased with the effort of Chortle, an 18-1 longshot.

“We were jumping up and down,” Williamson said. “She ran a great race, you can’t say much more than that. You know it’s a shame that on the last jump, we got beat.  We’ll take a look and see how she comes out of it and go from there.”

Airofdistinction, a Songandaprayer filly, did not win until her seventh career start, but has been unbeatable since and is now riding a four-race win streak after her Spring Fever victory. Overall, her record stands at 4-1-3 in 10 starts and she has earned $176,362 for owner Gillian Campbell.

The winner paid $6.80, $4.60 and $3.40.