Bridgetown Captures Woodford

Melnyk Racing Stables’ homebred Bridgetown wore down Great Mills inside the sixteenth pole to win the Woodford by one length.

Ridden by Javier Castellano and trained by Todd Pletcher, Bridgetown covered the 5½ furlongs on a firm turf course in 1:02.55. It was the first victory in the Woodford for Pletcher and Castellano.

A 5-year-old Florida-bred son of Speightstown out of the Tabasco Cat mare Ellesmere, Bridgetown earned $90,000 for the victory and boosted his bankroll to $934,700 with a record of 19-9-5-1.

Sent off as the favorite in the field of six, Bridgetown returned $3.40, $2.20 and $2.10. Great Mills, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $3.60 and $2.60 in finishing a half-length in front of 2008 Woodford winner Chamberlain Bridge, who returned $2.20 to show under Paco Lopez.

It was 1¾ lengths back to Wekiva Wachee, who was followed in order by Icon Ike and Ginplay.