Fair Grounds: Dead-Heat in Happy Ticket

Carl Moore Management’s Speedacious and Peter Blum Thoroughbreds’ Inspired, first and second choices respectively in Saturday’s $75,000 Happy Ticket Stakes, dead-heated for the win in the 5 1/2-furlong sprint  for older fillies and mares that was transferred to the main track following heavy rains earlier in the week.

Inspired made the pace with splits of 22.37 and 45.26 while Speedacious, away tardily, got her head in front in the late stages but could not sustain the advantage when Inspired launched her second bid.

Speedacious, trained by Bret Calhoun, was ridden by Miguel Mena and returned mutuels of $2.40, $2.60 and $2.40. She increased her career earnings to $501,854 with her 10th win in 20 lifetime starts.

“She’s one of the best mares on the grounds,” said the Peruvian-born reinsman. “She broke a little slow today but we’ll take the dead-heat.”

Inspired, trained by Allen Iwinski, was ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan and paid $2.60, $2.80 and $2.60 while finishing on even terms with Speedacious. 

“She’s got a lot of ‘try’ to her,” said Bridgmohan, who was scoring his fourth win of the afternoon aboard Inspired, who increased her own career earnings to $256,385 with her sixth win in 16 career starts. “She’s a pretty honest horse. She’s gutsy.”

Jerry Jamgotchian’s Smarty’s Emperoress finished third, returning $3.20 to show while 5 3/4-lengths behind the top two.