Hit It Rich Strikes Paydirt in Long Island
Hit It Rich earned her first graded
stakes victory Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack, taking command
with a decisive move at the head of the stretch and going on to a 1
½-length victory in the 55th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Long
Island Handicap.
Patiently handled by Javier Castellano,
the 4-year-old gray daughter of Smart Strike was content to gallop
alongside pacesetter Unbridled Essence as she led the field of eight
fillies and mares through fractions of 24.38, 49.39, 1:15.32 and
1:41.12 over a turf course rated "firm." Grabbing the lead on the turn,
Hit It Rich quickly opened up on her seven rivals and rolled under the
wire in 2:30.39 for the 1 ½ miles.
Mekong Melody, winner of the 2010 Long Island, finished second, 1 ¾ lengths clear of the late-running Musical Rain.
"It
looked like there wasn't much speed at all, but [Unbridled Essence]
rushed and wanted to dictate the pace," said Castellano, aboard the
Stuart Janney, III-owned filly for the first time. "I let her dictate
the pace, and I just kept tracking behind the speed. The pace was very
slow and my filly loved to gallop right next to the lead. It was
wonderful - when I asked her, she focused and took off."
The
victory was the third in four starts for Hit It Rich, who entered the
Long Island off a 3 ¾-length allowance victory at Keeneland Race Course
in October and won an optional claimer at Saratoga Race Course in July.
Overall, she is 5-1-2 from 11 starts and with the winner's purse of
$90,000 has now earned $243,310 for her owner and breeder.
"I
think this is a pretty big move forward to go from a three-other-than
into something like this," said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.
"We've asked her to do quite a bit these past couple of months. We'll
give her a little break and hopefully next summer she'll be the kind of
filly that can maybe participate in some of the bigger races."
Sent off at 4-1, Hit It Rich returned $10.80 for a $2 win bet.
Completing
the order of finish behind Musical Rain were Hasay, favored Emerald
Beech, Akris Queen, Unbridled Essence, and Little Often Anni.