I'm Already Sexy Prevails in Cooper City
Hit The Board Stable's I'm Already Sexy, the 6-5 favorite, drove past a game Stoptalkingmaria in the final 50 yards Saturday to win the $60,000 Cooper City by a head.
I'm Already Sexy, a 5-year-old mare trained by Wayne Catalano and ridden by Paco Lopez, covered the firm mile course in 1:35.97 just two weeks after finishing seventh after a poor start in Tampa Bay Down's Endeavour (G3).
Breaking alertly, Stoptalkingmaria was taken to the front by jockey Luis Saez and set fractions of :24.29, :48.39 and 1:12.29 while I'm Already Sexy was rated third by Lopez behind Runway Ready. Entering the stretch, Lopez moved I'm Already Sexy three-wide before driving past Stoptalkingmaria in deep stretch. Kitty Wine was third.
"Paco rode a great race," said Hit The Board Stable's managing partner Anna Seitz. "Coming down the stretch I was feeling really good. We had a shot. It was an exciting finish and she showed a lot of heart coming back to win in two weeks."
Rainbow 6 Guaranteed Pool Sunday $100,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6, which has produced high payoffs with low wagers, will have a guaranteed pool Sunday of $100,000 after there was no single winning ticket Saturday afternoon. Multiple winning tickets with six winners Saturday produced a payoff of $203.30.
Thursday's Rainbow 6 was hit for $133,874.56 by a bettor with a $4 ticket. Earlier in the meet, a $12.80 returned a bettor $242,469.46.
Along with the guaranteed Rainbow 6 pool, the Late Pick 4 will have a guaranteed pool of $100,000 while the Pick 5 will have a guaranteed pool of $50,000.
Who's Hot: Three-time defending riding champion Javier Castellano continues his hot hand, winning four more races Saturday aboard Classy Kid ($10.40) in the second, Araqeel ($5.20) in the eighth, Franklin ($5) in the ninth and Merry Meadow ($4) in the Hurricane Bertie (G3).
Along with I'm Already Sexy, Lopez also won the sixth race with Amazon King (17.20) and the 12th race with Saham ($12.40).
Note: Jockeys Jose Lezcano and Joel Rosario were riding Saturday in Saudi Arabia while Edgard Zayas was in Maryland.
Source: Gulfstream Park Press Release