John Sadler continues upsets with Shenandoah Queen
Trainer John Sadler won his third stakes of the meeting, and second that qualifies in the major upset category, when Shenandoah Queen ($42.20), under Victor Espinoza, held off favored Faithfully by three-quarters of a length in Friday’s featured $78,545 Tranquility Lake Stakes.
“We didn’t think she’d be that big of a price, we thought she had a chance,” Sadler said Saturday. “We were surprised to see her 20-1, we thought she’d be more like 8-1.
“She’s relatively new to this circuit, only one race since we brought her in from Florida, so we haven’t had that much of a chance to get to know her. But it turned out to be a good race for her.”
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Flavien Prat got Ayacara ($17.40) home by a neck in Friday’s third race and boosted his margin atop the standings to three over apprentice Evin Roman. Prat, co-champion of the 2016 summer meeting when both recorded 38 wins, has 26 from 137 mounts with eight days remaining.
Roman’s cold streak continued as he went winless on six mounts Friday and fell three wins behind Prat. Bejarano’s one win on Friday (Rye Patch 4th, $4.80) kept him four off the lead while Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux’s sweep of the early double with Irish Dame ($7.40) and Space Cadet ($5.00) put moved him into the 20-win category with the top three.
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CLOSERS – Selected works from 185 officially timed on Saturday: Sindy’s Luck (4f, :46.00), Stellar Wind (4f, :48.60), Unique Bella (4f, :46.60), Majestic Heat (5f, 1:02.20) and Just a Smidge (6f, 1:11.60) … Saturday’s Pat O’Brien Stakes is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the $1 million Las Vegas Dirt Mile here on Friday, November 3. The winner joins Mor Spirit, who qualified in the Metropolitan Handicap and the winner of the Forego on Saturday’s Travers Stakes Day card at Saratoga.
Source: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club