My Impression gets up with ease in One Dreamer

In the first stakes race of the meet, New York invader My Impression angled far out into the middle of the track but got up with ease in the final strides to win the $150,000 One Dreamer by 1 1/2 lengths. The odds-on favorite found today’s restricted conditions – for fillies and mares that had not won a stake in 2017 – more to her liking after battling with the likes of superstar mare Lady Eli last time out in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga. 

 

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione, riding at Kentucky Downs for the first time, negotiated a perfect trip over a “good” turf course that left much of the field laboring in the final stages of the 1 mile and 70-yard contest. Breaking from post 3, My Impression raced in the second flight early on, behind longshot leaders Bonnie Arch and Charlotte Marie, who set official fractions of 25.80 and 48.16, despite give in the ground and the temporary rail being set at 30 feet.

 

Gaffalione and My Impression sat comfortably as the field bunched up approaching the half-mile marker. Into the stretch, second choice Borreale and jockey Robby Albarado opened a clear lead just as My Impression and Rattataptap were finding their best strides. Gaffalione, acting like a jockey who knew he was on the best horse, shifted out several paths to find clear running room down the center of the course. When My Impression straightened out near the sixteenth pole she accelerated past the leader to win with ease in a hand-timed 1:49.25.

“I just started to let her run inside the quarter pole, and when I got her outside, she just rebroke, basically,” Gaffalione said.

 

Rattataptap closed from last under Shaun Bridgmohan to get second, 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Borreale. The order of finish was completed by Mo Knows, Bonnie Arch, Flying Tipat, Bootsy’s Girl, and Charlotte Marie.

 

My Impression, by Sky Messa, is a Stuart Janney III homebred and represented the first lifetime winner at Kentucky Downs for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. The 4-year-old filly was a graded stakes winner at 3 and ran competitively earlier this year against top turf females up and down the East Coast.

 

“Shug does a great job and has for many years,” Gaffalione said. “Honestly, any time you ride for him, you’ve got a shot. My filly, she was going so good. He had her ready today. I just had to guide her and hold on.”

 

The $90,210 winner’s share of the purse boosted My Impression’s career earnings to $429,525 from a record of 15-6-2-1. A $2 win bet returned $3.80.

This opening day of the 2017 Kentucky Downs meet was held on a Wednesday after heavy rains forced postponement last Saturday. Handle for the day was very good, especially for a mid-week card, totaling $4,633,176. That's up one percent from last year's opening day on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, when there was stiff competition in the marketplace from Saratoga and Del Mar. Last year's closing-day handle, which was on a Thursday, was $3,660.588.63, and average daily handle last year was $4,508,152. Opening on a Wednesday versus a weekend did impact on-track handle, which was down significantly to $143,818.