Sweet Jessamine Win for Somali Lemonade
Caroline Forgason’s Somali Lemonade, last in the field of 12 in the early going, swept past Sweet Cat just inside the eighth pole and went onto win the 21st running of the $150,000 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G3) for 2-year-old fillies by 1¾ lengths before a crowd of 8,608 on Thursday afternoon at Keeneland.
The victory earned Somali Lemonade a spot in the starting gate for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2) to be run November 4 at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Michael Matz and ridden by Alex Solis, Somali Lemonade remained undefeated in two grass starts and increased her earnings to $120,000 with Thursday’s $90,000 check.
Somali Lemonade, who completed the 1 1/16 miles on yielding turf in 1:45.39, is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Lemon Drop Kid out of the Nureyev mare Chic Corine.
Falconess led the field through fractions of :22.31, :47.50 and 1:13.72 while Solis bided his time at the rear of the field with Somali Lemonade. Solis began to pick off horses leaving the backstretch, swung six wide entering the stretch and, with clear sailing, ran down Sweet Cat, who had opened a clear lead at midstretch.
Somali Lemonade returned $4.40, $3 and $2.40. Sweet Cat, ridden by John Velazquez, returned $5 and $3.40 with Emerald Gold finishing nine lengths back in third under Garrett Gomez and paying $2.60 to show.
Completing the field in order were Spring Eclipse, Grace for Grace, Falconess, Honey Talk, Quick Silver Song, Soonerette, Piskacha, Charming Vixen and Bless My Halo.
Racing continues Friday with a 10-race program that begins at 1:15 p.m. (ET). Highlighting the card is the 15th running of the $100,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County for fillies and mares going 5½ furlongs on the turf. Post time for the Buffalo Trace Franklin County, the ninth race on the card, is 5:23 p.m.