They finish in program order as Its Gonna Hurt wins Speakeasy Stakes

Fresh off a maiden win on dirt Aug. 4, longshot Its Gonna Hurt blasted from his rail post position and never looked back in winning Saturday’s $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes by three quarters of length at Santa Anita Park.

Trained by Brian Koriner, and with Tiago Pereira in the irons, the Louisiana-bred colt by Violence got five furlongs over the Santa Anita turf in 56 flat and punched his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.

"I don’t know," Koriner said of moving on to the championship race. "We’ll see. It wasn’t really my intention to run in this race. It was the only place to run for a horse that broke his maiden for 80 (thousand dollars).”

In a racing rarity, Its Gonna Hurt headed a six-horse parade that saw the entire field finish in exact post position order; 1-2-3-4-5-6.

Off at 8-1, Its Gonna Hurt, who is out of the City Zip mare Celestial Legend, paid $18.60, $9.40 and $5.80.

Owned by Janet Lyons, Evan Trommer, Andrew Trommer and Matthew Trommer, Its Gonna Hurt was purchased for $80,000 out the Ocala Breeders 2-year-old in Training Sale this past April.  With the winner’s share of $60,000, he increased his bankroll to $81,945.

Ridden by Evin Roman, Whooping Jay, the lone California-bred in the field, sat second the entire trip, finishing a neck in front of favored Mae Never No.  Off at 10-1, Whooping Jay paid $10.60 and $4.80.

Mae Never No, the lone filly in the lineup, didn’t show her customary early speed and was third throughout under Gary Stevens.  Off at 6-5, she paid $3.00 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.22 and 44.05.