Moonwalk pulled a shock upset to take the Jessamine
Spendthrift Farm’s 2-year-old filly, Moonwalk, pulled off a shocker when in a field of 11 juvenile fillies; the Dale Romans’ trainee got the better of most of those, who were backed to take the Grade 3 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes over Keeneland’s turf course on 11 October, 2012.
It was a well balanced run, one in which Moonwalk was thoroughly prominent throughout the race after breaking from post number 4, and the settled in a good position under jockey Corey Lanerie to put mild pressure on the leaders.
The Kentucky bred Malibu Moon’s juvenile filly showed immense maturity by being light on her feet in the early part of the race, as she tracked three wide.
She was saving up for a tenacious late run which found her sandwiched between Summer of Fun and Sunset Time in the 1 1/16 mile event.
The stretch was the most difficult place for Moonwalk throughout the race, but she showed a lot of character and went all out, but after getting rid of her two adversaries at left and right she dug deep and prepared herself to fend off a hard rallying, Kitten’s Point in the later stages of the race.
"My horse broke really sharp; kinda surprised me," Lanerie said. "Last time I rode her, I was a little off the pace. Today she came out there running. She was going real easy so I tried to take nothing away from her and just ride her where she was comfortable. Actually they got by her and she dug in. She refused to lose."
Moonwalk prevailed narrowly to upset the field by a nose.
Out of Red Ransom mare Lucinda, Moonwalk earned an automatic berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and she will be most likely pointed to the race by trainer Dale Romans, since the Jessamine Stakes is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge race.
"She’s doing good and she can run, so we’ll give her a shot. She showed how much she can run," Romans said. "I don’t know why we wouldn’t. You have a free roll."
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