On Fire Baby registered a 9 to 1 upset to win the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs
Rider Joe Johnson tucked in the 2-year-old filly, On Fire Baby, and saved ground while racing off the pace to finish first in the wide open renewal of the Grade 2, $173,400 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs on 30 October, 2011.
The hombred daughter of Smoke Glacken, out of Ornate by Gilded Time, On Fire Baby on 19 August, 2011, at Ellis Park was able to break her maiden in her first attempt.
Joe Johnson aboard, the pair was up against 2-year-old fillies over at five and a half furlongs which they managed to top in 1 minute and 5.03 seconds on dirt, and in the process defeated Rusticana and Gold ‘n White, who finished second and third, respectively.
Prior to the Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes, On Fire Baby finished a distant fifth in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at about 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland on 7 October, 2011.
That is the reason why she was overlooked in the Pocahontas, as was placed and sent at the odds of 9 to 1 for the Pocahontas Stakes.
In the Pocahontas Stakes, on a track rated fast, there was some sizzling pace to begin with as On Fire Baby came off the pace and settled in fifth.
The race was run over a distance of 1 mile, and in the one turn event On Fire Baby angled out to get into the conversation.
The juvenile filly angled out of the leading Aubby K after entering the furlong marker and assumed the lead approaching the sixteenth pole.
Past the final obstacle, it was open spaces for On Fire Baby. Before Joe Johnson and On Fire Baby could relax, And Why Not ridden by Garret Gomez charged furiously coming seven wide off the turn in the middle of the track.
If there was little more time And Why Not’s turn of foot could’ve turned out to be a race winning one, but she ran out of time as On Fire Baby won the race by 3 quarters of a length over the fast closing in And Why Not.
On Fire Baby won her second race out of three starts, and she has now gone on to earn a career total of $127,582, while she got paid $99,982 for the Pocahontas Stakes.
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