Jet Again takes the measure of Storm Chance in the 5th race on Saturday night.
by George
Top 3-year-old Jet Again came storming home to win his second in a row, trainer Shelley Brown won her first race of the season, and the $2 Pick-4 paid $412.70 on a rainy Saturday night at the Downs.
Jet Again, a 3-year-old chestnut gelding by Going Commando-High Pioneer by Pioneering, powered home in the fifth race to catch lone speed horse Storm Chance.
Stalking from back and outside on the muddy track through fractions of 22.40 and 46.60, Jet Again collared Storm Chance after five furlongs in 58.80 and dueled briefly before stopping the timer in 1:05.20 for the 5 1/2-furlongs under jockey Chris Husbands. The final margin of victory was only 1 1/2-lengths, but appearances can be deceiving.
It was the second win in a row for the Manitoba Derby hopeful trained by Jim Meyaard for the ownership team of Barry Arnason, Cam Ziprick and Charles Fouillard, and he actually measured Storm Chance in the stretch. He could be a good one. Watch closely.
Love was in the air just before Jet Again’s impressive performance, when Daniel Yendrys got down on one knee in the Winner’s Circle to propose to Deanna Henderson. Of course, she said yes! We wish them a long and happy marriage. Congratulations!
Trainer Shelley Brown won her first race of the season in the sixth with Daydream Dancer ($15.00), who also happened to be the longshot of the night with Renaldo Cumberbatch aboard. Brown now sports a record of 1-9-5 from 33 starts, but her horses usually take a start or two to get rolling and should start visiting the Winner’s Circle on a regular basis over the next three weeks.
Christopher Ho and Chris Husbands were the only double winning jocks on the night. Ho won the third race aboard Well Ya Never Know ($5.30) for trainer Wendy Anderson, and the fourth race aboard Hamluk ($11.00) for trainer Marvin Buffalo. Husbands won the second race aboard Calitor ($6.50) for trainer Carl Anderson and the aforementioned fifth race with Jet Again ($3.10).
The largest Superfecta of the night came in the sixth race thanks to Shelley Brown, and paid $1,548.70. There have been some surprisingly large Superfecta payoffs in the meet to date, even with favorites winning. The winners of races 4-7 returned $11.00, $3.10, $15.00 and $5.10 and produced a $2 Pick-4 that paid $412.70. Decent considering all the horses were somewhat logical based on various angles.
Trainer Ardell Sayler increased his lead in the trainer standings to 21-6 over Jim Meyaard and Rob Atras with his win in the third race, and Paul Nolan remained tied with Adolfo Morales at the top of the jockey standings with 13 wins. Christopher Ho sits alone in third in the jockey race with 11 wins, followed by Chris Husbands with nine wins and Omar Walker, who has four victories.
Despite the rain and the sloppy track, a good crowd showed up on both Friday and Saturday. Spring is in the air. Finally!
Next Post Time for Live Racing: 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 28, 2014