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NEWS 
THE TEAM
THE METHOD
GETTING STARTED
FAMOUS HORSES
STATISTICS
ROSTER
LINKS |
Expected to be positioned midfield by jockey Garret Gomez, the mare missed the break. “She was just flat-footed when the gate opened,” said the rider. Last early, the Argentine-bred daughter of Kentucky shuttle stallion Mutakddim was allowed to languish towards the back of the field. When Gomez first wanted to move closer to the pacesetters, Jazzy bumped another filly and had her progress halted. Gomez kept Jazzy widest and still some 10 lengths off the pace around the bend. Jazzy must have been 5 wide coming off the final turn. Gomez balanced the mare for a run three-sixteenths from the wire. “She was flying,” said Gomez. “I knew at the eighth pole she was going to win and I just wanted to keep her out of trouble.” Alas, there was still one final obstacle to overcome, as one of the horses in front of her veered over into Jazzy’s path, forcing the Team Valor colorbearer to alter course, and interrupting her momentum. But such was the determination of the ex-Geoff Woodruff-trained mare that she was able to maintain her head of steam and power towards the finishing post. Jazzy caught the leaders and won by a neck. Jazzy was making her second start in the United States for trainer Mark Hennig, who sent her out a month earlier to miss by a nose in a similar stakes race at Monmouth Park when she had trouble getting through along the rail. “She’s immensely talented,” said Team Valor International principal Barry Irwin. “She overcame a lot of disadvantages in a short period of time. The trainer is inclined to stretch her out, but I may suggest we try her on dirt, because she may have the quality to run with our best sprinters on the main track, which would certainly open up a lot more lucrative opportunities for her.” Jazzy earned $49,350 to bring her career totals to 9-4-2-1 for earnings of $96,716. In the Listed event that grossed $82,250, she beat Stormy Kiss, a Grade 2 winner at Saratoga for the owners of ill-fated Kentucky Derby hero Barbaro, and ended a 4-race win streak for Smart and Fancy, previously best in 10 of 15 races and unbeaten on grass. Team Valor bought a half-interest in the hulking bay filly earlier this year from South African Des Scott and Floridian Robert Muir, for whom the mare was a Listed winner and Grade 1 placed in South Africa for Woodruff. She bled in South Africa and Team Valor bought her with the idea that Lasix would help her.
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