Disco Ebo with jockey Mychel Sanchez who scored a natural stakes double on the card. (Jim McCue/TMJC)
Dan Illman/Laurel Park
LAUREL, Md. – Disco Ebo stalked and pounced to win the Primonetta Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
Not only did Disco Ebo win the Primonetta for the second consecutive season, but the victory gave jockey Mychel Sanchez a natural stakes double on the card.
Disco Ebo seemed anxious before the start, popping open her stall door.
That worried trainer Butch Reid.
“It made me really nervous when she broke through the gate like that because I rarely see them win when they break through,” Reid said by phone. “She’s a tough old mare. Very classy.”
Disco Ebo’s task became more manageable when one of the main speeds in the race, Firstlady Rosalynn, broke slowly. That allowed Sanchez to find a comfortable position tracking longshot Mudslide through an opening quarter of 22.41 seconds.
Mudslide cracked quickly, allowing Disco Ebo to grab the lead outside the quarter pole. Disco Ebo stepped the half-mile in 46.21, opened a three-length lead at the three-sixteenths marker, and held favored Tipple at bay by a length in 1:13.24.
Admiral Hopper finished third, followed by Firstlady Rosalynn and Muslide. B G Warrior and All Class scratched. Disco Ebo returned $5 as the public’s second choice.
Reid was also concerned about a potential outside bias that had favored late-runners throughout the card.
“We were talking about that earlier, the owners and I,” Reid added. “The track was not very fast. She ran 13 and change, and that’s normally not her type of racetrack, I can tell you that. But she’s added a new dimension out there. She doesn’t need the lead and is a dead-game mare.”
Bred in Pennsylvania by St. Omer’s Farm, Disco Ebo is a 6-year-old mare by Weigelia out of the wonderfully productive mare Katarica Disco, who has also produced stakes-winners Fore Harp, Smooth B, and Fat Kat, along with stakes-placed performers Pink Princess and Disco Rose.
Purchased for $52,000 as a yearling by LC Racing, Disco Ebo has five stakes victories with lifetime earnings of $797,694.
