Justique. (Coady Media)
Jose Ortiz wins four races on the day including two stakes
David Longinotti/Oaklawn Park
HOT SPRINGS, Ark – Top jockey Jose Ortiz used a rail-skimming, last-to-first move to give Justique ($4.60) a half-length victory Sunday in Oaklawn’s $150,000 Carousel Stakes, a six-furlong event for older fillies and mares that led off a stakes-filled card.
Freezing temperatures earlier this week forced Oaklawn to move the card from Saturday, while shifting Sunday’s card to Monday.
The Carousel (Race 4) was the first of five stakes races on Oaklawn’s 12-race card that was headlined by the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds, the $500,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies and the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older runners. The card also featured the first running of the $145,000 Trivista Overnight Stakes.
The even-money favorite trained by Cheire DeVaux, Justique broke last in the Carousel and was ahead of just one other runner approaching the stretch. With Ortiz keeping Justique on the rail, the 5-year-old mare went from seventh to second, just one length behind pacesetter Sandy Bottom, at midstretch. She gained the lead approaching the sixteenth pole and had enough left in the final yards to hold off a challenge from Benedetta, who finished second, 2 ¼ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Sandy Bottom.
Lady Moscato finished fourth, followed by American Band, Miss Arlington, Majoku and Pistol.
Final time for the six furlongs was 1:09.96 after Sandy Bottom took the field through an opening quarter mile of :22.09 and half-mile of :45.56.
Owned by C R K Stables of Lee and Susan Searing, Justique earned $83,250 from her fourth win from 17 career starts to improve her lifetime earnings to $365,790. The Carousel was her first stakes victory in her second start for DeVaux.
$150,000 CAROUSEL STAKES – QUOTES
Winning jockey Jose Ortiz (Justique): “She broke a step slow. She used to do that when she was in California. I studied that. I knew in my mind that it was a possibility that she would probably break a step slow. Last time, it was a small field at the Fair Grounds, and she had the outside post. She broke well and I went with the flow. But today, I had it in my mind that she could go back to that, and I went with that plan. I knew there was a lot of speed in the race. If she broke a step slow, ‘Don’t panic.’ I thought they would kind of come back to me. My plan went accordingly. I rode Benedetta twice and I think she’s very nice. She liked the track here as well. She won here last time. I wanted to break well, clean, and follow her. I tried to do that as much as I could. Quarter-pole, going to the three-sixteenths, there was a very nice gap between horses, and I had no choice but to go the rail. There was a little gap in there. My filly was brave enough to go through it.”
Winning trainer Cherie DeVaux: “I think I was more panicked than Jose (Ortiz) definitely was because he was cool, calm. Just got her up there in hand and then rode the rail and luckily a small hole opened up and she was brave enough to get through there. She’s a filly that can be a little temperamental. Jose gets the gold star for this, for sure.”
Second-place jockey Flavien Prat (Benedetta): “I had a good trip. So did the winner.”
