On Prairie Meadows’ biggest day of their meet, FIRST SAMURAI was represented by two new Graded stakes winners. The 3-year-old filly SIZE won for the third time in four starts, taking the $200,000 Iowa Oaks-G3 by 1 1/4 lengths. The Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider homebred broke on top but then settled comfortably into second on the backstretch. As they reached the top of the lane in this 1 1/16-mile race on a sloppy track, the Bill Mott trainee swung four wide to seize the lead in mid-stretch and held her competition at bay to the wire. SIZE won her debut at Gulfstream in March, followed that up with an allowance win at Aqueduct, and then finished runner-up in Aqueduct’s Jersey Girl S. Out of the PULPIT mare Extent, SIZE was going two turns for the first time in the Iowa Oaks.
The 4-year-old CARVE, who placed in the 2013 G1 Arkansas Derby and also in this year’s Oaklawn H.-G2, earned his first graded win taking the $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H.-G3. Racing 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track in a field of eight, CARVE raced in striking distance for the first six furlongs. As they raced around the final turn, he began his rally, went three wide into the stretch and wore down the leader to get the win at the wire by a neck. Bred by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider out of the A.P. Indy mare Apt,CARVE, who races for Michael Langford and is trained by Brad Cox, has earned $562,331.
And at Santa Anita, MORNING FIX earned her first black type in only her second stakes effort after placing in the Grade 3 Senorita S. Going a mile on the turf in a field of 10, this 3-year-old filly by FIRST SAMURAI made a sustained rally down the lane, splitting horses late and was only beaten 1 3/4 lengths for the win. Bred in Kentucky by Meg T. Buckley and Tom Ryan out of the El Corredo mare Coffee, who has a TRAPPE SHOT yearling in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale, MORNING FIX has won or placed in five of six starts, including three wins for trainer/co-owner Jerry Hollendorfer.
Also making news, GET HAPPY MISTER won his six stakes, easily taking the Front Range S. by 4 1/2 lengths at Arapahoe Park. Last year, the 4-year-old son of FIRST SAMURAIwent wire to wire to take the one mile Northern Spur S. at Oaklawn by 2 1/4 lengths. During his 2-year-old campaign, GET HAPPY MISTER went undefeated in four starts, winning three stakes, including a 9 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Gold Rush Futurity, getting the six furlongs in a swift 1:08 3/5. Bred by Willard Burbach, GET HAPPY MISTER, who is out of the Elusive Quality mare Sara Margaret, has eight wins in 11 starts and earned $238,672.