It was a second straight stakes victory for FIRST SAMURAI’S Winning Romance with a 1 ¾ length win in the EVD Distaff under the Evangeline Downs lights Friday night.
Winning Romance wasn’t the first out of the gate, but she was the first to the lead after the first jump and controlled the page throughout the one mile race. She faced pressure in the stretch but that was just what she needed to push on, winning by 1 ¾ lengths in the end.
Trained by Bret Calhoun as a homebred for Allied Racing Stable, this is the third stakes win for Winning Romance, who also has four stakes placings as well. The earner of $253,446, in her 15 starts she has won five with six other top three finishes.
Winning Romance’s roots are planted firmly in the Claiborne stallion barn. A daughter of FIRST SAMURAI, she is out of FLATTER’s two-time winning daughter Lipstick Junky. That mare has also produced stakes-placed Davidic Line and is out of the stakes winning In Rome.
Just a little after a week after Winning Romance’s last stakes win, Lipstick Junky foaled a FIRST SAMURAI colt on April 6 for Allied Racing Stable. He and Winning Romance are bred on the FIRST SAMURAI x FLATTER cross that has five winners from six to race.