Winning Romance became the newest stakes winner for FIRST SAMURAI on Saturday night when she trounced the field in the Louisiana Legends Soiree Stakes by 20 ¾ lengths.
Shooting out of the gate in the one mile dirt race, she entered a duel for the lead with the duo leaving the rest of the field behind. Entering the final turn, Winning Romance was tired of the games and quickly started pulling away. Jockey Diego Saenz kept his mount focused down the stretch as she continued to pull away and with every stride she extended the margin to romp by nearly 21 lengths
It was the third win in eight starts for the 3-year-old filly, who has hit the board in seven of those eight. She has raced exclusively in stakes company since late last year with a second and two third place finishes at the level as well.
The second stakes winner for FIRST SAMURAI in just over a week,the Allied Racing homebred is out of the two-time winning FLATTER mare Lipstick Junky. That mare is out of stakes winner In Rome, who is also a half-sister to stakes winner Shop Till You Drop and multiple graded stakes placed Clays Awesome.
The sire of 11% stakes performers, FIRST SAMURAI’s runners average earnings sit at over five times his 2021 stud fee of $15,000.