To view the Smart Jones Stakes, click here.

by Mike Curry

Dryfly was unchallenged on the lead under Calvin Borel and drove to a convincing 2 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Monday at Oaklawn Park.

The Jump Start gelding entered off a visually impressive 1 1/2-length win in an allowance race on November 1 at Churchill Downs, where he was headed in the stretch but battled back to prevail.

There was no late drama in the Smarty Jones, however, as Dryfly opened a 4 1/2-length advantage in early stretch and was never seriously challenged. After setting fractions of :23.35, :47.65, and 1:13.75 through six furlongs, Dryfly completed the one-mile race in 1:41.69 on a track rated as fast.

With the clear victory as the 8-to-5 favorite, Dryfly improved to three wins from four starts for trainer Lynn Whiting and owner Charles Cella. He has earned $114,840.

Dryfly is out of the Topsider mare Creeksider, a half sister to 1980 Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) winner and English champion three-year-old male Henbit.

Stakes winner Pleasant Storm turned in a strong performance to take second in the Smarty Jones. He rallied from last of 12 with a powerful closing bid and appeared very capable of stretching out beyond one mile. Pleasant Storm was 1 3/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Kitty’s Turn.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor