NEWS
Evening Jewel shines in Honeymoon
Posted: Monday, May 31, 2010 6:59 PM
EVENING JEWEL
Benoit & Associates photo
For video of the Honeymoon Handicap, click here.
by Ron Parker
Tom and Marilyn Braly’s Evening Jewel made her first start on the turf a winning one as she held off a late charge from Cozi Rosie to win the $150,000 Honeymoon Handicap (G2) on Monday at Hollywood Park.
The three-year-old Northern Afleet filly hustled to the front in the 1 1/8-mile contest and rolled through fractions of :24.97 through a quarter-mile and :50.29 for the first half-mile with Andina (Ire) chasing a length behind.
Just when jockey Victor Espinoza aboard Evening Jewel seemed in control, Cozi Rosie mounted a furious charge from fourth to just miss catching the winner by a diminishing head at the line.
Evening Jewel covered the distance in 1:48.87 on firm turf.
“She was in the bridle all the way,” Espinoza said. “She was doing it easy and wasn’t rank at all but was just right in the bridle.
“After the first half-mile, she was strong so I wanted to wait as long as I could and not use her. This is a tremendous job by [trainer Jim Cassidy], the way he’s improving this filly.”
Cozi Rosie, who trailed early, was a length clear of third-place finisher City to City.
The Honeymoon was the ninth consecutive start in which Evening Jewel has finished first or second, a streak that began following a sixth-place finish as a maiden at Del Mar in her racing debut.
Although the Honeymoon was her first start on turf, her previous eight races were on synthetic surfaces, highlighted by her first graded stakes victory in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) on April 3 at Keeneland Race Course.
Cassidy then opted to try her on a conventional dirt surface in her start prior to the Honeymoon, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs, and she was just caught at the finish line by multiple Grade 1 winner Blind Luck.
“I think I’ll swim her next, that’s the only thing she hasn’t done yet,” Cassidy said. “She’s just a wonderful filly. With that kind of pace and as keen as she was, she didn’t try to pull or get a little rank.
“I didn’t want to run against Blind Luck in the Hollywood Oaks [G1], so this was my other choice. Actually, I thought about the Oaks and this was my first choice. She’s worked over the turf fabulously, but you never know.”
Cassidy said a summer plan starting with the American Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1) on July 3 at Hollywood could be followed by the Del Mar Oaks (G1) on August 21 and possibly a return to Keeneland in the fall for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1).
Evening Jewel, the first foal to race out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Jewel of the Night, has won four times and finished second five times from ten starts and boosted her earnings to $606,943.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Ron Parker is a Thoroughbred Times contributing writer
