Hunter Valley Farm got its first Grade 1 stakes win as an owner when A Mo Reay took the Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on Saturday. The 4-year-old filly, purchased for $400,000 last fall, closed relentlessly under Flavien Prat over a main track labeled good to get up by a head for her own first Grade 1 trinket. She paid $17.80 to win.
Hunter Valley, located in Versailles, Ky., is owned by Irishmen Fergus Galvin, Tony Hegarty, Adrian Regan and John Wade. Since the purchase, A Mo Reay is perfect in three starts under trainer Brad Cox, all stakes wins.
“It is the first (Grade 1) in our colors, so, it’s special,” Regan said. “It is just unbelievable, really.
“When I saw the rain in the forecast, I was kind of happy,” Wade said. “She performed well over a muddy track (before), so we were happy enough.”
THREE BY FOUR
Carl O’Callaghan had himself a week at Penn National, notching three victories. Two came on Thursday, in consecutive races. First-time starter Lizzies Red Velvet, a 4-year-old homebred filly, battled all the way in this maiden claiming sprint and went on to score by four lengths under Angel Rodriguez for a $11.80 mutuel payoff.
Then, in the fourth race, a starter optional claiming sprint, Kefi and Rodriguez also managed to win by four lengths. This one returned $17.80 to win, with the O’Callaghan double coming back $53.40. Both winners are owned by St. Patricks Racing Stable.
The Friday nightcap at Penn also went to an O’Callaghan runner. Cuenca, a 4-year-old filly, stalked early and then went on to win by four lengths under Rodriguez in a first-level Penn-bred allowance route. She paid $26.00 to win.
Naoise Agnew also had a productive week at Penn. He got a maiden-breaking win out of Blackstone Farm homebred Justice Or Appeal in Wednesday’s fifth race. The 3-year-old filly led from flagfall to finish under Leonardo Corujo and paid $9.20 to win in her third career start.
Then, in Friday’s sixth race, he nearly blew out the circuitry in the tote board with Tom Coulter’s Out of Ammo. The 3-year-old filly closed stoutly but the finish line came too soon for her and she settled for second money. The 75-1 shot paid $70.60 to place and $9.80 to show.
CANNON SHOTS
Declan Cannon brought in a winner a day at Turfway Park. He rallied aboard Condone in the Thursday nightcap for a $12.60 win payoff. On Friday, he had the touch in the finale again, this time urging Irish-bred Dark Side to break his maiden in a photo finish. The Brendan Walsh trainee paid $6.92 to win. On Saturday, he got up in the second race aboard Classic Mark, another Walsh maiden that won a photo. The win mutuel came back $3.66.
Cannon is seventh in the Turfway jockey standings. He’s won 18 races from 137 mounts, a 13 percent strike rate.
