Medoro's first stakes race looked eerily similar to her Del Mar debut Dec. 1 with both resulting in narrow, hard-closing wins. Stretching out from five furlongs to one mile Friday, the Peter Eutron trainee broke from an outside gate and was content to settle off the speed while kept wide and in the clear by Antonio Fresu. Racing in the back half of the field of nine, the 2-1 favorite began to make up ground into leader Chatalas and drew alongside that rival at the head of the lane. Unleashed into the final furlong, Medoro swept onto even terms on the outside and just out-dueled the runner up for the win. The stewards looked into a pair of events during the race, one involving Zona Verde (Ire) (Calyx {GB}) and the third-place runner Mo Fox Givin in the stretch, but opted to let the order of finish stand.
“I would have liked to stay third or fourth and not wide,” said Fresu. “Unfortunately I was caught wide around the first turn and I didn't have any place to go, so I just tried to reduce pace, just to hold her there to save some energy and just give her a breather. At the quarter pole, I asked her because at Del Mar she had an exceptional turn of foot, so I just wanted to see if today at a mile she would have the same. When she switched leads, she just flew home.”
One of 18 stakes winners for sire Honor Code, Medoro is the first foal out of a half-sister to the dam of Perryville S. record-setter and new sire Nashville (Speightstown). Further back in the family is GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Giacomo (Holy Bull) along with MGISW Tiago (Pleasant Tap) and GSW/MGISP Stanwyck (Empire Maker). The winner has a Speightstown yearling half-brother and a weanling half-brother by Honor A.P. while her dam is pregnant to Not This Time. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
#7 MEDORO ($6.80) by Honor Code kicks it into high gear coming to the stretch to get up and win the $100,000 Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita. @Antonio1Fresu was in the irons for @EurtonRacing. Congrats to all the connections! pic.twitter.com/SmpZO5F7Cf
— TVG (@TVG) December 29, 2023
BLUE NORTHER S., $102,000, Santa Anita, 12-29, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:35.80, fm.
1–MEDORO, 118, f, 2, by Honor Code
1st Dam: Achira (MSP, $151,852), by English Channel
2nd Dam: Styler, by Holy Bull
3rd Dam: Set Them Free, by Stop the Music
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-C R K Stable LLC; B-Parks Investment
Group, LLC (KY); T-Peter Eurton; J-Antonio Fresu. $60,000.
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $96,600
2–Chatalas, 122, f, 2, Gun Runner–Indian Safari, by Indian
Charlie. O-Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, Dan J.
Agnew and William Chatalas; B-Dan Agnew (KY); T-Mark Glatt.
$20,000.
3–Mo Fox Givin, 120, f, 2, Mo Town–Givine (Fr), by Blackdoun
(Fr). ($2,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT). O-Woo Pig Stables; B-Liberty
Road Stables (KY); T-Leonard Powell. $12,000.
Margins: NK, 2, HF. Odds: 2.40, 8.40, 3.70.
Also Ran: Zona Verde (Ire), Antifona (Fr), April Vintage, Highlands, Hattie T, Blue Oasis.
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