Abrogate Turns the Tables with Purple Martin Win

HOT SPRINGS, AR – Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s Abrogate, coming off a third-place finish behind 4/5 Purple Martin favorite Windmill in the Dixie Belle Stakes February 28, turned the tables on her rival with a 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $200,000 race for 3-year-old filly sprinters. Windmill had to settle for third after setting the pace.

Breaking from post positon three under leading rider Ricardo Santana Jr., Abrogate tracked Windmill in second through fractions of :21 3/5 and :45 for the first 1/2-mile. She gained the advantage by a head at the top of the lane and dug in late to prevail over a rapidly-closing Joyful Cadence in a final time of 1:10 2/5 for 6 furlongs over a fast track.

“She showed the quality she has under very good conditions,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “She’s a very good filly and we see good things in her future.”

Abrogate, an Outwork filly, improved her record to 3 wins from 4 starts and has now earned $234,492. She returned $8, $3.40, and $2.10 at odds of 3/1.

Santana Jr.: “A lot of people don’t know that we missed 11 days of training. We knew she was going to be a little flat in her last race. We took it easy with her that day. Today, she was on her toes and everything changed today.”

Jockey David Cabrera, second on Joyful Cadence: “I knew it was a fast race. The filly ran a really big race. We got caught going a little wide. She was into the bit pretty good. We worked all the way down the lane, but we just never could get by that other one.”