Magic recaps North County beating Fannie and Freddie by a neck in Sunday’s inaugural 2021 Untapable Stakes at Fair Grounds, a Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep race awarding 10 points to the winner. Magic also discusses where the top finishers will run next and who he likes next time out at a price.
The press release, courtesy of Fair Grounds:
Three starts. Three venues. Three racing surfaces. Make it three wins, all around two turns, for Rebecca Hillen, Stonecrest Farm and Bruno De Julio’s North County, who took down the inaugural running of the $100,000 Untapable Stakes on Sunday, earning 10 Kentucky Oaks points in the process.
A winner on turf at Indiana Grand and over a sloppy track at Keeneland, North County displayed professionalism, and on Sunday she proved her merits over a fast track and against tougher competition.
Away alertly with Adam Beschizza astride, North County, the 3.90-1 third choice, put herself in an outside stalking position while chasing the 23.75, 47.86 early fractions set by Shotgun Hottie and a chasing Fannie and Freddie (8.00-1), who took over at the 3/16ths pole. Fannie and Freddie took a clear advantage into the stretch, but North County ran her down in determined fashion, edging past to score by a neck in a final time of 1:43.17 for 1 mile & 70 yards.
“She’s very tough, very agile, and she’s really done nothing wrong since she broke her maiden in Indiana,” said Beschizza, who has been aboard the daughter of Not This Time in all three starts. “She’s shown she’s very universal and either surface doesn’t seem to hinder her. She’s small tough and mighty. After her Keeneland allowance win she was he was working really well and we confident moving forward into this.”
Fanny and Freddie earned 4 Oaks points for finishing second. Cocktail Moments, the .60-1 favorite, broke sluggishly, ran into some traffic, and finished on her left lead to be third, beaten 3 ½ lengths by the winner (2 Oaks points). It was another 1 ½ lengths to the pacesetting Shotgun Hottie in fourth (1 Oaks point).
“She ran a good race,” jockey Colby Hernandez said of Fannie and Freddie. “She gave me a good break, I sat on her till the last minute and she kicked on, but North County ran her down.”
Perfect from three starts, North County ran her bankroll up to $132,000.
“She showed a lot of heart today which is impressive,” assistant trainer Paul Madden said. “She had been training really good and Brendan (trainer Walsh) was anxious to put her in a spot like this to see if she could fit in this company, and thankfully we do. She’s a filly that is going to get stronger as well and I think there’s more to come from her. She is very talented, has a good mind and wants to win races.”
The $100,000 Silverbulletday on January 22 is the next stop on Fair Grounds Road to the Kentucky Oaks series of races.
“It will come down to some discussions with Brendan, but there is a reason why he stables here and now we as owners now have a reason to look forward to those big races,” said Brian Reed, representing Stonecrest Farm. “Ideally she will stay here and run in the next race in the series.”
