ARCADIA, CA – Sneaking Out made it look easy and she cruised to a comfortable 2 1/2 length victory in Saturday’s Evening Jewel Stakes at Santa Anita Park. This was the third consecutive win for the three-year-old Cal-bred daughter of Indian Evening and her first stakes win.
Naughty Tiger shot out of the gate and went straight to the front to join the 1-2 post-time favorite, Sneaking Out on the lead. Violette Szabo also quickly moved up to the front along the rail and joined the two frontrunners as they set early fractions of :21.96 and :45.29. Sneaking Out let up slightly, giving way to Naughty Tiger and Violette Szabo to battle it out on the front while she waited to make her move. Around the second turn, Sneaking Out rerallied, with jockey Drayden Van Dyke aboard, and exploded three-wide past Naughty Tiger on her inside. As she hit the top of the stretch, she was well clear of the rest of the field and eventually cruised to finish comfortably in first place. Violette Szabo continued to work hard down the stretch but Dr Wysong had more in the tank and flew up the rail to finish second. Meanwhile, the maiden Ruby Bradley got up to contest Naughty Tiger for third. Ruby Bradley got her nose down first, finishing in just ahead of Naughty Tiger in a photo for third.
“She bobbled right a the start, but she picked it up. I loved my position early,” said jockey Drayden Van Dyke. “The track is deep, so I didn’t want to go too fast too early. I let those two fillies go and gave her a tap at the 3/8ths and she just took off. We eased up nearing the wire. I think she has a lot more left in the tank.”
“That was good. It was textbook,” said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. “She sat perfect and it was a good ride by Drayden.”
Sneaking Out is bred and owned by KMN RacingLLC.
“We were there when this one was born and we helped towel her off. To have her run as good as this is, it’s hard to say,” said Kevin Nish of KMN Racing. “We just love this horse and she loves to run, loves to race. You can see her in the paddock she is all puffed up and full of herself on her toes telling everyone else to stay out of my way, I’ve got this handled.”
Sneaking Out returned $3.00 to win, $2.40 to place, and $2.20 to show. Dr Wysong brought back $4.00 to place and $3.20 to show, while Ruby Bradley paid $9.20 to show.
