Wink Wires Colleen

OCEANPORT, NJ – Stonestreet Stables’ Wink shot to the lead out of the gate and never looked back, taking the field gate to wire in Sunday’s $75,000 Colleen Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Wink broke alertly from the rail as the 6/5 favorite under Antonio Gallardo and faced early pressure from Flying Aletha and My Beautiful Belle. She dispatched of those two midway through the far turn and straightened for home with a growing advantage.

Uncatchable in the stretch, Wink finished 3/4 of a length ahead of her Wesley Ward stablemate Flying Aletha in a final time of :56.74 for the 5-furlong firm turf sprint.

“We liked her as soon as we go her on the grass,” Ward said. “From the outset, we saw the difference in her on the grass. If she were to run here for a maiden $5,000 tag on the dirt, she’d get beat. She can’t run a jump on the dirt. She was marginally better when we worked her on the poly track (at Turfway Park), but you put her on the turf and she flies. She’s all go … so this suited her perfectly. She’s a very fast filly.”

Flying Aletha was 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Kewpie Doll, and the rest of the field was just as strung-out behind them.

Completing the order of finish came Stellar Grace, My Beautiful Belle, Mavilus, and Moochie, who tossed her jockey while attempting to load and ran loose.

Steal My Sunshine, Ward’s third entry, was scratched as a Main Track Only entry in the race restricted to 2-year-old fillies.

Wink’s win followed a debut score against a mixed-gender field while sprinting 5 furlongs on the Belmont Park turf in June. The Midshipman filly has now earned $80,200.

“This filly has a lot of speed,” Gallardo said. “I watched the replay when she won her first start at Belmont with Javier Castellano. She impressed me. She got an 88 Beyer Speed Figure that day, which is really good. I really liked what I saw. Having post 1 today was perfect, too. She’s a nice filly. You just want to make sure you break cleanly because of how fast she is. That’s the key with her.”

Wink returned $4.40 to win, $2.80 to place, and $2.40 to show. Flying Aletha brought back $3 to place and $2.60 to show, while Kewpie Doll paid $4.20 to show.