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by Myra Lewyn
Lightly regarded Satans Quick Chick spurted between horses in the stretch and scored a close victory over the longest shot in the field in the $300,000 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Keeneland Race Course.
Sent off at 23.40-to-1 odds in the full field of 14, Satans Quick Chick scored her first stakes victory and provided both trainer Eric Reed and jockey Leandro Goncalves with their first win in a graded stakes.
Goncalves gave the Sky Mesa filly a ground-saving trip early but then found traffic in upper stretch and was forced to steady Satans Quick Chick. He guided her to clear running room between horses nearing the eighth pole and she outfinished runner-up and 49.50-to-1 longshot Slides Choice and 41-to-1 outsider Don’ttalktome to win by a half-length.
“[Trainer] Eric Reed told me to break there and sit, save ground, and when I get to the three-eighths pole see where you’re at and find the best trip,” Goncalves said. “He had confidence in me, and it helped a lot.”
Owner Jerry Jamgotchian’s Satans Quick Chick covered seven furlongs in 1:22.62 on the synthetic Polytrack surface and earned her fourth win in eight starts this season.
Slides Choice, who was angled five wide into the stretch, wore down third-place finisher Don’ttalktome, but she could not hold back the closing kick of Satans Quick Chick. Slides Choice outfinished Don’ttalktome, who led by two lengths in early stretch, by a half-length for second.
Test Stakes (G1) winner Flashing, the 2.30-1 favorite, prompted the early pace set by Moontune Missy, but flattened out at the quarter pole and faded to 12th.
“She broke well and I was happy with the position we were in,” jockey Richard Migliore said of Flashing. “I took her out and she fought for a quarter of a mile, but we got bounced around quite a bit. She never really took hold. She just didn’t run her race.”
Kentucky-bred Satans Quick Chick, who is out of the Grade 2-placed Devil’s Bag mare Dancing Devlette, pleased Lexington-based Reed with several workouts on the Polytrack at Keeneland this fall and with a pair of allowance wins on the Tapeta Footings surface at Presque Isle Downs earlier this season.
He credited Goncalves’ riding skills and a bit of luck for her breakthrough stakes win on Saturday in her first start at the Lexington track.
“I thought we were in trouble on the turn, but Leandro gave her a great trip,” Reed said. “The waters kinda parted [in the stretch] and here she came.”
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor