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Ah Day
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Photo by Jim McCue
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BALTIMORE, 04-22-06---The Jim Stable’s Ah Day was a convincing winner of the $150,000 Federico Tesio Stakes for 3-year-olds. The Tesio was one of four stakes races contested today on Pimlico’s opening weekend Spring Festival of Racing. A crowd of 7,956 braved the rainy conditions. Pimlico’s new 25¢ Pick 6 wager paid $6,485.75 for a quarter. |
Legendary trainer King Leatherbury trains Ah Day, a son of Malibu Moon. The third leading conditioner in the history of the game has 6,131 career victories. Last year Leatherbury won this race with Malibu Moonshine and sent that son of Malibu Moon to the 2005 Preakness, where he finished eighth.
Before today’s race, Leatherbury had said that he rated Ah Day above Malibu Moonshine, but the big question was whether he could handle an added distance of ground. The 73-year-old indicated it was unlikely he would pay the $100,000 fee to supplement his star into the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico on May 20.
Today Ah Day handled the mile and an eighth distance with aplomb, finishing in 1:50.88 and winning by 5-1/2 widening lengths over Vegas Play. Putonyerdancinshuz finished third. Ah Day paid $6.40.
Jockey Ryan Fogelsonger was at the controls this afternoon, marking his third win in six starts aboard the bay gelding. The victory was also Fogelsonger’s third of the afternoon. As a team, Ah Day and Fogelsonger had won the Horatius Stakes at Laurel in early March and run second in the Private Terms Stakes that same month. Fogelsonger has won the Tesio three times in the last four years, also reaching the winners’ circle with Cherokee’s Boy (2003) and Water Cannon (2004).
Fogelsonger said, “There was always the question if he could go long. It was just a matter of getting him to relax and not let him use himself too much. I got off him after that monster allowance race and he felt even better today. He’s honestly getting better every race. He’s one of the nicest horses I’ve been on in a while. Look at the way he took off.”
Leatherbury said, “I wasn’t confident today because he was coming back so quick, coming off a big effort and not having enough rest and having to go a mile and an eighth, where I had my doubts. I’ve been wrong many times. I did feel if we had a big showing today, the time frame for the Sir Barton (Stakes on the Preakness undercard) would be just perfect. I never really thought this was a good off track horse but he obviously handled it very well today. He’s a much better horse than Malibu Moonshine.”
Mario Pino (Vegas Play): “He ran a good race. We had a beautiful trip and I thought we had the winner but we were second best. The race set up perfectly, I couldn’t have had a better trip with such a big field.”
Eriluis Vaz (Putonyerdancingshuz): “This was his first time in the mud. He tried really hard and will improve next time off this race.”