APPLE BLOSSOM HANDICAP

'Curlin exacta' celebrated

Daughters of Hall of Fame horse put on show

Horses break from the gate in Friday’s Apple Blossom Handicap. Stellar Wind (third from the right) won the race by 1¼ lengths over Terra Promessa with a time of 1:42.75 in the 1 1/16-mile race. Stellar Wind paid $2.80 to win, $2.20 to place and $2.10 to show.
Horses break from the gate in Friday’s Apple Blossom Handicap. Stellar Wind (third from the right) won the race by 1¼ lengths over Terra Promessa with a time of 1:42.75 in the 1 1/16-mile race. Stellar Wind paid $2.80 to win, $2.20 to place and $2.10 to show.

HOT SPRINGS -- Trainers for the top three horses in the Apple Blossom Handicap all seemed delighted Friday.

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Stellar Wind and jockey Victor Espinoza won Friday’s Grade I $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap for older fillies and mares by 1¼ lengths over Terra Promessa.

Stellar Wind, trained by Southern California-based John Sadler, eked out a victory by 1¼ lengths over Oaklawn star Terra Promessa. Her win came after a grueling stretch drive in front of an estimated 20,000 spectators in the $600,000 race over 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares 4 years old and up.

Stellar Wind finished in 1:42.75. Terra Promessa, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished 3¼ lengths ahead of third-place Streamline, trained by Brian Williamson. Tiger Moth was fourth.

"Terra Promessa ran a good race," Asmussen said. "It was a nice Curlin exacta."

Sadler said he, Terra Promessa owner Barbara Banke and Asmussen cheered for the same one-two result, except in different orders.

"Terra Promessa ran a great race," he said. "Barbara Banke came up to the table and said, 'I hope it's a Curlin exacta.' I said, 'Me, too.' ''

Stellar Wind and Terra Promessa are both daughters of Curlin, who Asmussen trained to victories in Oaklawn's 2007 Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic. Curlin was named to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2014.

Four-year-old Terra Promessa won Oaklawn's Honeybee and Fantasy Stakes last season and began this season with victories in the track's Pippin and Bayakoa Stakes. A troubled trip played a part in her fourth-place finish in the Grade II Azeri Stakes on March 18, but she was directed to and found her more typical position up front under jockey Jose Ortiz in the Apple Blossom.

"As bad as the Azeri went, I think she rebounded from that," Asmussen said. "There were no aftereffects from the trip, and she ran her best today. She got beat by arguably the best mare in the country."

Off at 5-2, Terra Promessa led long-shot Durango by a length through the first quarter-mile in 23.88 and the half in 48.22. Stellar Wind, under jockey Victor Espinoza, was a head behind Durango through the same splits, but she took second through three-quarters in 1:12.59 and was in the lead by a head as the field of six turned for home.

"I've always believed in her," Espinoza said.

Durango eventually gave way and finished last.

Streamline was fourth from the start before she raced past Tiger Moth to hold third by 4 lengths as she reached the head of the stretch.

"It's no shame to get beat by those two horses," Williamson said.

Five-year-old Streamline won the Azeri last month and has finished no worse than third in her past 15 races, a streak that began Sept. 6, 2015.

"We bring her out, and she tries hard," Williamson said. "It's great to have a horse in your barn like that who's going to perform pretty much all the time."

Sports on 04/15/2017

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