Please Marry Me Noses Put a Rock On It
LAUREL, MD – Kilo Road wasn’t exactly pounds the best in today’s featured eighth race, a $48,000 state-bred or -sired allowance for fillies and mares at six furlongs, but she had enough weight behind her late kick to run down pacesetter Great Andrei by a neck.
It was the third win from 15 starts for Kilo Road, a 4-year-old ridden by Daniel Centeno for trainer Hugh McMahon and owner SAB Stable.
“She’s been hurting herself in her previous races because she’s given herself too much to do,” McMahon said. “She has a problem if she doesn’t get composure at the quarter pole to switch her leads [because] she doesn’t have that extra gear.”
Centeno might have made all the difference as he got Kilo Road relatively close to the pace while stalking outside in the clear as Great Andrei battled for the lead outside Dwelling Legacy through an opening quarter in 22.16 seconds.
Great Andrei scooted away from her primary pace protagonist after a half-mile in 45.88, but the cantankerous filly began to show fatigue when obstinately flashing her tail.
Centeno maneuvered Kilo Road onto her right lead inside the three-sixteenth pole, and they came with a sustained rally to get up in the shadow of the wire. Dwelling Legacy tired to third, five lengths behind Great Andrei. Then came favored Sassafrassness, Ready for Magic, and A P M Notion. Fair Trade scratched.
Kilo Road returned $13,80 to win as the fourth choice in the wagering.
“He’s an old class rider,” McMahon said of Centeno. “I told him what the issue was in the previous races, and he put it all together.”
Kilo Road, a daughter of Klimt bred by Joe Besecker, began her career with considerable promise, taking two of her first three starts.
“In the beginning, I thought we got something here,” McMahon explained. “But then she started getting regular wear-and-tear issues. We gave her a little break. I think she’s decent. She tries hard. An honest horse.”
*Please Marry Me Noses Put a Rock On It
Instead of the “Call to the Post” for today’s sixth race, they should have played Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” as Please Marry Me nipped Put a Rock On It by a nose in the 1 1/16-mile turf event for fillies and mares.
I guess you could say they were inseparable at the wire.
We won’t mention that Bossy Boots finished fourth.
Here’s the video replay narrated by Dave Rodman: Click here to view
*Around the track
Live racing resumes Friday with an 11-race program. The first post time is 12:10 pm ET… Dean Delivers defends his title in the $175,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash, one for four stakes races on Saturday’s 12-race card…Maryland-bred Horse of the Year Post Time will start as a prohibitive favorite in the $125,000 Deputed Testamony…Tartabull, the first foal out of the beloved Anna’s Bandit, makes his career debut in Saturday’s fifth race. Trained by Chad Summers, Tartabull is by champion sire Tapit and will partner with Anna’s Bandit’s regular rider, Xavier Perez.
