HOT SPRINGS -- Terra Promessa, off at 6/5, extended her undefeated record at Oaklawn Park to 4-0 with a 2 1/4-length victory over Ready to Confess and four others in the $125,000 1 1/16th-mile Pippin Stakes for fillies and mares four years old and up on Saturday.
Trained by Racing Hall of Fame member Steve Asmussen, Terra Promessa, ridden by Jose Ortiz, led for all but the first half-furlong and held off a late run by Ready To Confess to win the Pippin in 1 minute, 43.16 seconds. Streamline finished third, three lengths behind Ready to Confess.
"She obviously has an affinity for the surface here," Asmussen said of Terra Promessa. "She trained nicely over it. It's just nice to get her back in the winner's circle."
Streamline, a five-year-old trained by Brian Williamson and ridden by Chris Landeros, led through the first half-furlong before Terra Promessa pulled even as the leaders passed under the wire for the first time.
"Going into the first turn, I was just looking to see what Streamline was going to do," Ortiz said. "[Landeros] took back, so I went on and took the lead."
By midway through the first turn, Terra Promessa had established the two-length lead she would maintain through the first quarter mile in 23.72 and the half in 47.78.
Ready to Confess ran fourth behind the leaders and She Mabee Wild until the field approached the half-mile pole and the final turn when she ran by She Mabee Wild on the inside near the rail. To that point, the leaders had not cooperated with the wish of Ready to Confess' trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel, who said he hoped for Streamline and Terra Promessa to engage in a more competitive pursuit of the lead.
"When Streamline tucked in and let Terra Promessa go by herself, we knew it was really going to be a big job for us," Von Hemel said. "But our filly really ran a good race, but the middle part of the race didn't work out for us to really be most effective."
Streamline began to close the gap on Terra Promessa just as the pair passed three quarters in 1:12.60, but as her move began, Ready to Confess also accelerated and moved into second as the three turned for home.
"I thought we had a bead on the winner there, but she never had enough, and the winner had something left," Streamline's trainer Brian Williamson said. "But we ran good, and we'll go at them again. That's all we can do. But everything went to plan except the winner just kept going. We thought we could get her when we wanted, but it didn't turn out that way."
As Streamline backed away, Ready to Confess dug in, but with an eighth of a mile to go, Terra Promessa responded to pull away and leave little doubt that victory would be hers.
"When I asked her, she responded really well," Ortiz said. "It was a great training job by Steve, as always."
Last season, Terra Promessa romped through the latter half of the three-year-old filly division at Oaklawn with victories in the Grade III Honeybee and Fantasy Stakes, but she finished 10th in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and seventh in the She's All In Stakes at Remington Park on Dec. 11 after a seven-month layoff.
Streamline had a productive run through the stakes for fillies and mares last season. In addition to her victory in the Pippin, she finished second in the Grade I Apple Blossom and Grade III Bayakoa and third in the Grade II Azeri, so Williamson knew Terra Promessa was not the only horse in the field with a history of success on Oaklawn's racetrack.
"We're a horse for the course, too, but we weren't going to do quite what she did here last year," Williamson said.
"There are some who don't run their races here, and some that obviously excel here," Asmussen said. "She [Terra Promessa] really excels over the surface here, and I was glad to see last year's form somewhat validated. You know, Streamline ran beautiful races here last year in the older fillies and mares division. She's solid, and I thought this race was a great measurement for us."
Oaklawn leaders
JOCKEYS
RK. JOCKEY ST. W P S PCT. MONEY
Ramon Vazquez ......13 3 3 0 23 $163,745
Geovanni Franco .....11 3 0 1 27 $119,523
Jose Ortiz ................13 2 0 3 15 $142,001
Joseph Rocco .........11 2 1 0 18 $94,094
Marion St. Julien...... 6 2 1 2 33 $55,704
Alex Birzer ................ 8 2 0 0 25 $33,187
Chris Landeros......... 7 1 1 1 14 $65,721
Glenn Corbett ........... 5 1 0 2 20 $21,255
Channing Hill ...........10 1 0 0 10 $20,372
Erik McNeil ............. 1 1 0 0 100 $14,100
Shane Laviolette .... 6 0 1 1 0 $27,927
Calvin Borel ............ 9 0 1 2 0 $25,137
Luis Quinonez .......11 0 0 0 0 $20,855
Didiel A. Osorio ...... 3 0 1 0 0 $15,999
Keith Roman .......... 4 0 1 0 0 $15,289
Julio Felix ............... 2 0 1 0 0 $15,090
Alex Canchari ......... 8 0 2 1 0 $14,412
Floyd Wethey Jr. .... 1 0 1 0 0 $14,400
Sports on 01/15/2017