Savvy Hester set a contested pace and stayed on gamely down the lane to capture Saturday’s $111,200 River Memories Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Ricky Griffith for Debmar Stables, the graded stakes placed Heatseeker-Changeable filly, piloted by Justin Stein, picked up her first stakes victory after winning a photo over Dance Again in the one-mile turf stake for fillies and mares three-years-old and upwards.
Sent to post at odds of 4-1, third choice in a field of six, Savvy Hester battled with Blessed One through splits of :24.70 and :47.94 as Joy and Dance Again tracked their early pace.
Surtsey, the 8-5 mutuel favourite off a half-length win in the Avowal Stakes, rallied menacingly as the field straightened to take a brief lead, but Savvy Hester fought back along the rail to turn back Dance Again by a head as Surtsey faded to fifth. Savvy Hester covered the mile in 1:36.69.
Stein praised Savvy Hester’s determination down the lane.
“She’s always been that kind of filly. She likes to fight and she tries very hard,” said Stein. “I was a little surprised to be on the lead. She broke sharp. Ricky gave her some time off and that made all the difference.”
Savvy Hester arrived at the River Memories from an uncharacteristic seventh-place run in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes on September 14.
“The turf was a little bit soft that day and she prefers a firm, fast course so we throw that one out,” explained Griffith. “She ran her race today.”
Griffith wasn’t surprised to see Savvy Hester on the lead. The dark bay won her 2014 debut with a front-running effort at Gulfstream Park on March 1 and enjoyed positive results recently from prominent performances when finishing third in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly on July 6 and second in the Flaming Page on August 23.
“She’s got good tactical speed. She’s won on the lead before,” said Griffith. “I was happy to see her on the front end when the opening quarter went in :24 and change. That worked out good for us.
Savvy Hester, a four-year-old Kentucky-bred, banked $60,000 in victory while improving her career record to 4-8-4 from 23 starts.
She returned $10.50, $4.40 and $3.40, pairing with Dance Again ($3.40, $2.40 for a $31.60 (4-7) exactor. A 4-7-5 (Silent Star, $3.90 to show) triactor was worth $146.10. Industrial Policy was scratched.
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