Treasuring rode the rail to a narrow nose score over Jennifer Lynnette in a thrilling renewal of the $134,750 Star Shoot Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Josie Carroll for owners Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. (J. G. Sikura) and Edward McGhee, the Smart Strike chestnut arrived at the six furlong Tapeta sprint for three-year-old fillies from a fourth-place effort in an allowance sprint at Santa Anita when under the tutelage of Bob Baffert.
Tiz Imaginary broke quickest of all in the Star Shoot, but it was Jennifer Lynnette, under Gary Boulanger, who took command leading a field of five through the opening quarter in :23.62 under pressure from Swoop and Strike.
Treasuring, with Luis Contreras up, settled in fourth position along the rail and waited patiently as Jennifer Lynnette took the field through the turn in a half-mile of :47.37. Jennifer Lynnette put away Swoop and Strike at the top of the lane and tried to kick clear, but an energetic Treasuring surged up the rail and won a furious stretch battle by a nose. Tiz Imaginary came on late for show. Treasuring stopped the clock in 1:11.43.
Contreras was pleased with the brave effort from Treasuring to squeeze up the rail.
“I was a little nervous, but the filly came home really well,” said Contreras. “I had a lot of horse. At the middle of the turn I was waiting to make my move, and when they opened the rail, we went through.”
A full sister to Grade I winner Streaming, Treasuring is from the same family as Rags to Riches, Jazil and Casino Drive. Carroll is familiar with the family line having trained Treasuring’s dam, Teeming, through a pair of wins at Woodbine in 2005. She also conditioned Teeming’s first foal, Cascading, to a victory in the 2009 Glorious Song Stakes.
“It’s very exciting to see these colours coming back with good horses at Woodbine. Hopefully they will continue to do so. We had her mother (Teeming) here and it means a lot,” said Carroll.
A gracious Carroll credited the victory to Baffert who had trained the filly to a runaway maiden win at Los Alamitos and a solid second-place run in the Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar in a busy juvenile campaign. Treasuring made three sophomore starts at Santa Anita before shipping to Woodbine.
“Really, the credit for this goes to the Baffert organization. They did everything, I was just fortunate enough to have her come into my hands.” said Carroll.
Treasuring, who was making her first start on a synthetic surface, breezed once over the Woodbine Tapeta in advance of the Star Shoot.
“We really just had a very easy work over it,” said Carroll. “They had some pretty stiff works before she came here. She came here ready to run. She just needed to get a feel of it and she seemed to handle it well enough. She skipped over it.”
Treasuring, bred in Kentucky by Hill ‘N’ Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. & Stretch Run Ventures, LLC, banked $76,250 in victory while improving her record to 2-2-2 from nine starts.
She paid $6.90, $3.60 and $2.60, combining with Jennifer Lynnette ($2.90, $2.30) for a $14.70 (1-2) exactor. A 1-2-5 triactor (Tiz Imaginary, $2.70 to show) was worth $38.70. Londie Lou was scratched.
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