A stumble out of the gate may have been a blessing in disguise for D. P. Racing's Yahilwa in the $150,000 Sixty Sails Handicap (gr. III) April 18 at Hawthorne Racecourse (VIDEO).
Normally forwardly placed, the stumble required the filly to take back ,and the running style suited the 5-year-old mare by Medaglia d'Oro , as she tracked early leaders before pulling away in the stretch with jockey Elvis Trujillo to claim her first graded victory.
"She stumbled pretty good, but it helped Elvis get her back," trainer James Cassidy said with a laugh. "She would have been pretty keen to go and she was pretty sharp today, so I expected her to be right with the leader. She recovered and everything was good."
Off at 2-1 odds, Yahilwa finished 2 1/2 lengths in front of co-highweight (118 pounds) and 7-10 favorite Awesome Flower, who got caught behind horses on the rail exiting the turn and in the stretch. Ketel Twist was a nose back in third.
With Yahilwa's opening stumble, early leader Parc Monceau opened up an easy length lead with fractions of :24.70 and :49.11 through a half-mile, before seeing challengers advance after six furlongs in 1:13.65. Yahilwa took over the lead at the top of the stretch and finished off the 1 1/8-mile test in 1:51.13 over a dirt course rated fast.
Bred in Kentucky by Avalon Farms out of Smart Strike mare Verbanella, Yahilwa now has a 6-3-4 record from 26 lifetime starts and pushed her earnings to $369,895. Her best graded stakes performance previously was a neck second-place finish in the Adoration Stakes (gr. III) at Santa Anita Park last May.
Ketel Twist, was fourth, followed by Parc Monceau and Sea Shadow to complete the order of finish.
Yahilwa comes home strong to win the Sixty Sails Handicap.
