Sealy Hill Gives Casse Fifth Bourbonette Win

(from Turfway Park report)
Sealy Hill held off Panty Raid by a head to give trainer Mark Casse his fifth victory in the $150,000 Bourbonette Breeders’ Cup Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-old fillies at Turfway Park Saturday.

Ridden by Patrick Husbands, the daughter of Point Given   took the lead at the top of the lane and held off a late-charging Panty Raid, who broke through the gate prior to the race but still beat third-place finisher Aspiring by 2 3/4 lengths. Race favorite Silverinyourpocket had no late bid and finished fifth.

"The horse next to me (Acadia Breeze) broke through the gate and that shook my filly up a little," said Panty Raid's jockey, Edgar Prado. "But she was fine and I was fine, too."

Sent off as the 7-2 second choice, Sealy Hill was making her second start of the year after finishing second in an allowance race at Gulfstream Park in January. In her last start as a juvenile, Sealy Hill won the Glorious Song Stakes over the Polytrack at Woodbine. The winner earned $93,000 Saturday.

"She's better than you saw today," Casse said. "She's never been two turns before so she thought the race was all over. One thing about Turfway's Polytrack, horses that like it do well on Derby Day."

Casse won last year's Bourbonette with Top Notch Lady. His other winners in the race include Push On (1983), Pretty Sham (1986), and Apella (1990).

Owned by Eugene Melnyk's Melnyk Racing Stable, Sealy Hill paid $9.60, $5.00, and $3.80. Panty Raid returned $6.80 and $5.60. Aspiring, ridden by Miguel Mena, was $9.20 to show. Final time for the one-mile distance was 1:37.51.

Completing the order: Our Dancing Babe, Silverinyourpocket, Indian War Dress, Bavarian Belle, Olivine, Acadia Breeze, Rivanna River, Tale of the Queen and Floral Park.

(Chart, Equibase)