Barbara Hunter’s homebred Snow Top Mountain found a narrow seam along the rail and darted to victory in the $100,000 Edward P. Evans All Along Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Colonial Downs June 16 (VIDEO).
She rebounded from a sixth-place finish last time out to take the 1 1/8-mile turf event by a neck over Clare Skies Ahead and seven other fillies and mares.
The 124-pound high weight led a second tier of horses that trailed behind frontrunner Speak Easy Gal and the pressing Thundering Emilia, as those two moved out in early fractions of 24.09 and 48.21. Urged progressively closer by jockey Paco Lopez through three-quarters in 1:12.35 and a mile in 1:37.08, she sat inside in traffic on the final turn but broke through to get up in deep stretch, holding off a late run from Clare Skies Ahead. Shimmering Moment ran third, just a head farther behind, in a final time of 1:49.48 over firm going.
Sent off at odds of 6-1, the 5-year-old daughter of Najran by the Storm Cat mare Motokiks paid $15.40, $6.20, and $4.40.
Snow Top Mountain was a graded stakes winner on the turf at Gulfstream Park for trainer Tom Proctor in the Feb. 11 Suwannee River (gr. IIIT), but ran seventh in the Hillsborough (gr. IIIT) at Tampa Bay Downs March 10. In her most recent effort, she was sixth in the Mint Julep Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Churchill Downs June 2. The All Along score improved her record to 7-7-2 from 23 starts with earnings of $486,103.
Speak Easy Gal finished a length behind the first three and was followed by the 2-1 favorite, Irish-bred La Pernelle. Then came the close second choice, Pachattack, with The Real Future, Another Smokey, and Thundering Emilia completing the order.
Embarr and Prize Catch scratched.