Pomeroys Pistol began her season winning a graded stakes at Gulfstream Park and ended her season by doing the same, as she took over at the top of the stretch and bounded away for a two-length win in the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (gr. III) (VIDEO) on Dec. 10.
The 3-year-old daughter of Pomeroy captured the Forward Gal (gr. II) at Gulfstream in her second start of the year on Jan. 30, and came full circle by taking another sprint on the main track. With Javier Castellano aboard, the bay filly covered the distance on the fast dirt in 1:09.35 as the odds-on favorite.
It was the fourth win in 10 starts in 2011 for Pomeroys Pistol, who is a Florida homebred for Hardacre Farm. She is trained by Amy Tarrant. The filly is out of the Point Given mare Prettyatthetable.
The Sugar Swirl pace was set by Third Chance, who broke sharply from the outside and took the field of eight through splits of :22.30 and :44.80. Pica Slew sat just off the leader with Luis Conteras aboard and took over after four furlongs.
But the lead was short-lived, as Pomeroys Pistol, third in the early going while saving ground, swung toward the outside for her stretch drive and ran down Pica Slew in the area of the sixteenth pole to win going away.
Pica Slew, sent off at 16-1, was second by a nose over Strike the Moon and Edgar Prado. Catch a Thief was fourth.
"I had a beautiful trip, a dream trip," Castellano said. "She is a really nice filly, really straightforward. I love her. You can do whatever you want with her. I saved all the ground I could and when I put her outside, she took off. She was much the best in the field.”
Pomeroys Pistol entered the Sugar Swirl off a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. Prior to that, she romped by four lengths in the Sept. 24 Gallant Bloom Handicap (gr. II) at Belmont Park.
"I wasn’t worried that she’s only had one workout since the Breeders’ Cup," Tarrant said. "I know her and what she needs. I was confident going into the race. She had three quality weeks turned out on the farm, but pretty much kept herself fit running around her paddock.
"Javier knows her now and rides her with confidence. We’ll look at the Hurricane Bertie (gr. III, Feb. 19) and the (gr. II, Inside Information) after that on March 17. She’ll run in one or maybe both.”
Overall, Pomeroys Pistol improved to 5-3-2 from 13 lifetime starts with earnings of $570,178.
In her first start of the year, Pomeroys Pistol was second in the Jan. 5 Old Hat (gr. III) at Gulfstream.
