Buongirono A Tutti Stable’s Sweet Repent, under a ride from jockey Manoel Cruz on the far turn, swallowed up the leaders in mid-stretch and drew away to win the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Distaff at Gulfstream Park Jan. 30 (VIDEO).
Trained by J. David Braddy, Sweet Repent won for the fifth time in a row, her fourth in stakes company. The 4-year-old Florida-bred Repent filly finished sixth in last year’s grade III Old Hat Stakes, her only other start at Gulfstream.
Sweet Repent sat in third as Jessica Is Back (jockey Julien Leparoux) and Amazing (Elvis Trujillo) hooked up early and continued their duel under the final eighth of a mile. Sweet Repent required urging on the final turn in the 1 1/8-mile event, but as the leaders came back to her, she surged to the front and pulled away to win by 3 3/4 lengths.
Jessica Is Back finished second, with Even Road third. The fractions were :23.49 for the opening quarter-mile, :46.83 for a half-mile, 1:10.91 for six furlongs, and 1:36.25 for the mile. Final time was 1:49.26 on a fast track.
“I waited to ask my filly for her run because I know that she is game, and I just had to be consistent with her,” Cruz said of Sweet Repent. “I knew she would run for me in the final eighth, and that she was going to give me a whole bunch of run. She has improved a lot as she has gotten older and more experienced, and she keeps getting better.”
Sweet Repent paid $5.20 as the favorite in the nine-horse field for the Sunshine Millions Distaff. She now has seven wins in 13 starts, with two seconds and a third.