Street Magician Pulls Out Aventura Triumph

Jumping from a maiden victory into the $139,500 Aventura Stakes for 3-year-olds, R. Larry Johnson's homebred Street Magician surged to the lead mid-stretch and held on gamely for for a half-length victory over Yesbyjimminy Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano for trainer Michael Trombetta, Street Magician, the slight 5-2 choice in the field of nine, was full of fight from the start of the seven-furlong heat. He dueled three wide for the lead down the backstretch before challenging again coming off the turn. He overcame the stubborn pacesetter Finallyymadeit at the eighth pole and won under crisp urging in a time of 1:22 1/5 on a fast track.

Racing mid-pack for Rene Douglas, Yesbyjimminy bid four wide at the quarter pole to challenge inside the final furlong and came up a bit short while edging Our Sacred Honor and Edgar Prado by a neck for second.

Finallymadeit set swift fractions of :22 and :44 3/5 before tiring to finish fifth.

Street Magician, a colt by Street Cry--Magical Meadow, by Meadowlake, registered an eight-length maiden win in his second lifetime start Feb. 10 at Gulfstream following a third-place debut. The bay is nominated for the Triple Crown. The victory, worth $75,000, improved Street Magician's earnings to $101,220.

"This one is a little late to come around, but we’re going to take it one step at a time, see how her comes out of it, head to the Withers (gr. III) , and go from there," Trombetta said. "He was slow to mature, but he’s really changed a lot this winter.”

The $150,000 Withers for 3-year-olds going one mile, is at Aqueduct on Apr. 28.

The winner paid $7, $4.80 and $3.80. Yesbyjimminy, a two-time stakes winner for trainer Edward Plesa Jr., returned $7 and $5. Our Sacred Honor, coming off a distant eighth-place finish in Oaklawn's Southwest Stakes for Todd Pletcher, was $5 to show.

Green Vegas finished fourth, followed by Finallymadeit, James Wilfred, Silver Source and second choice Blue Bullet, who had won the first two starts of his career in impressive fashion but gave way after dueling for the lead.

“My horse has a lot of speed and (Blue Bullet) does, too," Bejarano said. "We broke good and I wanted to see where we were at -- see if (Blue Bullet) went on.  We sat there comfortably, and let (Blue Bullet)  go on. When the running started, (Street Magician) pulled away and finished good.”

Dippi Trippi was pulled up on the turn after giving way.

(Chart, Equibase)