Snug Harbour collected her fifth consecutive victory in the $100,000 Office Queen Stakes at Calder Race Course on Saturday afternoon. It was the first stakes victory for the 3-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Boston Harbor.
Ridden by Eddie Castro, Snug Harbour broke sharply in the 1 1/16-mile race, took the immediate lead, and was never passed. After getting a mild challenge on the backstretch from Crazy Caro, she shook loose at the quarter pole and drew off in the stretch to win by 8 1/2 lengths over Leona's Knight. Crazy Caro finished third.
The second betting choice at odds of 3-1, Snug Harbour paid $8.20, $4.60, and $4.20. The post time favorites, the even-money entry of Dansetta Light and Wise Briana, failed to menace and finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the seven-horse field. Snug Harbour covered the distance in 1:47.77 over a main track listed as "good."
Peter Vegso, the president of Health Communications, Inc. and the publisher of the New York Times best-selling "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book series, owns and bred Snug Harbour.
Venezuelan Rodolfo Garcia trains Snug Harbor as well as fourth place finisher Babaganush. "I thought she might be a good filly from the beginning, but she ran a couple of bad races and had some minor problems," Garcia said. "We took care of that and took advantage (of her bad form) to run her for the tag ($50,000), which helped get her confidence back. She's gotten better and better, winning at six furlongs, a mile, and then on grass the last time."
(Chart, Equibase)