"She ran real nice and Steve (Klesaris) really had her ready," said Castillo. "Early in the race, it took a little of time to calm her down a bit. She wanted to go on early, but once I got her back and then she relaxed for me. After that, it was just biding my time and looking to see where I could go. She totally responded. She did not give me everything at once, but I did not need everything. When I asked her to give me everything, she just exploded down the lane." Klesaris is not sure where he will run Katzen next.
Phillip & Marcia Cohen and Steve Klesaris' Katzen notched an upset victory in the $100,000 Christiana Stakes Saturday at Delaware Park. Ridden by Oliver Castillo, the 3-year-old daughter of Furiously won by 2 1/4-lengths and returned $38.80. Affirmed Dancer, the slight 5-to-2 favorite in the field of nine with Chris DeCarlo astride, ran second. It was another 2 3/4-lengths farther back to Infinite Spirit, with Anthony Black aboard, in third. Katzen covered the 1 1/8 mile in 1:50.31. The Kentucky-bred trained by Klesaris raised her career record to four wins from six starts with earnings of $140,000.