Jerry Bossert 9y

Merry Meadow wins Sugar Swirl

Horse Racing

Jockey Javier Castellano notched his first winner at the Gulfstream Park meeting Dec. 13 when he rallied Merry Meadow from just off the pace to post a 1-1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Sugar Swirl Stakes.

Castellano, the leading rider at the South Florida oval the last three years, kept Merry Meadow close behind the pace set by the 4-5 favorite R Free Roll, who cut fractions of :22.76 seconds for the first quarter mile and :45.74 seconds for the half while being pressed by 18-1 shot Wildcat Lily. Merry Meadow raced in third at the quarter pole, 1-1/2 lengths behind the favorite.

As the field turned for home, Castellano and Merry Meadow joined the top two on the outside, easily going by them just past the sixteenth pole to score as the 5-2 second choice.

"I was nervous a little bit, because when you ride a lot of horses you start to put the pressure on a little bit," Castellano said of his slow start at Gulfstream. "This game is very competitive, and I'm glad I broke the ice in a stakes race like the Sugar Swirl. I remember a couple years ago I rode the filly Sugar Swirl and we were very successful. It worked out great today. I'm very satisfied with the way she did it."

Castellano rode Sugar Swirl to a sweep of the 2008 First Lady, Hurricane Bertie, and Shirley Jones handicaps at Gulfstream.

Wildcat Lily and Paco Lopez just held on to be second by a head over the late-moving Ol Donyo for Joel Rosario, while R Free Roll weakened to fourth. She was followed by Centrique and Risky Rachel.

Merry Meadow returned $7.20 to win, $3.80 to place and $3.20 to show after completing the six furlongs in 1:10.29 over Gulfstream's fast main track.

"It just took her a while to break her maiden and she figured it out," winning trainer Mark Hennig said. "She does well with some time between races; she's a pretty easy filly to train. We figured out she didn't like to get drilled on that much. I haven't breezed her any closer than probably 10 days before a race in over a year. She just likes spacing. She handles it all pretty well. She's very professional."

Wildcat Lily paid $12.40 to place and $9.80 to show, while Ol Donyo returned $4.60 to show.

It was the seventh win from 25 career starts for Merry Meadow, a 4-year-old filly by Henny Hughes out of the Allen's Prospect mare Merryland Monroe. She has now earned $600,550.

"She doesn't seem to need her racetrack," Hennig said, noting this was Merry Meadow's first start at Gulfstream. "She seems to run well anywhere, any surface. It makes you want to try her on grass someday."

Merry Meadow was bred in Kentucky by David S. Howe and William Parsons Jr., who race the filly in partnership.

"We'll see how she comes out of it," Hennig said. "We were talking about giving her a little 30-day break up at Payson with my dad [John] and then get her back down here and run in something late in the meet. No pressure. It's a long meet and she's going to run next year."

The Sugar Swirl was the second graded stakes victory for Merry Meadow, who took the Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park May 17. In her last start, Merry Meadow won the $75,000 Sky Beauty Stakes at Gulfstream Park West Nov. 1.

In other stakes races on the afternoon from Gulfstream Park, Marbre Rose ($8.40) won the $100,000 South Beach Stakes, while Liam's Map ($4.20) took the $100,000 Harlan's Holiday Stakes, and Mshawish ($5) won the $100,000 El Prado Stakes.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who saddled both Liam's Map and Mshawish, had four winners on the 11-race card.

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