Wondrshegotthundr has had a brief career but so far, it’s been impressive. The three-year-old daughter of Graydar took on an older, more experienced field in the 16th running of the $100,000 Florence Henderson Stakes at Indiana Grand and ran them all down for the win. Guided by Fernando De La Cruz, Wondrshegotthundr scored the victory in 1:44.78 seconds.
A field of 11 fillies and mares broke out of the Ray Kuwik starting gate and last year’s defending champion in the Florence Henderson Stakes, Marina’s Legacy, was one of the first to head to the lead. She joined French Legacy and Rodney Prescott who secured the top spot early on the inside, forcing jockey Jesus Castanon to keep Marina’s Legacy to the outside in the two-path heading into the first turn of the one and one-sixteenth mile race over the turf.
Once the field had straightened out on the backside, French Legacy continued to set a quick pace and the pack began to spread out. Positions didn’t change until the final turn arrived. French Legacy began to tire, and Marina’s Legacy moved on to the lead with Wondershegotthundr and De La Cruz, tracking closely behind.
In the stretch, Marina’s Legacy had to fend off a strong challenge by Wondershegotthundr and did so for most of the stretch, but in the end, the younger filly had the strongest stride, moving out for the win by one-half length. Marina’s Legacy was a solid second over Blonde Moment and Santo Sanjur, who moved up late to finish third.
The win in the Florence Henderson Stakes marked the third win in only four career starts. Unraced at two, Wondrshegotthundr also won the $100,000 Ellen’s Lucky Star Stakes in her second career start. She now has in excess of $140,000 in career earnings for Kelly Mitchell’s Bad Boy Racing LLC, the group that also bred and raised her. Brad Cox trains the sophomore filly with assistant Ricky Giannini overseeing his stable based at Indiana Grand.
“She is two for two on the turf now and both were stakes, so it makes it look like she prefers the turf,” said Giannini. “However, she broke her maiden here over the dirt and it may not be the dirt that she didn’t like in her last start, so we won’t rule out the dirt in the long run. She is learning with every race. There were quick early fractions that set it up well for her today, and we told Fernando (De La Cruz) to just ride it out and try to finish strong. That’s what happened today.”
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