Rontos Racing Stable Corp.’s Street Girl won the first stakes race of her career in thrilling fashion with a nose victory in the off-the-turf, $100,000 Calder Oaks on April 13 at the south Florida oval. The 3-year-old daughter of WinStar sophomore stallion Street Hero is the leading earner of 2013 for her sire, who is standing this year for $5,000 LFS&N.
Breaking alertly from post three, Street Girl settled comfortably mid-pack in the six-horse field while her uncoupled stablemate Love to Score set the pace through the first six furlongs in 1:14.23. Street Girl began a steady advance towards the front while racing wide on the final turn.
Straightening for home, E B Ryder got the jump up the inside on Street Girl, but the eventual winner dug deep to get to the wire just in front of her foe. The final time for the 1 1/16-mile trip over sloppy going was 1:46.90.
“It was close at the end, but I felt that I got there,” jockey Edgard Zayas said after the victory, which was also the rider’s first career stakes win. “My filly knew where the wire was.”
“When Hugo’s horse (jockey Sanchez, aboard E B Ryder) snuck up the inside on us, I knew the run to the finish was going to be tough,” Zayas said. “But my horse kept on going, and she got in front when it mattered.”
Trained by Manuel Azpurua, Street Girl has now earned $99.352. The Kentucky-bred filly was claimed by her current owner Ronto Racing Stable Corp. out of her first lifetime start in December at Gulfstream Park.
