Spring in the Air, a Grade One winner at two, annexed the Grade 3 Hendrie S. Saturday at Woodbine to give the 4-year-old daughter of Spring At Last her 10th stakes placing in 14 career starts. The WinStar-bred filly is top of earner of 2014 for Spring At Last, who ranks in the top 10 on this year’s Third Crop Sire list.
Spring in the Air, named Canada’s champion two-year-old filly of 2012 on the back of a win in the Grade 1 Alcibiades, got away in sixth in the field of eight traveling the 6 1/2-furlongs. Bottled up behind a quartet of foes on the turn, Phil Husbands swung to the middle of the track for a clear run at the lead coming into the stretch. Getting to the front inside the final furlong, Spring in the Air covered the distance in 1:16.79.
“Today she ran a decent race,” said Husbands. “When I reached the five-eighths pole, I saw four horses going head and head so the most important thing I was interested in was not to get caught behind them when they start to stop. I took her out at the five-eighths pole and watched them and she just ran them down.”
With a record of 4-6-1, Spring in the Air has now earned $883,576 for owner John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse. The Canadian-bred filly was purchased for $130,000 out of the OBS Select Sale in March, 2012. Her dam Unbridled Run is a half-sister to Tejano Run, a five-time graded stakes winner who also ran second in the 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1).
