Miss Leslie made a sustained run from three furlongs out all the way to the wire to win Saturday’s $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go S. at Laurel Park.
The 3-year-old Paynter filly, who won the Weber City Miss S. at Pimlico in April and Laurel’s Ann Arundel County S. last year, is now 6-2-1 in 15 starts and has earned $325,650 for owner BB Horses.
Ridden by Angel Cruz in the 1 1/16-mile affair for fillies and mares, Miss Leslie was behind a wall of a half-dozen horses going into the first turn, prompting Cruz to take the dark bay filly well off the pace. She was still some eight lengths from the front when she started her move for the lead going into the final bend.
With his filly full of run on the turn, Cruz had no choice but to go five-wide to put him right on the lead at the top of the lane. With foes on either side of her, Miss Leslie dug in gamely to win by a half-length in 1:43.63 on a “good” main track.
“I rode her one time so I knew how she does. She breaks a little slow,” Cruz said. “ (Trainer) Claudio (Gonzalez) just told me to wait for moment to move and that’s what I did. I waited, I moved on the outside and she kicked on.”
Miss Leslie was bred in Kentucky by Maxis Stable.
Paynter has a lock on the 2021 Fifth-Crop Sire list top spot with last week’s win in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) by Knicks Go. The WinStar stallion was also represented on Saturday by Merveilleux, who placed in the Maple Leaf S. (G3) at Woodbine.
