Lunar Victory galloped to a 2 1/2-length score in the $100,000 Evan Shipman S. Monday at Saratoga to become the 12th stakes winner of the year for Speightstown. The dozen stakes winners ranks third among all North American sires, and Speightstown’s progeny earnings of nearly $4.8 million puts him fourth on the list.
Sent off the 6-5 favorite under Junior Alvarado, Lunar Victory got into an early duel with Johannesburg Smile in the nine furlong contest. The pair ran away from the field by some ten lengths after six furlongs in 1:10.24. Midway on the far turn, Lunar Victory put away his foe and drew off by five lengths in mid-stretch. Alvarado geared him down late to hit the wire a 2 1/2-length winner in 1:49.30.
The win was the stakes debut for the 5-year-old bay horse trained by Bill Mott. Lunar Victory was bred in New York by William Parsons Jr. and David Howe. He is now owned by Juddmonte Farms, who paid $350,000 for him at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale. With the Shipman win, Lunar Victory is 5-3-2 in 13 starts, earning $201,039.
