St Joe Notches Second Straight Win With Romp in Sunday Feature

Jun 28, 2009 By Gary Yunt

Silverton Hill’s St Joe took command leaving the backstretch and cruised to a 3 ½-length victory over Garifine in Sunday’s $51,780 feature race at Churchill Downs.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, St. Joe quickly moved past Eaton’s Gift approaching the far turn and was not pressured the rest of the way in completing the five furlongs on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in :56.83.

The victory, the second straight at the five-furlong distance on the grass, was the sixth in18 starts for St. Joe. Trained by Darrin Miller, St. Joe is a 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Trippi and earned $28,800 for the victory to boost his career earnings to $191,692.

Favored in the field of six, St. Joe returned $4.20, $2.80 and $2.40. Garifine, ridden by Corey Lanerie, paid $5.80 and $4.40 with Eaton’s Gift, ridden by Miguel Mena, finishing three-quarters of a length back in third and paying $3.40 to show.

Racing resumes Thursday, July 2 with the third “Downs After Dark” program beginning at 6 p.m.(EDT) with 11 races on the card.