Blue Lion Wins Thursday's Whitey Pryor Classic

Jun 04, 2009 Gary Yunt

Wayne Lyster III, Brent Rice and Helen Laughery’s Blue Lion swept past pacesetter Cross Village in the upper stretch and drew off by 3 ½ lengths to win Thursday’s featured $50,200 Whitey Pryor Classic at Churchill Downs.

            Ridden by Julien Leparoux and trained by Rusty Arnold, Blue Lion covered the mile on a “good” main track in 1:38.10.

            A 4-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Stormy Atlantic, Blue Lion returned $4.20 and $2.20 with Cross Village, ridden by Corey Lanerie, paying $2.40 to place. There was no show betting in the race that was reduced to four starters after being moved off the Matt Winn Turf Course due to inclement weather.

The victory was the second in 13 career starts for Blue Lion and was worth $30,580 to increase earnings to $82,593.

          Racing resumes Friday with an 11-race card that begins at 2:45 p.m. EDT.

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