St Joe Rallies Past Field to Win Long Suit Purse on Sunday

Jun 01, 2009 Gary Yunt

Silverton Hill, LLC’s St Joe, who spotted the field several lengths after breaking last in a five-furlong turf sprint, rocketed past five rivals in the final eighth of a mile to win Sunday’s featured $43,875 Long Suit Purse at Churchill Downs for 3-year-olds and up by a length over Lord Robyn.

            Ridden by Julien Leparoux, St. Joe had only one horse beat at the top of the stretch as he swung seven-wide for clear sailing. At the sixteenth pole, Lord Robyn had opened a daylight advantage only to be rapidly overtaken by St. Joe, who covered the five furlongs on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in :56.84.

            Trained by Darrin Miller, St. Joe returned payoffs of $11.40, $5 and $4.20. Lord Robyn, ridden by Jesus Castanon, returned $4.20 and $2.80 in finishing a half-length in front of No Fault, who paid $5 to show under Robby Albarado in the field of eight.

The victory, the fifth in 17 starts for the 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Trippi, was worth $27,060 and increased St. Joe’s earnings to $162,892.

          Racing resumes Thursday with a nine-race card that begins with a 12:45 p.m. EDT post time.

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