The Honeybee (Grade 3) (KYO)- $300.000 Purse
OP- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
February 26, 2022
On the second of this month, Smokey Stover purchased Exactly from Fractious for $500.000. The Honeybee would be her first race for her new trainer, and she would make a positive impression right away, scoring a strong two length win to earn 50 points for the KYO! It was part of a great day at OP for Smokey Stover fillies as he would win both the Honeybee and the Rebel with one of them. This has been a good race for the trainer, as he wins it for the third time. He also won in 2017 with Queenwood and in 2018 with Manifest. It is the first win in the race for jockey J C Ferrer. Congratulations to them! The time of the race was 1:42.00, the second quickest edition of the race. Interestingly, the fastest three runnings of this race are the three races won by Smokey Stover. Let’s take a look at it!
(¼ Mile- :23.27)- Lassitude was quick out of the gate for TwinTowersRacing, not only jumping out to an uncontested lead, but quickly opening up an advantage of about three lengths as the field moved around the opening turn. Behind her, we had a row of 3, a row of 4, and then another row of 3. It would be hard to call that first row a group of stalkers since they were quite a ways back for that, but in that group, we had Lotta Carnival on the inside for Oval Express Farms, Swiss Skydiver in the middle for Crocker Ggs, and Canadian Flight running in the third lane for Mb Stables. Stalking them would be our eventual winner, Exactly, who ran in the third lane of four wide for Smokey Stover. On her inside was Catawba (Sccj Stables), and to her outside was Sister Crespi (Nakamura Stables). Spearmint Rhino (Arindel) rode the rail with the group. The back row would have Sundragon (Keikowin Racing), Live Another Day (Allinthegate), and Lemrun (Fractious).
(½ Mile- :46.96)- Lassitude shows the way down the backstretch, and still has a pretty healthy lead at this point. The one horse that made a move forward here was Sister Crespi, as she had been in the fourth lane of that group of four, and used that clear path to pull up alongside the group of the three that were in front of her, and pass them as well. She was now in second, by about a length over Lotta Carnival, who was running well on the inside. Canadian Flight and Swiss Skydiver held their position, and Spearmint Rhino looked to advance a little bit behind Lotta Carnival. Exactly was still waiting for her time to strike, remaining in the middle of the field, tucked in behind Canadian Flight.
(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Lassitude would still lead the field moving into the turn, but it was beginning to look like she would not be able to hold off some of the horses closest to her. Both Lotta Carnival and Sister Crespi moved closer to her, with the latter doing well to get back over to the second lane. Lotta Carnival appeared to be the one that would overtake Lassitude first. Within the turn, we began to see a couple horses show more interest, with Lemrun being one of them with an aggressive five wide move. During this time, Exactly had getting closer to the front, too, but in the second half of the turn, she really began to pour it on more and more. By the top of the stretch, she had moved into fourth, passing Spearmint Rhino, Canadian Flight, and Swiss Skydiver. For Sundragon, Catawba, and Live Another Day, the time was now to get moving, and they had not shown much yet.
(Finish- 1:42.00)- In the stretch, Exactly continued the great run that she had shown in the turn, and it was pretty quick for her to take over the top spot in the stretch. Once she passed both Lotta Carnival and Lassitude, this race was hers, as there was not anyone else coming from behind. She continued to draw away from the competition, looking strong with every stride and unquestionably looking one that would love to continue running longer and longer. In the end, it is a two length win for her. Late in the stretch, both Lassitude and Lotta Carnival began tiring more, and that allowed for the consistent stride of Swiss Skydiver to pick up second, with Lotta Carnival looking good in her third place finish. Lemrun did get up for fourth over Lassitude. Next is Spearmint Rhino, beating Sister Crespi, Canadian Flight, Sundragon, Catawba, and Live Another Day.
About The Winner- Exactly, trained by Smokey Stover and ridden to victory by J C Ferrer, is a three year old filly by Sweet Sweat and is out of Verbatim. She was bred in New York as a first quarter two year old by Chili King Stables and acquired by Smokey Stover via Fractious in private sales for $500.000 on the second. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her third in nine starts and her first stake win of any type. Her career earnings are now $427.800.
Track: Fast
Time: :231 :464 1:104 1:42
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 5 – 7 Paid 52.70
$1 Trifecta: 5 – 7 – 3 Paid 308.10
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES
