The Heavenly Prize ($150.000 Purse)
AQU- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile on the Dirt
February 22, 2025

Last month, seven year old mare Gerri G returned to the race track after a four month layoff, and won an optional claiming race. A couple of tough graded results over the summer likely played a part in the time off, and she made the most of the rest in that race and would follow it up here in the Heavenly Prize! She is trained by Luz International, and it is his first Heavenly Prize victory, and jockey S Civaci is also a first time winner. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:35.08, the second fastest in the history of the race. Let’s take a look at it now!

(1/4 Mile- ;23.28)- No one appeared to be particularly hurried out of the starting gate, though soon enough, there would be three horses that would pull away from the other half of the field. Out in front, and as the middle horse of the front trio, The Sidley Stud’s Eye Patch holds a half length advantage over Williams9’s Atomic Woman, who is on her outside. Along the rail here is TwinTowersRacing’s Ruthian, the post time favorite and our pick to win, so hopefully she doesn’t make as look bad. The race’s eventual winner, Luz International’s Gerri G, runs in the fourth position, two lengths from the front, and in the lane behind Eye Patch. Jersey Delight (Angelos Stable) is within a length to her inside, and at the back, it’s Chai Lies (Keith Austin Inc).

(½ Mile- :46.89)- Very little has changed as the field moves down the backstretch, Eye Patch is still the leader, and has Atomic Woman still as her shadow to the outside. The most noteworthy part of this race was Ruthian losing touch with the top two, but surely that is just part of the plan, right? Gerri G is still fourth, and maintains her two length gap to the leader at this point with Jersey Delight still to her inside. Chai Lies drops further back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.8F To Go)- Rounding the turn, Eye Patch has clearly gotten the better of Atomic Woman, leaving that one well behind for the stretch run. Gerri G had not quite moved into the second spot yet, but that was imminently going to happen as she made an outside run and appeared to be the main concern of the leader. Jersey Delight was also making some progress and also looked like a contender at this point. Ruthian was lacking response, and for Chai Lies, maybe it wasn’t the blinkers.

(Finish- 1:35.08)- Early on in the stretch, Eye Patch looked to be in trouble, and in the race’s final furlong, both Gerri G and Jersey Delight had made up considerable ground. Gerri G was making her run on the outside, and Jersey Delight would look to get by to her inside. While it looked like it would come down to these to, the half length edge that Gerri G always had on Jersey Delight would pay off and make all the difference at the wire as that would be the winning margin. Eye Patch fatigued late and settles for third, but beats fourth place Atomic Woman by four lengths. Ruthian is very disappointing this afternoon, and it was a country mile back to Chai Lies.

About The Winner- Gerri G, trained by Luz International and ridden to victory by L Luzzi, is a seven year old mare by Carson Express and is out of Blooper G. She was bred by Gustafson Stable in Texas as a third quarter two year old, and was acquired by Luz International, via Mb Stables, in the March 2022 auction for $7.890. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her twelfth in 31 starts, and her third stake win. Her career earnings are now $622.940.

Track: Fast
Time: :23¹  :46⁴  1:10⁴  1:35

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 2 Paid 35.50
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 2 – 3 Paid 109.60

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded