Lucky J.H. Takes the Impressive Luck

By Profitus Maximus
December 29, 2008

Coming off an almost nine month layoff, Lucky J.H. took the lead at the top of the stretch and held on gamely to win the featured Impressive Luck stakes on Monday at Santa Anita. Lucky J.H. dueled with Hewitts the first quarter of a mile, then jockey Victor Espinoza elected to back off with Lucky J.H. and let Hewitts take the lead. The turf was playing slow and the opening quarter of 22.47 was moderate to slow.

At the top of stretch Lucky JH took lead and opened up as many as 1 ½ lengths. Gradually the field inched closer to him nearing the wire, with Hewitts just losing third to Majestic Diamond, who made a determined rally late to get up for the place.

The final time was 113.55, which is a slow time for this level of competition, This indicates that although the turf was listed as firm, the course obviously had quite a bit of give to it.

However, there didn't appear to be any bias. Winning jockey Victor Espinoza said that the turf course was really good for all the horses. Given that Majestic Diamond was last early and yet rallied on an average pace to finish in between the two horses that were setting the pace indicates that the turf is likely fair to runners near the pace and from the back of the pack.

Santa Anita News 122908