News

Long Shot Ladies Send First Dude to New Heights

First Dude reached another milestone yesterday by way of victories engineered by a pair of tote-board-busting ladies, Miss Star Lo at Parx Racing and Our Lizzy Lou at Turf Paradise.

Miss Star Lo, a 7-year-old mare bred by Marti Erin Haught and ridden by Gerardo Milan, gave her sire 700 career winner’s circle visits. She followed closely behind a sizzling :45.27 half-mile, then charged into the lead and drew off to win by 2 1/2 lengths. She raised her career mark to 7-5-6 in 43 starts, and the winner’s check of $10,200 boosted her earnings to $116,020. To the delight of the long shot players, Miss Star Lo checked in at $32.20 despite the fact that she had posted a victory and two seconds in her previous four races.

Our Lizzy Lou, bred at Double Diamond Farm by Don Dizney, began slowly and was ninth in a field of 11 in the early going. Shannon Uske turned the 4-year-old filly loose for a nine-wide move on the turn after five furlongs in :57.83 and Our Lizzy Lou ate up the front-runners, getting up at the wire to score by a neck. She earned a check for $5,828, lit up the board at $20.60, and gave First Dude 701 winning races.

What’s Up Dude just missed becoming No. 702 at another monster price with a solid runner-up effort at Turfway Park. The 7-year-old gelding came from behind and took the lead in the stretch, but was nailed by a head right on the wire – at odds of 30-1. He’s 8-7-2 in 39 starts with earnings of $282,953, 12th best of all First Dude’s runners.