It took Luis Rivera three trips aboard Island Winter at Mahoning Valley before he found the hole card for the 3-year-old Bahamian Squall filly. Then, on March 26, he guided the filly bred by Donald Dizney to a solid second-place finish, beaten only by a 2/5 shot. Island Winter earned an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 52 that day, the best of her career.

    Yesterday, Rivera took Island Winter to a new level in a six-furlong race over a muddy track. He gunned her to the lead out of the gate and she bounded along unchallenged for the entire trip, breaking her maiden by an eye-catching 11 1/4 lengths. She became Bahamian Squall’s 10th winner of 2022, collected $6,300 for the victory, and her top ‘E’ figure jumped to 67.